How Do Christian Patriots Love Their Country Well?

By pursuing justice, not power.

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One of the less-told aspects of the run-up to the 2016 election is the extent to which Christian public figures lobbied each other in private correspondence to support or reject Donald Trump. The public saw the competing op-eds. My inbox filled with personal pleas. And if I had to identify the most common argument—one that was often different from the attempts to mobilize the public through fear of Hillary Clinton—it was an appeal to Evangelical Christian power.

“The Trump administration is going to hire thousands of people. We’ll fill his administration with conservative believers.” That sounds crass, but there was always an “and.” 

“And that means we’ll pass better regulations, confirm better judges, and halt the secular left in its tracks.” The pursuit of power would yield justice, but there could be no justice without power.

The Trump administration delivered the power. The top levels of the bureaucracy filled with Evangelicals, and the administration granted an almost unprecedented amount of access to Evangelical activists. During the 2020 campaign, it was routine to read ministry leaders sharing their “personal” insights into Trump based on time spent in the Oval Office. 

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  1. SoulSurfer

    Don’t seek power because it can become an end instead of means? An obvious point he could have said in a sentence or two. Power is a means to and end. We shouldn’t seek power for its own sake but for virtuous ends.

    Questions:

    Is the body of the evangelical church as screwed up as David’s articles always imply? He spends 1000s words on obvious points - so obvious that they’re almost trivial.

    Are the goofballs that marched on the capital really representative of the whole church? I wasn’t even aware there was a significant evangelical cohort in the group.

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    Will

    David, thank you so much for this. My wife read this and ran into my office telling me to read this immediately. We both agree this is one of the best things you've written (and we enjoy pretty much everything you put out).

    This is such a powerful concept that has been lost on the "evangelical" movement.

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  3. Bill Brockman

    As usual, I was with you, David, all the way. Until the last bit. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis (from "Mere Christianity" I believe), the problem today is that most people don't believe they are sinners. Therefore, they have no need of God's mercy. They have built their lives on the "good, solid lie" ("The Screwtape Letters") of moral relativism and therefore don't need a merciful God. Per Lewis, the ancients had no such illusions. They knew they were sinners and therefore were overjoyed to learn of a God who loved them so much that He sent His only son.... Hence, it seems to me that the anxiety of which you speak can only be remedied by greater preaching of the truths suggested by the great C.S. Lewis. If he is not right, how can so many of my co-religionists (Catholics) believe that abortion is just one evil among many? How can Mr. Biden present himself for communion and (per St. Paul) "eat and drink condemnation upon himself?"
    How can so many Catholics and Evangelicals embrace Mr. Trump, whose admitted sexual immorality far surpasses that of just about any Democratic president with whom I am familiar and whose border wall fiasco is so obviously contrary to Jesus' admonition to care for the poor and the persecuted?

    Regarding the main parties of the present age, should not Evangelicals and Catholics who now are registered as either Democrat or Republican reject both? At least until they adopt policies and leaders which/who advance and live Gospel values? If a person truly seeks to be like Christ in all ways, to put Jesus first above all other things, how can he/she embrace either party or their leaders in their present iterations?

    You wrote recently and well of cognitive dissonance. Wouldn't you say that any faithful Evangelical or Catholic would suffer extreme cognitive dissonance attempting to support in toto either party, its policies and/or its leaders?

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    Cara Duley

    Great thoughts, as always, David. I especially agree with the notion of reclaiming WORDS. Evangelical - we want to spread the gospel. By that definition I am an evangelical, but certainly in no way do either the teachings or beliefs of my church or my self mirror the caricature the word conjures up today.

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    Phil H

    I respect David for his integrity, his principled opposition as a Christian conservative to Donald Trump, and his desire to call out his religious brethren. I do wonder if this is the best use of David's soapbox on The Dispatch, since there are also Catholics (such as myself), Jews and believers in other religions, as well as Evangelicals.

    This is not to deny that other believers support Trump. I know for a fact many Catholics did so, But the Evangelical-specific details are a narrower audience than all of us.

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  6. Scott Watson

    I have been reading and listening to Dr. Timothy Gombis, and his podcast "Faith Improvised." He is a New Testament scholar, teaching at Grand Rapids Seminary. He talks about how we should view Christian faith as a "crucified shaped" body - shaped in the image of the Cross, giving up our earthy power to live as the kingdom of God has begun. It's not a naturally easy term to accept.Given what we seen from so-called called Christian leaders in the public arena, I have begun looking more at what Gombis is saying. Humility is a major requirement as well as trying to envision how we can see and grow the beginning, small first buds of New Creation. Challenging but worth a hearing. We who claim to be living as followers of Jesus need to have this challenge. Thank you for your insites, which show that we need to get over ourselves and really pay attention to what Jesus was saying and doing.

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  7. TragicMishap

    But ofc, you don't actually believe in Genesis 1 or Genesis 3.

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  8. Gigisc62

    I truly love your thoughtful writings. Thank you!

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    rlritt

    I used to respect if not understand people who were very devout Christians. I didn't agree with them and I couldn't marshal any belief in religion, but I thought they were honestly good, kind and genuine people. When Trump was caught on tape saying he liked to grab women's genitals and see the look on their faces, I thought he's goning to lose the support of devout Christians not only because of the vulgarity, but because of the meaness it showed towards women. But he didn't lose their support. Then when it came out that he paid hush money to two porn stars so he wouldn't lose the election, I thought no one will continue to support him. But they did. Unbelievable. When a news reporter asked a prominent Church leader about it, he said "we knew he wasn't a Saint but we know he'll do things we want." At that moment I knew Evangelical Christianity was no longer good or honest. It was just scam to get power.

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    Narwhal

    I’m not an Evangelical, and I’m hardly a good Christian or deeply knowledgeable of the Holy Bible, but my opinion is that some turn too quickly to the Old Testament and turn away from the New Testament. I think the issue of the death penalty illustrates this fact. If a person personally supports the death penalty do they reach for the Old or New Testament to support their position.

    In case it isn’t obvious, I oppose the death penalty.

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