Why White Evangelists Support Trump and Republican Candidates

 81% of white evangelists supported Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and 76-81% of white evangelists supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election. What's interesting is that their approval ratings for past Republican presidential candidates remain the same regardless of their candidates. The latest Republican presidential candidates, for example, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Donald Trump, all received 70 to 80 percent support from white evangelists.

But Mitt Romney is from Mormonism, which evangelicals consider heresy. Trump has divorced twice and lives with his third wife, has also appeared as a cameo in a Playboy pornographic film, and is a far cry from Christian life, with a transcript of his lewd remarks being released before the 2016 presidential election.

Even Trump, in an interview, asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, said, "I have no such experience, and if I do something wrong, I will correct myself, and I do not attract God." I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't answer." This raises doubts about whether white evangelists support Republican candidates on religious principles or are engaging in faith to rationalize them while supporting Republicans for their racial and hierarchical interests.

The reasons that Christians who support Trump put forward are mainly abortion and homosexuality. In order to protect such religious core values (?), people like Trump, who do not seem so religious, also argue that God chooses to use them. The problem is that there are so many theological and political controversies and blind spots in this logic.

First of all, the Bible's reference to abortion or homosexuality is very limited. It is also controversial whether presenting these two as absolute criteria for voting is a correct interpretation of the Bible. There is also a problem with consistency. Many Christians who voice their opposition to abortion, saying life ethics are absolute, are absolutely opposed to other issues related to life ethics, such as gun control, a serious problem in American society. On the other hand, the death penalty is absolutely in favor (especially in black prisoners who are falsely accused of being executed) and enthusiastically supported the war in Iraq, which has claimed the lives of countless people.

Obama Care is also problematic, but before that, 46 million people, more than 15 percent of the population, were living without insurance. On top of that, even though there are 2 million people who go bankrupt with medical expenses every year, conservative Christians have opposed the alternative, calling it unconditional socialism. If you look into the actual abortion problem, many unwanted pregnancy or abortion decisions are related to poverty (a 2013 study found that 69% of abortion women are poor), lack of welfare or medical insurance, lack of sex education and contraception education. Many Christians, however, are only interested in criminalizing abortion, and are often opposed to policies aimed at solving the root cause of abortion. Therefore, many doubt whether Christians really want to reduce abortion or force Republicans to vote in the name of God on the issue of abortion.

Also, abortion is not a simple issue in terms of women's choice. Homosexuality is also a very complex issue in terms of individual options and equal rights in secular society, beyond the perspective of sex. Although conservative Christians define abortion or homosexuality as a serious sin by using their Bible interpretations, we are both believers and live in a multicultural and multi-religious secular society where the separation of religion and religion principle is applied. Therefore, the Christian ethics I believe cannot be applied directly into law, and laws are made through the consensus and compromise of members of society. Drunk or adultery or divorce can be a sin in religious standards, but just as it cannot be made into law to punish people. A good example is that the U.S. imposed a ban on alcohol in the past, but only contributed to the growth of smuggling and mafia.

James Hunter, a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, critically analyzed conservative Christians' participation in politics in a book called Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, Basic Books (1995). Jerry Paulwell, who created the 1979 Moral Majority and influenced Reagan's election and re-election, and the Christian right wing, represented by Christian leaders such as Pat Robertson, who founded the Christian League and is known for various social misrepresentations, have returned Christian holistic teachings to several ethical themes, obsessed with abortion, homosexuality, and openly colluding with the Republican Party and conservative Supreme Court.

Already decades of voting for the Republican Party on abortion and homosexuality issues, has the issue been resolved? After all, abortion or homosexuality is a matter of fairly personal life. It should also be asked how realistic the attempt to resolve this issue with political power and legal rulings is. Trump has expressed his support for abortion or homosexuality in the past (Trump has a history of going back and forth between Democrats and Republicans four times, and has lived a life far from the Christian way of life, mainly in the Liberated New York City). Although he has appointed conservative Supreme Court judges, it is unlikely that he will reverse abortion and homosexuality in the U.S. in reality.

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