September 21, 2024

Trump’s a Terrible Christian—Democrats of Faith Should Say So

Evangelical Christians #EvangelicalChristians

Is there anything freakier or, frankly, sadder in American politics than the seemingly blind allegiance of so many Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians and conservative Catholics to a man as grotesquely immoral and dishonest as Donald J. Trump? 

It takes no Sherlock Holmes to see that Trump’s entire life is a litany of un-Christian, even anti-Christian behavior. It’s a long thread of lies and sins ranging from his three broken vows of marital fidelity, to his multiple assaults on women, to his tidal wave of lies, gross materialism, mocking of the handicapped, caging of helpless children, and cheating (via bankruptcy and fraud) of hundreds of customers, business partners, investors, workmen, and tax officials. 

Yet Trump was primarily talking about his religious “base” when he famously claimed he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote. That arrogant assurance seemed to hold for years. Lately, though, that’s finally changing. Recent polls by the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute both show signs of erosion in support for Trump among all religious voters, including his core base of white evangelical Protestants.