Heartbroken
- Darren Phillips
- Dec 7, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 6
As someone who was raised in the Christian faith, I am heartbroken over what appears to be widespread, uncritical support for Donald Trump among white, evangelical Christians. The sad irony, of course, is that by throwing their support behind amoral charlatans like Trump — by trying to fight the so-called “fire” of progressive ideology and perceived cultural decline with fire — evangelical Christians are severely damaging the Christian brand and, in turn, empowering the very forces they believe are a threat to their Christian values.
Moreover, these Christian culture warriors are using fundamentally hypocritical tactics to address two of their biggest grievances. Their first grievance is rooted in the idea that progressives are trying to legislate or “engineer” fundamentally secular social and cultural norms, norms they claim (often incorrectly) are an affront to religious freedom.
Their second grievance is rooted in the idea that these progressive social engineering attempts represent an affront to a traditionally conservative, more laissez-faire approach to governance.
In response to the first grievance, it would seem many evangelical Christians are employing the very same kinds of social engineering tactics they ascribe to their progressive adversaries. I would remind these folks that the USA, and really any truly liberal system of government, is secular by definition. In other words, by enacting laws — even those based on natural law or a shared sense of what's good and what's bad — we cannot expect, nor should we attempt to achieve, collective morality or religious consensus on any level. This is simply incompatible with fundamentally American values. Christians will never somehow make people moral beings through legislation. In a liberal democracy, where individual freedom is cherished above all else, laws are only really good at approximating civility.
Perhaps what I really mean is Christians cannot “Christianize” society through legislation. This is where the Moral Majority movement and, more recently, Robertson's Christian Coalition and people like Jerry Falwell, Jr and Franklin Graham are entirely misguided.
"Christians will never somehow make people moral beings through legislation. In a liberal democracy, where individual freedom is cherished above all else, laws are only really good at approximating civility."
The thinking that drives these highly politicized groups is essentially rooted in dominion theology, regardless of whether the movement’s adherents consciously or outwardly acknowledge this simple fact. The idea is to Christianize all social and political institutions as a means of reconstructing Christ's kingdom on Earth. This goes beyond our seemingly innate and collective agreement about predation — rape, theft, murder, etc. — and into the realm of civil rights, sexuality, pornography, and so on, which is actually an attack on personal liberty and the fundamentally American (and fundamentally Christian) concept of free will. In this way, the Christian Right political movement resembles theocratic governance (think Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example) and even communism, as all of these systems are authoritarian, statist, and basically rooted in utopian beliefs.
As an aside, for my Christian brethren who may be reading this, it’s important to understand dominionism/reconstructionism is thoroughly rooted in Calvinist beliefs (see theonomy), and some would argue is necessarily tied, either consciously or subconsciously, to postmillennial beliefs. Theologically speaking, I'm not a fan.
Regarding the second grievance or claim that progressive tactics are an attack on political conservatism, I posit the following question: By trying to outlaw personal liberties in keeping with extremely narrow, literal and often misguided or acontextual interpretations of sacred writings, and by working to apply religious beliefs and ethics to all manner of society including civil law in such a way that all immoral behaviors as defined by the state are punishable (either directly or indirectly) under the law, are these Christian culture warriors not guilty of the very same big-government tactics they ascribe to their progressive adversaries? What is conservative or laissez faire, politically, about any of this? I would argue these folks are not truly “conservative" at all.
Finally, the holy scriptures have something to say about those who sow discord. It’s one of the few things mentioned by name in the Bible that God actually hates, along with five or six others including a lying tongue and haughty eyes (aka pride). By propagating baseless conspiracy theories, attacking the free press, driving political wedges, and using highly incendiary political rhetoric and even hate speech to pander to their political base, Trump and his enablers on Capitol Hill and elsewhere (with the aid of social media) are perhaps guilty of sowing discord and basically stirring up human conflict on an unimaginable and terrifying scale.
With that in mind, I would submit Christians draw people to Christ by way of example, and by quietly planting seeds and watering through fervent prayer and supplication. That's what I was always taught. Once the spirit takes hold, societal ills like domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, infidelity, divorce, terrorism, mass shootings, suicide, teen pregnancy, etc., etc., will naturally become less pervasive. As long as evil has dominion over Earth these things will never be stamped out entirely, but Christians can make measurable headway through spiritual awakening.
That is what is so frustrating to me about Falwell and Graham and others of their ilk. The dominionist view that Christians must somehow use seats of worldly power to bring moral purity to the world through legislation and/or gross politicization of the judiciary is not only bad theology and bad politics, but it can ultimately do more harm to the Christian faith than good. Winning souls to Christ is what Christians are called to do. This charge is clear and uncompromising in sacred texts. Unfortunately, many Christian church leaders today — through their caustic and polarizing political rhetoric and activism — are actually driving people away from Christ, and the data bear this out. People are leaving the church in droves.
Obviously, when facing institutionalized evil, Christians are right to take bold, public stands against it. Wilburforce was right; Christian abolitionists were right; Bonhoeffer was right; Rev. King was right, etc.
At any rate, the point is real spiritual awakening is a bottom-up enterprise; not a top-down one, if that makes sense. This bottom-up approach is more theologically sound and far less harmful to the Christian brand than what Falwell and Graham are pushing, and it's certainly more in keeping with republicanism, self-governance, and more traditionally conservative political beliefs.
One final point: Don’t be fooled by what Trump is peddling and why it appeals to so many white folks, Christian and non-Christian alike. These people can carry on all they want about abortion and progressive attacks on so-called “Judeo-Christian values," but at the heart of a lot of their anger and fear is racial anxiety, xenophobia, white nationalism, and, in some cases, outright racist ideology. Sad truth. ✚
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