facebook

White Evangelicals’ strong desire for Christian influence in public life

Cross instead of stars on an American flag

A new study finds white evangelicals are most eager to see their faith reflected more in the government, but very few say they support Christian nationalism.
In a country where 80 percent of adults believe religion’s influence is in decline, white evangelicals stand out as the group most likely to want to see their faith reflected in the US government.
According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, most white evangelicals want a president who reflects their religious beliefs, believe the Bible should have some influence on US laws, and see the retreat of religion as a bad thing.
Yet they oppose adopting Christianity as an official religion and very few (8%) have a “favorable” view of Christian nationalism.
Overall, nearly half of adults see the decline of religious influence in the country as a bad thing. White evangelicals are the most likely to see the trend negatively, at 76 percent. The majority of other Christians across traditions agree.
Most Americans want to see someone in the White House who stands up for their religious beliefs. Though few see either candidate in the 2024 race as particularly religious, more than two-thirds of white evangelicals believe Donald Trump comes to their defense.
Despite the increasing buzz around Christian nationalism from candidates on the stump or on social media, Pew found that most Americans (54%)—and most Christians—have not heard of the term at all.
“Even those who think the United States should be a Christian nation and the Bible should have a great deal of influence on the law, most of them are reluctant to say that they have a favorable view of Christian nationalism. So there seems to be some negative stigma with the term,” Michael Rotolo, lead author of the report, said.

While a plurality of Americans (44%) believe the government should promote Christian moral values, …Continue reading…

Loving “The Donald”

Trump speaking at a podium

I first wrote this reflection in 2015 and was concerned then about the evangelical embrace of hateful ideologies and rhetoric. Sadly, that embrace has only grown stronger. I am proud to see old essays like …

Read more

Unwavering Evangelical support propels Trump to victory in Iowa

Trump in a dark suit and red tie

In the GOP’s first primary race, evangelicals didn’t take much convincing to stay in his fold.
Donald Trump—the far and away GOP frontrunner—has secured a quick win in Iowa, where his campaign’s Christian rhetoric stoked his fan base but disturbed some evangelical leaders.
National outlets barely waited for the ink on the ballots to dry before calling the race for Trump only 30 minutes after caucus sites closed. Some sites were still voting.
Trump won with 51 percent of the vote, more than the other candidates combined, sweeping all but one county in the state. The former president consistently led in the polls by around 30 points, thanks largely to support from evangelical Christians. Around half told pollsters he was their first choice.
That’s a shift from the last time Trump ran in Iowa. The state’s evangelicals weren’t excited about the foul-mouthed real estate mogul in 2016 and favored Ted Cruz, viewing Trump as “the lesser of two evils” when paired against Hillary Clinton in the election, said Jeff VanDerWerff, a political science professor at Northwestern College, a Christian college in Orange City, Iowa.
“The thing that’s just been really fascinating to me over the last eight years,” VanDerWerff told Christianity Today, “has been this slow migration and now this real embrace, it seems, of Trump. That he’s become or is seen as this instrument of God.”

Early entrance polls from CNN found that 55 percent of white evangelical Christians said they were supporting Trump.
Despite subzero temperatures, supporters heeded Trump’s call to turn out: “You can’t sit home. If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it,’” …Continue reading…

I want to live a faith worth reviling

A painting shows Christian martyrs all together in a group with the backdrop of a Roman coliseum.

In 2016, then-future President Donald John Trump gave a speech in Sioux Center, Iowa, that would define not only his presidential campaign but the next four years of his time in office. He could shoot …

Read more

An Inauguration Prayer

American flag waving in the wind with the sun shining through it.

Dear Lord, patient and forgiving Father, all-knowing God who sees our hearts even as we can’t, I pray for our country even as the inauguration of our 45th president, Donald Trump, is taking place. I pray …

Read more

>