Trump vs. Jesus

I HAIL FROM a theological tradition that places the highest value on epistemology, the study of how we think about God, yet tends to invest little energy on ethics, the study of how we are called to interact in the world.

Likewise, many in my theological tradition place ultimate value on one’s capacity for faith in particular sets of beliefs—and tend to demonstrate hostility toward historical, anthropological, philosophical, and scientific methods to shape those beliefs, unless those methods happen to support the tradition’s faith-born premises. Think: climate-change denial. This article of faith is partially rooted in profound belief in a particular reading of Genesis 1:26 and human dominion. It is not rooted in science.

Perhaps this reveals one reason why so much of the white evangelical community saw no red flags when Donald Trump refused to show his tax returns. They believed in him. They did not need to see evidence.

Perhaps this is the reason it does not faze many white evangelicals that Trump trafficked in fake news, conspiracy theory, and innuendo to win the presidency and continues the practices in the aftermath. Trump’s relationship to fact may mirror their own. It almost seems as if life in this world and the hard facts that govern life have nothing to do with anything. I’m thinking of the fold-over tracts or Facebook posts that fly through evangelical circles during every presidential election cycle. They claim the Democratic candidate is the Antichrist and warn of the horrors if she or he is elected. It doesn’t matter if the Democrat or the Republican promises to protect the poor. All that matters is which one assures the voter’s stature in the afterlife. And who wants to go to hell because they voted for the Antichrist? Not me.

Perhaps this is why many white evangelicals were not perturbed when Trump’s policy convictions seemed to change by the hour before and since the election. And perhaps it is why so many white evangelicals put faith in Trump’s profession of Christian faith despite his unchristian vow to attack the well-being of those Jesus entreats his followers to care for the most:

• Trump vowed to enact policies that hurt the hungry through tax cuts for the rich while cutting food stamps for the poor.
• Trump vowed to enact policies that show contempt for the thirsty by crippling the Environmental Protection Agency, which protects vulnerable people’s water supply.
• Trump vowed to enact policies that sell-out the sick by repealing the Affordable Care Act.
•  Trump vowed to keep immigrants out by building a wall.
• Trump vowed to increase the number of those imprisoned by ramping up the same “law and order,” “stop and frisk” policies that multiplied America’s black and Latino prison populations over the past four decades.
• And Trump vowed to enact policies that strip resources from the naked by adopting the economic plan of Rep. Paul Ryan, which would rest more than two-thirds of budget cuts on the backs of poor people, including seniors.

Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals are evidently fine with all this, because history means nothing. Data means nothing. Secular law means nothing. Ethics mean nothing. He said he is a Christian. They believe in Trump’s “Christian heart.”

And perhaps this is why so many white evangelicals could stomach Trump’s bigotry, misogyny, and xenophobia—because their heaven-focused belief has sanitized their read of scripture, causing many to view the entire Old Testament as “another dispensation” not relevant for today. And it has led to misinterpretation of Paul’s declaration: “No Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female in Christ Jesus.” Pastors have preached that this means we’re all welcome in heaven—and missed Paul’s pointed call to renounce the power distinctions imposed by empire.

And so, ethics had nothing to do with these evangelicals’ votes.

Here is the question that haunts me: Has the Trump presidency revealed evidence of a truth we have not wanted to see? That the one who said “I am the way” (ethics), “the truth” (epistemology), “and the life” (shalom) is increasingly irrelevant in evangelical America?