Donald Trump’s white evangelical support dipped slightly between November 2016 and November 2020. But now, as the 2024 election draws near, it appears that Trump might see his evangelical turnout rebound to the 80+ percent it hit during his first campaign.
Following Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, again a relative few among the faithful backslid briefly and considered countenancing a different conservative candidate, but now most have returned to the fold. The true faithful do not easily abandon their replacement messiah.
However, for the sake of the nation—and of the belief system they claim to cherish—America’s white evangelicals should abandon Trump (but, sadly, they won’t). Here, then, are five important reasons evangelicals should abandon Donald Trump:
1. Donald Trump is not a Christian. On the face of it, this would seem to be a rather weak reason. Those outside the evangelical fold certainly would reject this fact as a consideration in making their voting choices. But for fervent Christians—particularly those who advocate for Christian Nationalism—backing an unbeliever normally would be a loathsome choice.
Evangelicals generally follow one of two convoluted courses regarding Trump’s “faith.” The first course is the claim that Trump truly is a Christian, albeit a new Christian who still has much to learn about the faith.
A. For example, Focus on the Family’s founder, James Dobson, famously said, “He [Trump] did accept a relationship with Christ. I know the person who led him to Christ, and that’s fairly recent. … I believe he really made a commitment, but he’s a baby Christian.”
Countering Dobson’s assertion about Trump’s Christian status are these contrary facts:
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump said, “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes? I work hard, I'm an honorable person.” That view is completely contrary to the central tenet of Christianity, and at no time since has Trump openly stated any change in his view on repentance.
Also, during that 2016 campaign, Trump mocked a disabled reporter, and such reprehensible behavior was not a first for him. The Bible, on the other hand, condemns such words and actions (see Deuteronomy 27:18-19; Leviticus 19:14; Luke 14:12-14).
In stark contrast to Jesus’ directive for His followers to love even their enemies, Trump advised, “When people wrong you, go after those people, because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it. I always get even.”
While the Bible extols humility and condemns pride, Trump says, “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest--and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault.”
Donald Trump pretends to be a Christian—though not very convincingly—for no reason other than to secure the votes of gullible evangelical voters.
B. The other evangelical talking point regarding Trump’s status as a Christian is that he is not a true believer, but that it doesn’t matter because evangelicals are voting for their president, not for their pastor. Sure, many Trumpists say, Trump is profane, vulgar, and greedy—all characteristics condemned in the Bible—but he has promised to protect our rights, promote our religion, and empower us.
This view runs counter to the principle seen in the Gospels, where Satan offers the flesh-bound Jesus all the world’s kingdoms if Jesus will worship him and Jesus rejects the offer.
On a similar note, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).
2. Donald Trump is not “pro-life.” A common view among white evangelicals is that while Trump may not be a Christian, he is “pro-life,” and that alone is sufficient reason to support him. But is he really “pro-life”? Consider these points that bring such a notion into question:
In a 1999 interview on Meet the Press, Trump stated unequivocally that he was “pro-choice.” It was only when he began to see that he might be able to garner significant evangelical support for a presidential run that he shifted his stated view on abortion.
In a more recent Meet the Press interview, Trump equivocated on the abortion issue, calling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s signing of a six-week abortion ban, “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” If, as a large percentage of evangelicals believe, human life begins at conception, then Trump is not “pro-life.”
Abortion rates have declined steadily since the mid-1980s, but the most significant declines occurred during Democratic presidencies, and abortion rates actually rose during Trump’s final year in office.
For most modern white evangelicals, “pro-life” means opposition to abortion. Period. But the Bible sees the matter differently. First, the Bible never explicitly addresses abortion. But it does directly address how to treat those already born. Among many such verses is this one: “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jeremiah 22:3).
Pro-life goes well beyond the abortion issue. And as seen in many of the policies pursued in the first Trump presidency, Donald Trump is not pro-life.
3. Donald Trump is turning people away from the faith. A 2006 survey found 23 percent of respondents identifying as evangelical. A similar survey in 2020—four years into the Trump era—saw that figure drop to 14 percent. One young Christian who quit attending church services, told Business Insider, “It's so crazy to me that someone who taught me what a good example of a Christian is, is now choosing to label Trump as a good example of a Christian.”
Russell Moore, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, aptly said, “We see now young evangelicals walking away from evangelism not because they do not believe what the church teaches, but because they believe the ‘church itself’ does not believe what the church teaches.”
A recent survey found evangelicals’ slavish support of Donald Trump as the third-highest-ranked reason—from among 23 reasons—that people have left evangelical Christianity. One young respondent stated this as his or her reason for leaving: “The 2016 election. I wanted nothing to do with a group that supported Trump and his insane ideology under the pretense of faith.”
4. Trump is putting the nation on a path that will lead to civil war. According to a survey conducted by Public Religion Research Institute (PPRI), “Two years ago, just 15 percent of Americans agreed with the statement that ‘because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.’ Now [October 2023], 23 percent are in favor—including 33 percent of Republicans.”
After convincing his devoted followers that they should believe him over any anyone or anything else, Trump then fed those same followers a steady diet of lies. Most prominent among those lies are his claims that he’s never done anything wrong, that the 2020 election victory was stolen from him, that he is a victim of “the deep state”—and that if he is not re-elected it will be because “the deep state” rigged the election.
So, if Trump is not re-elected in November 2024, his rabid disciples will—not might, but will—engage in violence to overthrow what they will see as an illegitimate federal government. And if that PPRI poll finding that 33 percent of Republican voters agree that violence may be necessary to save the country was accurate, then that could mean that 13 million Second Amendment-loving Americans will be on the warpath.
5. He is destroying our epistemological base. The basis for human advancement has always been a shared understanding of objective truth and, generally, a common knowledge base. Certainly there always will be a few outliers who refuse to accept what the vast majority of humans agree on as settled facts. But a relative few nutcases—regardless of their fervor—cannot flatten out a round planet.
The MAGA movement has, however, dramatically expanded the pool of truth deniers. The January 6, 2021, attack on the nation’s Capitol Building is a graphic example of millions choosing to believe one man over what their eyes and ears plainly experienced. The news footage clearly shows thousands of screaming, chanting Trump followers assaulting law enforcement officers as they forced their way into the building, seeking to halt the official count of the Electoral College votes that would place a new person in the Oval Office.
But despite the obvious evidence, the MAGA folks have chosen to believe that the rioters were either peaceful Trump supporters or violent ANTIFA plants. Neither belief makes any sense, but logic is dispensable for infatuated cultists—and so is a common set of facts. And it is because of this reason that all the other reasons listed above for abandoning Trump will make no headway within the MAGAverse.