There Is No Christian Case For Trump
When faith is treated as an instrumentality, its bad for politics and worse for the Christian witness.
About the author: Peter Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, and the author of The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.
An editorial last month in the evangelical worlds flagship publication, Christianity Today, argued that Donald Trump should be removed from office.
The editorial, the last one written by the editor in chief Mark Galli before his planned retirement, heartened those evangelicals who have been unsettled by their co-religionists enthusiastic support for Trump. But the editorial upset many others, since white evangelicals constitute arguably the strongest base of support for the president.
Among those who fired back was Wayne Grudem, a distinguished research professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Grudem is hardly a household name, but he is a significant theologian within evangelicalism. A dedicated Calvinist, he has been at the center of many recent theological debates. Grudem, who served as the general editor of the English Standard Version Study Bible, has taught ethics courses in higher education for more than 40 years. Hes the author of several major books.
Grudem ends this portion of his defense of Trump by writing:
Then theres this, by Grudem:
In 271 Words: Why Trump Is Not A Good Christian And Why He Is
The holier-than-thou Republican preaches the gospel of himself and its riddled with contradictions, lies and greed
For a start, he lies, or as the Ten Commandments has it, he bears false witness. You might say that this is what all the contestants in this election do. You might even say that Trump is the only Republican not to tell lies about such things as the Iraq war. But theres no doubt that most of what he says about all his rivals and indeed all foreigners, is a deliberate lie.
Then there is greed, or covetousness as the Bible has it. Again, Trumps whole story is built on greed. The Authorised Version says that: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass. Trump is on record as coveting even his daughters ass.
Though shalt not steal, says the Bible. Trumps record as a property developer speaks for itself there.
Thou shalt not have any gods but me so far as we can tell, The Donald has no gods but The Donald.
One Cannot Really Love Jesus And Wish To Follow Him And Also Vote For A Person Who So Clearly Embodies The Opposite Of Everything Christ Taught Died For And Demands Of Us
1:05 PM on Nov 6, 2016 CST
As sociologists of religion, we are intrigued by the surprisingly large number of self-identified Christians, especially evangelicals, who support Trump and have voted for him over the more vocally religious Ted Cruz. In past elections, such voters were motivated by moral convictions around abortion, same sex-marriage, and the perceived deterioration of traditional values, and voted predictably for candidates such as Huckabee, Santorum, and most consequentially, George W. Bush.
These issues and their 2016 equivalents have never been central features of Trumps life history, let alone his candidacy, and on many of them he has confused, moderate or unclear positions. Whatever the appeal of Trump to evangelicals might be, it is not due to these conventional stances.
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For a while, his opponents have seemed willing to ignore Trump, perhaps as a disciplined tact to suffocate his bloviations of the oxygen they need to burn. We have come to feel, however, that this approach has ultimately proven naïve in the wake of his recent primary victories. However unserious anyone might find him, the nation is despairingly at a moment where we must take his challenge seriously.
1. He lacks compassion.
4. He lies a lot.
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Trump Says He Now Identifies As A Non
President Trump, who has long identified as a Presbyterian, now considers himself a non-denominational Christian, a new report said.
The president shared his change in religious identity in a written interview with the Religious News Service.
Though I was confirmed at a Presbyterian church as a child, I now consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian, Trump wrote, without giving an explanation for the transformation or saying when it occurred.
Trump has a loyal base among white evangelicals, who in 2016 helped propel him to victory.
That year, the religious group made up roughly a quarter of the electorate, and 81 percent of them voted for Trump, according to a report by The Washington Post.
The president told RNS that his parents taught me the importance of faith and prayer from a young age.
Trump, who contracted COVID-19 in early October, attributed his swift recovery to his faith.
I said, There were miracles coming down from heaven. I meant it Melania and I are very thankful to God for looking out for our family and returning us to good health, he told the outlet.
The president received a cocktail of anti-virus drugs while battling COVID-19. After taking an antibody treatment by drugmaker Regeneron, Trump said he felt like Superman.
