By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,
Evangelism is believed to have come about in the 18th century, even though there is plenty of evidence of prior use of the word. “Evangelical largely described Christians who emphasized a personal relationship with God, the practice of being born again, and a call to spread God’s message worldwide. The movement encompassed a ‘new birth,’ repent and convert. Many experts have weighed in on just what evangelism is and is not, and more and more the word is being used in political and sociological terms. Despite the complexity of the term, it’s clear the word may mean different things to different people.
The word typically describes several denominations, churches and organizations and there is no single head of this ‘religion.’ Even in its complex history, evangelical was used as a general term. During the Great Awakening, evangelicalism was a synonym for revivalism, a movement of Christianity led by pastors such as Jonathan Edwards. Today, the word is used to describe the religious right, or in some cases, all Christians, or even the conservative masses,” per www.christianity.com. It’s interesting to note that this source describes itself as “a group of writers and editors with a passion for giving people access to what is enduringly Christian.”
We can all remember being told that religion and politics should not be included in polite conversation, but that was well before 24-hour news cycles, and now we live in a country sharply divided on these issues and culture wars rage over politics, religion, values, beliefs, etc. Once again, with a general election just two months away, we are buckling in for the ride that will become nauseating at times but is essential in a democracy where the voice of We The People is paramount. Per www.opensecrets.org, $14.4 billion was spent on the 2020 general election, with every dollar endeavoring to influence voters in one direction or another. The intersection of politics and religion is very real and not going away.
In reviewing literature about evangelicals – we discover that a solid 76% are white.
On April 9, 2024, The Pew Research Center wrote, “Over the past few decades, White evangelical Protestant voters have moved increasingly toward the GOP. Today, 85% of White evangelical voters identify with or lean toward the GOP; just 14% align with the Democrats.” In terms of education, Pew also says that 43% of evangelicals have a high school diploma or less, and that while 37% of the adult population resides in the South, 49% of evangelical Protestants reside here.
In the 2016 general election, 81% of evangelical voters cast ballots for Trump/Pence. Since 1980, evangelical priorities have been anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. Just prior to the 2016 election, National Association of Evangelicals claimed, “evangelicals have begun to address a broader range of issues, expanding the agenda to include Christian advocacy on issues such as poverty, hunger, immigration, criminal justice and the environment… political decisions matter, and governing institutions shape our lives in significant ways. But politics must always be subordinate to our ultimate allegiance to the kingdom of God and our ultimate calling to share the gospel.”
What a predicament it is for these folks, born again and adherents of the Gospel, throwing their allegiance to Mr. Trump – a man that isn’t a churchgoer except to use it to advance Christian nationalism, doesn’t respect women, and knows nothing about repentance – after all, he always pleads not-guilty, over and over.
With the white population in America dropping 30 percentage points over the last 60 years, per the Census, he dove head-on into white evangelicals’ biggest issue – abortion – engineering the overturning of fifty years of Roe v. Wade. Yet now with his support showing signs of slipping, he is taking a turn toward states’ rights. On August 8, 2024, he told reporters in Palm Beach, who asked about his stance on abortion and reproductive freedom, “It’s been taken down many notches, I don’t think it’s a big factor anymore really, now the states are voting. Frankly some of the votes are much more, you could say, liberal, than you would think. Ohio turned out to be, they had a big vote, and it turned out to be a much more liberal standing than people would have thought.”
Evangelicals are now questioning their support of the Republican nominee. Pastor Benjamin Marsh of First Alliance Church in Winston-Salem refers to himself as an evangelical partisan, and posted on X (formerly Twitter), “people that did not grow up in evangelical political spaces have no idea how disorienting it is to be told for thirty years, a) you could not vote for a morally bad person, b) you had to vote for a pro-life candidate – only now to be told you have to vote for a pro-choice felon.”
Speaking on MSNBC following his recent article in The Atlantic, entitled, “Trump’s Evangelical Supporters Just Lost Their Best Excuse – The pro-life justification for supporting the former president has now collapsed,” Peter Wehner said “white evangelicals are not going to vote for Kamala Harris and I don’t think they are not going to vote for Donald Trump, and the reason I don’t is because they have been exposed – they are not nearly as pro-life as they said they were. What matters to them more is partisan identity. Their identity is fused with Donald Trump, and fusing with Donald Trump is fusing with his moral depravity…this is a kind of cult-like moment that we are seeing, and a lot of the white evangelicals are part of that cult. Even when Trump leaves, the impact is profound, we’re probably looking at generation-long effects. Betrayal has been a through-line for Trump’s entire life…the important thing is that Republicans and so-called conservatives and pro-lifers – they’re the ones that are being exposed.”
Be the first to comment