The Cost of the Evangelical Betrayal

[Celerity]

White, conservative Christians who set aside the tenets of their faith to support Donald Trump are now left with little to show for it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/white-evangelicals-gambled-and-lost/613999/



The closest thing social conservatives and evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump had to a conversation stopper, when pressed about their support for a president who is so manifestly corrupt, cruel, mendacious, and psychologically unwell, was a simple phrase: “But Gorsuch.” Those two words were shorthand for their belief that their reverential devotion to Trump would result in great advances for their priorities and their policy agenda, and no priority was more important than the Supreme Court. Donald Trump may be a flawed character, they argued, but at least he appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. And then came Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. That is the case decided in mid-June in which the majority opinion, written by Justice Gorsuch, protected gay and transgender individuals from workplace discrimination, handing the LGBTQ movement a historic victory. “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law,” Gorsuch wrote for the majority in the 6–3 ruling. It was a crushing blow for the religious right, and it must have dawned on more than a few of Trump’s evangelical supporters that if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency, the outcome of the case would have been the same; the only difference is that the margin probably would have been 7–2.

The Bostock case was not the only major legal setback for social conservatives and evangelical Christians. By a 5–4 margin, the Court—in June Medical Services v. Russo—delivered a significant defeat to the pro-life movement, striking down as unconstitutional a Louisiana law that could have left the state with only a single abortion clinic. This dashed the hopes of those who were counting on Trump’s appointees to lead the Court in overturning Roe v. Wade. (Both of Trump’s Supreme Court choices were in the minority.) Social conservatives can point to some important religious-liberty victories. But overall, this term was a judicial gut punch for the president’s evangelical supporters. The “but Gorsuch” argument has not been destroyed, but it has been substantially weakened. “The GOP gives social conservatives little or nothing legislatively, and hasn’t for a very long time,” the conservative blogger Rod Dreher told Vox’s Jane Coaston. “True, they have blocked some bad things over the years. That’s not nothing. But I think we’ve always known that judges are the real deal here.” “Every institution—the media, academia, corporations, and others—are against us on gay and transgender rights, and GOP lawmakers are gutless. The only hope we had was that federal judges would protect the status quo. Now that’s gone.”

Legislatively, Trump, compared with other presidents, has not achieved all that much for the pro-life cause and religious-liberties protection. For example, George W. Bush’s pro-life record is stronger and Bill Clinton achieved more in the area of religious liberties, signing into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. (Trump has done a fair amount administratively for the pro-life cause.) Trump has also achieved next to nothing in terms of enacting education reforms. Elsewhere, Trump has engaged in a bromance with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the worst persecutor of Christians in the world, and established more intimate and admiring relationships with many of the world’s despots than with leaders of America’s traditional allies. And on issues that have traditionally concerned conservative evangelicals, such as fiscal responsibility and limited government, Trump has been awful: The deficit and the debt exploded under his watch, even pre-pandemic. Based strictly on the standard of advancing causes that conservative evangelicals most care about, a fair-minded assessment of the Trump record is that some important things were achieved, especially in appointing federal judges. That clearly would not have happened in a Hillary Clinton presidency. But in virtually every other area, including the outcome of several key Supreme Court decisions, Trump has fallen short of the promises and expectations.

Now think about what the cost has been of the uncritical support given to Trump by evangelical Christians. For now, focus just on this: Christians who are supporters of the president have braided themselves to a man who in just the past few days and weeks tweeted a video of a supporter shouting “white power” (he later deleted it but has yet to denounce it); attacked NASCAR’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, while also criticizing the decision by NASCAR to ban Confederate flags from its races; threatened to veto this year’s annual defense bill if an amendment is included that would require the Pentagon to change the names of bases honoring Confederate military leaders; referred to COVID-19 as “kung flu” during a speech at a church in Phoenix; and blasted two sports teams, the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, for considering name changes because of concerns by supporters of those franchises that those team names give undue offense. These provocations by the president aren’t anomalous; he’s a man who vaulted to political prominence by peddling a racist conspiracy theory that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States—he later implied that Obama was a secret Muslim and dubbed him the “founder of ISIS”—and whose remarks about an Indiana-born judge with Mexican heritage were described by former House Speaker Paul Ryan as “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”

snip

[dalton99a]

