Many evangelical Christian leaders, both progressive and conservative, express profound, faith-based opposition to Donald Trump.
But the reasons for our opposition mainly differ. This difference is often lost on outside observers.
Progressive evangelicals mainly worry over Donald Trump’s xenophobia and bigotry, considering these a violation of core Christian moral values. Conservative evangelicals mainly worry over Trump’s disinterest in a conservative Christian social policy agenda, also believed to be at the heart of Christian moral values. (Both worry over his character and temperament.)
One way to tell the difference between these two kinds of opposition is to consider our conflicting reactions to the departure of Ted Cruz from the presidential race.
As a progressive evangelical Christian, there was very little about Ted Cruz or his platform that appealed to me. I thought Senator Cruz was one of the most effective Christian Right/social conservative Republican candidates for president to be seen since the rise of the Christian Right in the late 1970s. The script was old; the messenger was new, and ruthlessly effective. He did much, much better than the other Christian Right candidates on offer in 2016, including Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
That Christian Right script is worth recalling, if only to consider its contrast to the message of Donald Trump:
here
Trump victory marks major defeat for Christian Right agenda | Religion News Service
But the reasons for our opposition mainly differ. This difference is often lost on outside observers.
Progressive evangelicals mainly worry over Donald Trump’s xenophobia and bigotry, considering these a violation of core Christian moral values. Conservative evangelicals mainly worry over Trump’s disinterest in a conservative Christian social policy agenda, also believed to be at the heart of Christian moral values. (Both worry over his character and temperament.)
One way to tell the difference between these two kinds of opposition is to consider our conflicting reactions to the departure of Ted Cruz from the presidential race.
As a progressive evangelical Christian, there was very little about Ted Cruz or his platform that appealed to me. I thought Senator Cruz was one of the most effective Christian Right/social conservative Republican candidates for president to be seen since the rise of the Christian Right in the late 1970s. The script was old; the messenger was new, and ruthlessly effective. He did much, much better than the other Christian Right candidates on offer in 2016, including Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
That Christian Right script is worth recalling, if only to consider its contrast to the message of Donald Trump:
here
Trump victory marks major defeat for Christian Right agenda | Religion News Service