How Can True Christians Support Trump
- Jeff Warner
Conscience compels me to appeal to one final group of voters: True Christians.
The ones who try to live by the fact that Christ-ian means like Christ. If the words and deeds of Jesus inspire you, if the New Testament concepts of love, brotherhood and compassion guide you, please consider your vote.
I dont know what to call the Christians who have become part of President Trumps base. Evangelicals is too broad a brush because that word simply means relating to the Christian Gospels. Maybe we should call them Old Testamenters because they seem to enjoy that wrathful, vengeful sort of God. They are hawkish with the military, cruel towards minorities, the poor and other religions say they are for the sanctity of life, but love the death penalty and guns.
They also dont seem too big on the Ten Commandments, since Trump has surely broken all of them including No. 6 with his botched nonresponse to COVID-19.
Christians ended up as part of Trumps base simply because they have always leaned Republican and conservative .
It was just a cultural knee-jerk reaction for Christians to line up behind Trump now they seem stuck there.
For the Old Testamenters, it isnt even about Jesus it is all about wielding power, and for this every evangelical greedy for money and power, from Franklin Graham to Jerry Falwell Jr., should be ashamed to attach the word Christ to any aspect of their lives.
Jeff Warner
Special Coverage
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Vessel Messiah Warrior: Donald Trump In Evangelical Christian Narratives
HANK WILLENBRINK is a scholar/artist whose essays have been published in Theatre Journal, Contemporary Theatre Review, Theatre Forum, Response, and online at The Lark and HowlRound. He teaches theatre at The University of Scranton.
Hank Willenbrink Vessel, Messiah, Warrior: Donald Trump in Evangelical Christian Narratives. Ecumenica 1 November 2021 14 : 221247. doi:
Was Donald Trump America’s First Atheist President
Christians worldwide are called to observe penance and develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ during the Lenten season. Self-reflection and repentance, key pillars of Lent, are tools of atonement for past sins and are innate to the moral teachings of Christ. It’s difficult to imagine a true Christian who wouldn’t welcome the opportunity for forgiveness. In contrast, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he has never asked God for forgivenessa foremost doctrine of Christianityand has questioned his need to do so if no sins were committed.
This broaches the question: Was Donald Trump America’s first atheist president?
Though faith is a private matter only known to the individual, our actions provide outside indicators that can be explored. Trump’s formative religious exposure was as a congregant of the Marble Collegiate Church in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan, where he attended services with his parents. The church’s head pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, a conservative icon and author of the seminal work, The Power of Positive Thinking, had a lasting effect on Trump’s self-confidence. Peale is often considered to be more of a motivational speaker than an evangelist, delivering his message on radio programs, in newspapers and in a monthly publication.
Ben Pryor is an American politics researcher and writer.
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Donald Trump Christianity And Politics: Its Complicated
Even though Trump is clearly not a regenerated Christian, this does not necessarily mean that Christians should reject him as a politician. Despite Trumpâs immorality and pride, many Christians voted for Trump to be the President of the United States with legitimate reasons because politics is full of complicating factors.
Trumpâs policies while he was President were very friendly towards Christians, and he vigorously defended religious freedom, in contrast with the policies of the Democratic Party. In this way, and in many other ways, Trump was on the same side as Christians in much of the culture war.
However, it is important for Christians to distinguish between people who are fighting for similar conservative values, yet are not Christianâfor example, Trumpâand people who are truly Christian. Without true faith in Jesus, Trump is just as lost as any pro-abortion, anti-Christian leftist.
What Trump Reportedly Says In Private About His Christian Supporters
In public, Donald Trump presents himself as someone who honors and celebrates military service, but in private, it appears to be a very different story. Earlier this month, Jeffrey Goldberg wrote a stunning piece in The Atlantic about the Republican president denigrating those who wear the uniform, dismissing fallen heroes as “losers” and “suckers.”
Similarly, Trump also presents himself in public as a hero to people of faith, most notably Christian conservatives who are at the heart of his political base. It’s against this backdrop that The Atlantic has a new piece today from McKay Coppins, reporting that the president is quick behind closed doors to mock and show contempt for theistic allies.
