The statistics tell one story: 81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. The deafening silence from leaders of the religious right in the wake of the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Va., points to an even larger one, which places racism at the very heart of the movement.
On the face of it, evangelical support for Trump is anomalous. How can a movement ostensibly concerned about “family values” support a twice-divorced, thrice-married man who said that his “personal Vietnam” was avoiding sexually transmitted diseases? How could evangelicals vote for someone who flaunted his infidelities and who boasted about his tawdry behavior toward women?
The standard rejoinder is that evangelicals were so concerned about abortion and, therefore, judicial appointments that they were prepared to ignore Trump’s indiscretions to advance the one cause — opposition to abortion — that lay at the core of their political movement. That argument collapses, however, on historical examination.
Several evangelical leaders and evangelical organizations applauded the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision. The late Paul Weyrich, architect of the religious right, was emphatic that abortion had nothing whatsoever to do with the genesis of evangelical political activism in the 1970s, a sentiment echoed by other conservative leaders, […]
Granted, 1/3 can create havoc. And 2/3, if those figures are precise, can be a powerful force for positive change. I also believe there are varying degrees of bias within those numbers and if we were to engage one on one that there are shared visions and points of agreement. At one point I worked freelance for a company that wrote those questions and they admitted that while the science can reveal a trend, even that can be inexact or misleading. However, I do share your concern.
That said, I’m also heartened by the glimpses of people waking up. It’s no secret that humans are their own worst enemies and their own best chance. City and state legislatures that went to Trump et al are being taken back by more liberal factions. Shared interests, such as health care, have brought together strange bedfellows. I’ve found while engaged in something that matters to us, a concern we share with others, amazing things happen.
We are going thru a period of awakening, of changes that are shaking the foundations of of everything we believed in. As a woman, I was really excited when Emily’s List, a decades old non profit that allies with positive change for women, reported that close to 17,000 women are running for office. Emily’s List is raising money for them and giving them organizational support. Young liberal African Americans are positioned to win posts as mayors of major cities in the Deep South. Everyday millions sign petitions and call Congress to demand change that’s life affirming. We need to remember that much of the major media is in the hands of the alt right, i.e. Sinclair, but there are so very many other ways that people are connecting to news, debating and shaping news.