just enough light

When a Christian leader argues that evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” President Trump, we Christians should run fast and far away from that leader. That is the argument Ralph Reed, founder of Faith and Freedom Coalition, makes in his upcoming book, For God and Country: The Christian case for Trump.

The recent adoration of many evangelical leaders of this president should be troubling to Christians, not because they have sworn their allegiance to this president, but that they swear their allegiance to any president, party, or political system. Also troubling is Reed’s assumption that you and I, if we are followers of Christ, should do the same.

I am immediately wary of anyone, particularly a religious leader, who presumes to know the will of God for me, or who presumes they can tell me what my moral obligation is on a topic or toward a person. Their assumption seems to be that I am incapable of making my own decision about my moral obligations.

Can you make a “Christian case” for anything beyond living a Christ-like life? In a recent cartoon, a modern-day carpenter asked Jesus, “Do you think it would be a good idea to advertise myself as a Christian carpenter?” Jesus responded, “How about you do quality work, conduct your business with integrity and honesty, be humble and respectful in how you treat your customers. Then let them figure it out.” That seems to me the best way to make a “Christian case” for anything. Start with acting in a Christ-like manner toward others and let them figure it out.

If being Christian is, at its core, living a Christ-like life, we should take our lead from Jesus. Looking at his relationships with political and religious power and the people who held that power, I find no situation in which Jesus encouraged his followers to hitch their wagon to a political or religious power broker.

Reed’s original title for his book, Render to God and Trump, makes clear how misguided he is in mixing his infatuation with Trump and his assumption that he knows what God wants others to do. Actually, his infatuation is not with Trump, but rather with the power that Trump holds. Anyone in the White House who is politically useful would do.

Because this president has been a useful tool to evangelical leaders, they have gleefully supported him and promoted him among their followers despite his significant moral and character flaws. Yet these evangelical leaders have managed to spin these flaws into a redemptive narrative so convincing that it makes them sound almost sincere.

Reed and others are simply capitalizing on a false narrative that has stoked the fear among some Christians. The narrative is that a war is being waged against religion in this country. And by “religion” they mean Christianity. In other words, these leaders are promoting the idea that somehow Christians in this country are being discriminated against, even persecuted. This narrative trivializes those in other parts of the world who actually are persecuted for their faith, and it is intended to garner sympathy for Christians in this country who are aggrieved because they are encountering limitations to their historical privileges.

John Stewart may have summarized it best: “You’ve confused a war on your religion with not always getting everyone you want.”

Until the last couple of decades, we Christians, particularly in this part of the country, had grown accustomed to the privileges of being the only religious game in town. It was common practice to have prayer as a set part of a school day, to honor Christian holidays only, and to assume that no one would object to a nativity scene on the courthouse lawn. But times have changed. Our society is more complex, more diverse, and more connected to the world beyond our borders than ever before. We have to share the religious playing field with others.

Our political system should respect religious pluralism just as it respects cultural diversity. We are no longer just a Christian nation. We have never been, but it is more apparent now. Christians do not have to agree with the beliefs of other religions, but we can no longer pretend their views and their voices don’t count and therefore should not be heard in the public and political arena.

The inherent danger to melding Christian faith with our political system is that you end up with a political system than justifies discrimination for “righteous” reasons, and a form of Christianity that is legalistic and exclusionary, certainly not in line with Jesus’ teachings.