The Jeffersonian “wall between church and state” — a wall that Baptists once defended as vigorously as they now denounce it— has long served to protect both church and state. It ensures that government does not become an extension of any particular sect or creed, and that religion in turn is not corrupted by the pursuit of political power.
Unfortunately, the process by which religious faith can be corrupted by the pursuit of secular power is now on clear display in the flirtation between white evangelicals and Donald Trump. Hard as it is to believe, a lot of evangelicals have already gravitated toward the thrice-married, casino-owning, biblically illiterate Manhattan playboy with a penchant for public penile bragging, calling into question the movement’s claim to comprise morality-based “values voters.”
And if they can support the likes of Trump under a Republican banner, it raises an obvious question: Who in the world would they NOT support? To be blunt, it makes them look like blooming hypocrites.
Here in Georgia, according to exit polls, Trump easily defeated Ted Cruz among white evangelicals, pulling 39 percent to Cruz’s 26 percent. The same was true in South Carolina and other GOP primary states with a heavy evangelical base. In South Carolina, Trump even won among GOP voters who claimed that “it matters a great deal or somewhat” that a candidate share their religious beliefs.
To their credit, some major evangelical leaders have balked at supporting Trump. Russell Moore, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote last week that the Trump campaign “has cast light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all over the country.”
“There are not-so-coded messages denouncing African-Americans and immigrants; concern about racial justice and national unity is ridiculed as ‘political correctness’,” Moore noted in The New York Times. “Religious minorities are scapegoated for the sins of others, with basic religious freedoms for them called into question. “
“The man on the throne in heaven is a dark-skinned, Aramaic-speaking ‘foreigner’ who is probably not all that impressed by chants of ‘Make America great again,’ ” Moore concluded.
Naturally, Trump responded by calling Moore “a nasty man with no heart.”
According to Politico, some major evangelical leaders are looking toward Trump’s selection of a running mate to determine whether they will throw their full support behind him. Penny Nance, head of Concerned Women for America, a group dedicated to advancing “biblical principles,” says that decision will help determine “how involved our ladies will be” in Trump’s campaign.
“Door-to-door leaflets, sign waving, that’s the thing my ladies do,” Nance said. “We’re the legit activists. We do it for free. Phone banking, hours and hours of phone banking, that’s a necessary part of the campaign. You can’t buy that.”
No. You can’t buy that. But as an acknowledged outsider, I also can’t buy the idea that Nance’s “Christian ladies” out there phone banking for the likes of Trump would be doing the work of the Lord.
About the Author
