dogriver | Opinion Piece: How Much has President Trump Done for Evangelicals?

Sometime ago, United States president Donald Trump made the bold claim that he has done more for Evangelicals than any other president. Such a bold claim demands scrutiny. As someone who counts his beliefs as being Evangelical in nature, I would like to delve into the validity of this claim and, as it were, put it under the microscope.

First, I would like to examine what I believe to be the most important commandments Christ gave to His people. Second, I will ask whether or not President Trump has done anything to forward the following of these commandments. Finally, I will suggest what I believe would be the best thing President Trump can do if he really wants to help Christians.

What Are the Goals for Evangelicals?

The way I see it, when you read the Gospels and the commands that Jesus lays out for His followers, there are three that are of particular importance to all. These are the Big Three, and they do not apply solely to those of us who call ourselves Evangelicals, a term that some human somewhere invented. So what are these special commandments to which all Christians, all Christ-followers, are expected to adhere?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart (Matthew 22:36-40). This one should be obvious, but isn't to some people calling themselves Christians, people who don't even believe that following Jesus is necessary to be a Christian, a contention actually made to me by a lawyer.

Love your neighbor as yourself (also Matthew 22:36-40). This is the one some people calling themselves Evangelicals have a problem with, because they want to put qualifiers into the commandment specifying which neighbors to love, something Christ does not do.

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). I would have liked to use Mark 16 as a reference here, but scholars generally agree that this much more strongly-worded Great Commission was added in later. But no matter, it is clearly important, and you don't have to have it slelled out vividly to see this. We are instructed to make disciples out of others. Note that we are not told here to pass judgment on nonbelievers; we are not to hit them over the head with the Bible and condemn them to hell (though the people to whom we witness need to be made aware of its existence and its dangers); we are not told to force nonbelievers to conform to our values and our way of life. Salvation is a miracle, and just as a farmer who plants the seed isn't actually doing anything to make the plant, so the person who fulfills the Great Commission isn't saving anyone, that's something only God can do.

What Has Donald Trump Done to Help Christians in These Regards?

First of all, let's throw out the label "Evangelical". As I have attempted to show, the "big three" in the previous section should, I believe, be the priorities of all Christians, regardless of how we choose to define ourselves. Anyone calling themselves Evangelical who believes there are priorities that supercede these, particularly the first two points, nees to re-evaluate his or her faith.

What has President Trump done to help us to love God? The answer is, what could he do, even if he wanted to? Loving God can not be legislated, it can not be enforced by a political leader (or any other human being), it is something we must do by and for ourselves. An argument could be made that, by creating an atmosphere more "favorable" to Christians (note the quotation marks), Trump is somehow making it easier to love God. But if your ability to love God is in any way contingent on the political climate of the day, then it is time to question whether or not you actually love God, or if you simply find it convenient to align yourself with those calling themselves Christians. My personal belief here is that Trump has no interest in loving God, nor in forwarding the love of God. He has interests in garnering votes, and he believes, it would seem rightly, that a great many votes can be bought by seeming to champion the cause of Christians. This is not helping Christians, it is duping them, deceiving them. If a person chooses to be a Trump supporter, I believe, relgious beliefs should not be a part of that reason. Taking it further, one should ask if a president who uses God as a tool to buy votes is a president a Christian wants to be following.

What about loving each other? Loving our neighbor? Has creating a political system that "favors" Christians created one bit of goodwill towards nonbelievers? I contend that it has not; in fact, it has done quite the opposite. It has pitted Christians against nonChristians, creating an "us versus them" system that has raised hackles on all sides.Ask yourself, realistically, if there is any more love in the United States between Christians and nonChristians than there was before the 2016 election. If there is, I'm certainly not seeing it.

And what of the third commandment, the Great Commission. Well, to be at all effective at "selling a product", you need to have a product people want. If the "product" is faith in a loving God, then it can not be "sold" in an atmosphere where love is absent. "Hey, Jesus loves you, you stupid hellbound jerk. Come on, don't you want to be just like me?" just isn't going to cut it.So by fostering a climate of distrust and contempt between believers and nonbelievers, Trump has created an environment that hinders, rather than facilitates, the great Commission. And since I firmly believe that he is using the faith in God of others to buy votes, I don't believe this bothers him one bit. God is a pawn to President trump, as are the voters he is buying. It will be up to God to determine if and how He chooses to deal with this.

So How Could Trump Help Christians?

Let's assume that I'm wrong, let's assume that Trump's desire really is to help Christians via his political office. What can he do? My answer will be vote-neutral, it won't score him any brownie points, it won't give him anything to crow about at rallies and religious events. The best thing he could do for Christians and Christianity is to stay the heck out of it: practise true Christianity himself, which would include some humility, making no effort to hide his Christian beliefs, but don't try to legislate it, don't try to buy votes with it, don't use it for show. Create, instead, a country that offers complete freedom of, and freedom from, religiom. Let the Christian, the Jew, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Native American, anyone, practice their faith with impunity and without judgment. Let the Atheist and the Agnostic believe as they choose. The government has no place in the religious beliefs or nonbeliefs of its people. To impose itself in that way never works. That would be the unglamorous, the selfless, and the best way President Trump could help Christianity. I do not see this happening, and I do not expect it to happen, because I have a difficult time believing Donald Trump has any sincere Christian beliefs. He certainly has a problem with that humility bit. But enough editorializing. The point is that a "them versus us" just does not work, it can not work. The government needs to stop doing it, and outspoken Evangelicals need to stop demanding it. Religion should not influence our politics, and politics should not influence our religion.

I probably haven't scored any points with Trump supporters with this blog entry, and I also probably haven't done particularly well with scoring points with Evangelicals. But that's okay. The only opinion that matters here is God's opinion. And if His opinion, which is, after all, perfect, is that I am off-base, I hope He will tell me. But I have felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to write this article for many months now. I have been praying for the right words, the right attitude, to convey what I believe He wants me to convey. This article has been a very long time in coming, and I hope that I, in my imperfect but sincere way, have done it justice.