1. They ARE "cruel, ignorant, greedy, and hypocritical"

This pastor, a lifelong Republican who declined to be quoted by name because of the position he occupies, wrote that “for decades Hollywood has portrayed conservative Christians as cruel, ignorant, greedy, and hypocritical. For 20 years I have worked, led, and sacrificed to put the lie to that stereotype, and have done so successfully here … Because of how we have served the least of the least, city officials, school officials, and many atheists have formed a respect for Jesus and his church. And I’m watching all that get washed away.”

He added, “Yes, Hollywood and the media created a decidedly unattractive stereotype of Christians. And Donald Trump fits it perfectly. Made it all seem true. And sadly, I now realize that stereotype is more true than I ever knew. It breaks my heart. In volleyball terms, Hollywood did the set, but Trump was the spike that drove the ball home. He’s everything I’ve been trying to say isn’t what the church is all about. But sadly, maybe it is.”

Christians, my ass

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Looks like evangelicals missed out

when the Holy Spirit was handing out the gift if discernment.

[TexasProgresive]

10. Perfect answer

[onecaliberal]

3. They're frauds.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. It looks like they've chosen to worship the wrong Golden Bovine.

[malaise]

5. Call it the gathering of the snake oil sales folks

The Let us Prey posse!

[Mariana]

6. White, conservative Christians did not set aside the tenets of their faith

to support Donald Trump. it was not the least bit surprising that 81% of white Evangelicals enthusiastically voted for Trump in 2016. The white Evangelical churches have been preaching hate for decades, and Trump is the logical result. They don't support Trump in spite of their faith. They support Trump because of their faith.

[Girard442]

14. If you want to know how Evangelicals received charismatic right-wingers in the past...

... Google "M. E. Dodd Southern Baptist Nazi Germany"

Monroe Dodd was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention 1934-1935.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. Just ask them to justify Trump's lies. Up to what - - almost 20,000 now?

Documented, verified deceptions or outright lies.

So Christians, if lying is now OK......

* may I now assume stealing is OK?

* may I now assume murder is OK?


KY........ ........ ........

[Mariana]

16. They don't feel any need to justify Trump's lies, or anything else he's done.

They believe God put Trump in office to implement God's will. It is not the slightest bit out of character for the Christian God to raise up someone like Trump. The Bible is stuffed with stories about utterly vile men, who did much worse things than Trump has ever dreamed of doing, whom God put into positions of great power over others, and showered with his favor and his blessings.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. "Every institution ... are against us on gay and transgender rights" -- Now, why might that be ?

Ever think about that ? No ? Color me schocked.

And expect to be equally surprised by future SCOTUS decisions not fitting in with your pathologically narrow world view.

[captain queeg]

9. We all know the bottom line: hatred of brown people

All else is forgiven.

[rickyhall]

11. What JC do?

[yardwork]

12. This article misses the point. Most white evangelicals are racist.

Trump is doing exactly what they wanted him to do. Everything else is window dressing.

[mn9driver]

13. Gorsuch is a conservative Episcopalian.

And even conservative Episcopalian values do not have much, if any, overlap with evangelical Christian thinking.

I would hugely prefer that he was not on the SC, but as an Episcopalian myself, I held out hope that he would not be a complete asshat. The American Episcopal church has just about nothing in common with evangelical “Christianity”.

[Buckeyeblue]

15. Evangelical movement is about faith-based bigotry

Much of the shit they spew has no Biblical basis. They use their religion to blame others for their shortcomings. Which is why they love Trump. Blame, blame, blame.

[Hotler]

17. The Christian Right is neither. nt