Evangelical Experts Say Trumpism is Antithetical to Christianity

 Bill Leonard: Are Our Churches Prepared for Christian Autocracy?

It is a rather remarkable indictment of those who claim to be followers of Jesus that they would continue to show fealty to a man whose cruel ethic has always been antithetical to Jesus' and becomes more so every day.  Many of the same people who celebrate Christianity's contributions to civilization--championing the belief that every human being has inherent rights and dignity, celebrating the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the Good Samaritan, and pointing to a 'transcendent order of hope and justice that stands above politics,' in the words of my late friend Michael Gerson--continue to stand foursquare behind a man who uses words that echo Mein Kampf.  --Peter Wehrner, former GOP speechwriter, contributing editor at "The Atlantic."  

Dr. Bill Leonard is a native Texan who is the founding dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, and is professor emeritus of church history and Baptist studies.  He, along with Nathaniel Manderson, a Baptist minister who made headlines this week by declaring that the Trumpism version of the Republican party is standing with Satan, and Tim Alberta, another Evangelical Christian writer for "The Atlantic," whose book The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, is due to be released tomorrow, are all calling out the fascist, Nazi rhetoric now emanating from Trump, as antithetical to true, biblically sound Christianity.  

Pointing Out Mike Johnson's Theological Error

Responding to Johnson's recent statement that America is not a "democracy," but a "constitutional republic" which the founders "set up because they followed the biblical admonition of what a civil society is supposed to look like," Leonard said that was not just a description of bad government, but also bad exegesis.  The phrase, "biblical admonition of what a civil society is supposed to look like," says Leonard, "is the stuff of what theocracies are made."  

"There is no singular biblical admonition toward civil government," said Leonard.  "but a multi-millennial line that stretches from twelve tribes to monarchs like Saul, David, Solomon, Ahab and Jezebel (and don't forget Herod now that Advent is at hand).  Perhaps the strongest 'biblical admonition' calls us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God, whatever the government might be," he said.  

Likewise, it is very clear, from the statements of the two founding fathers who were most closely associated with the development of the first amendment's guarantee of religious liberty and especially of the establishment clause, putting a "wall of separation," as Thomas Jefferson called it, between the church and state, that no Christian theocracy or autocracy, was their intention.  They dismissed the idea of any sort of religious test for service in elected office in any government institution, whether Congress, the Presidency or the court system.  Interpretations by courts of what defined "religious liberty" early on were clear that there was no intention whatsoever for the United States to be a "Christian nation".  

Trumpism Represents Worldliness and is the Opposite of Biblical Christianity 

Trump lived his private and public life stamped very clearly with a worldly brand, reveling in attention from multiple extra-marital affairs, tactically flaunted publicly to convey the message that he was his own man and even married, his wives had no control over him, but he had complete control over them.  He also publicly announced his business and tax fraud, daring legal authorities to come after him and proving that anyone rich enough didn't have to follow any restrictive laws.  And he got away with most of it, or chose to settle before a verdict was reached in court.  

He's evaded every attempt by religious leaders who gather around him and look prayerful and reverent, to conform to their well-coached words to describe his "relationship with God," which he denies he has.  He defines God in his own way, and repeatedly says that he has done nothing for which he needs to be forgiven, a direct denial of the conditions required for Christian conversion.  So he is, by his own admission, not only not a Christian, but defiantly anti-Christian.  

Leonard outlines some specific points which Trump has made part of his campaign for President that should be warnings for Christians to avoid giving him any kind of support, including voting for him.  

• He claims he will seek retribution against his political enemies, punishment not for crimes, but for opposing him.  This is a directly opposite position from the Christian gospel, and a total denial of Jesus' teaching. 
• He plans to subvert constitutionally guarantee liberties by increasing the power of the presidency through surrogate control of the Department of Justice and the FBI.
• He has claimed that an influx of immigrants into the United States is "poisoning the blood of the country," phrases that are dangerously close to the Nazi racial policy of Aryan superiority. 
• He promises violence against those he calls "vermin," another reference borrowed from the National Socialist rhetoric of Hitler and the Nazis.  

Virtually everything that Trump declares outlines a political perspective that is the opposite of every principle and practice outlined by Jesus in the Christian gospel.  There is nothing of the humility, meekness, peacemaking, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, sorrow and repentance from sin, loving one's enemies and turning the other cheek which Jesus proclaims as visible virtues exhibited by Christians.  There is no resemblance in anything Trump says or does that conforms to the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that the Apostle Paul says are produced by the presence of God's spirit.  

And then there are the words of the Apostle John, in his first epistle, where he says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."  John uses the term "antichrist" to describe the character of one whose actions work against the spirit of God, and everything that Trump proclaims as part of his political agenda fits that definition.  He is an antichrist and an anti-American anti-Patriot.  

Getting This Message Out

One of the most politically remarkable events of my lifetime occurred on the Rachel Maddow Show last night.  Former Representative Liz Cheney spent half an hour being interviewed live by Maddow, a sight that I would not have believed had I not actually seen it.  The daughter of one of the most Republican of Republicans of our time, appearing on a progressive journalist's signature television program announcing the publication of her latest book, a narrative aimed at preventing Donald Trump from receiving the GOP nomination and running for the White House.  

So what seems impossible, in convincing a growing number of conservative, Evangelical Christians who have made voting Republican a doctrinal point of the practice of their faith, must be done.  The choice is clear.  It is not possible to hold Christian convictions that are revealed in the teachings of Jesus and the Christian apostles and support and vote for Donald Trump.  Trumpism is, by his own declarations, an inherently evil, anti-Christian perspective.  Christianity rests on grace and is redemptive.  Trumpism is destructive and rests on vengeful hatred.  Those two things are mutually exclusive and incompatible.  

Leonard mentions several Evangelical influencers who are taking an anti-Trump position.  I'd strongly recommend Tim Alberta's new book, released today, which you can find at Bookshop.org, a site that supports independent bookstores.  You can find the comments of Baptist pastor Nathaniel Manderson in this article, Minister Claims Mike Johnson, Republicans, are on the Side of the Devil.  

And here's a link to a book I've recently finished, and which calls out Christians for participating in the attempt to weaken and eliminate American Democracy, David Gushee: Defending Democracy From its Christian Enemies. 

I would also encourage you to continue reading The Signal Press.  I'm an amateur journalist, an educated professional, a Christian raised in the Evangelical tradition (Southern Baptist) and a Never Trump, Democrat supporter of President Joe Biden.  So spread the word, I love to see the angry comments of Trumpies who read what I write.