In speeches and interviews, Trump routinely lavishes praise on conservative Christians, casting himself as their champion…. But in private, many of Trump’s comments about religion are marked by cynicism and contempt, according to people who have worked for him. Former aides told me they’ve heard Trump ridicule conservative religious leaders, dismiss various faith groups with cartoonish stereotypes, and deride certain rites and doctrines held sacred by many of the Americans who constitute his base.
In other words, Trump saw these preachers as con artists, and if the reporting is correct, he recognized their skills as familiar because of his own expertise in the area.
Almost certainly not.
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‘christian Nationalism’ In The Us
But aside from specific campaign issues, some academics say “Christian nationalism” was behind much of the religious support for Mr Trump’s campaign.
They say Christian nationalism merges Christian identity with national identity: to be American is to be Christian. Proponents believe that America’s success depends on its adherence to conservative Christian positions and warn, in Mr Trump’s words, of “an assault on Christianity” from political opponents.
“Voting for Trump was, at least for many Americans, a symbolic defence of the United States’ perceived Christian heritage,” the sociologist Andrew Whitehead wrote in a paper analysing the support for the president.
Academics such as Mr Whitehead and Philip Gorski, professor of sociology at Yale University, argue that throughout his presidency, Mr Trump explicitly played to Christian nationalist ideas by repeating the claim that the United States is abdicating its Christian heritage.
He promised “to protect Christianity” and for many supporters his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” could have been synonymous with “Make America Christian Again”.
At a rally in Ohio last year he warned a Biden presidency would mean “no religion, no anything”.
“Hurt the Bible, hurt God. He’s against God, he’s against guns,” he claimed.
But American Christianity is divided.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the US, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, described the riots as a “coup attempt” and “deeply disturbing”.
Election To The Presidency
On November 8, 2016, Trump received 306 pledged electoral votes versus 232 for Clinton. The official counts were 304 and 227 respectively, after defections on both sides. Trump received nearly 2.9 million fewer popular votes than Clinton, which made him the fifth person to be elected president while losing the popular vote. Clinton was ahead nationwide with 65,853,514 votes to 62,984,828 votes .
Trump’s victory was considered a stunning political upset by most observers, as polls had consistently showed Hillary Clinton with a nationwide though diminishing lead, as well as a favorable advantage in most of the competitive states. Trump’s support had been modestly underestimated throughout his campaign, and many observers blamed errors in polls, partially attributed to pollsters overestimating Clinton’s support among well-educated and nonwhite voters, while underestimating Trump’s support among white working-class voters.The polls were relatively accurate, but media outlets and pundits alike showed overconfidence in a Clinton victory despite a large number of undecided voters and a favorable concentration of Trump’s core constituencies in competitive states.
In September 2020, Trump was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. A far-right Norwegian politician nominated Trump’s name citing his role in the peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
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Donald Trump Recently Accepted Jesus Christ As His Savior Making Him A ‘baby Christian’ Focus On The Family Founder James Dobson Reportedly Said
Donald Trump has described himself as Presbyterian and Protestant, a Sunday church person and a collector of Bibles.
Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee reportedly can add born-again Christian to that list, too, according to one of the members of Trumps new evangelical advisory board.
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Trump recently accepted a relationship with Jesus Christ as his Savior, making him a baby Christian, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said in an interview posted Friday to Michael Anthonys website, Godfactor. Dobson and Anthony, pastor of Grace Fellowship in York, Pa., spoke after the candidates meeting Tuesday in New York City with nearly 1,000 evangelicals.
He did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ, and thats fairly recent. I believe he really made a commitment, but hes a baby Christian, Dobson said.
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on the report Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press, saying, Im not going to speak to Donald Trump and his embrace of religion. Youll have to talk to him about that.
Trump himself has not spoken about a born-again experience or a new personal relationship with Christ.
Dobson told Anthony that Trump doesnt know our language, noting the candidate spoke during the meeting about religion, but not faith and belief.Other words the candidate never used, according to transcripts: Jesus,pray,Christ and Bible.
