Why Do Many Religiously Conservative Christians Remain Loyal To Trump?

One of the big mysteries of this time period in the 21st Century is why does a highly moral group such as religiously conservative Christians support a President with such an immoral past and questionable present? Many have tried to answer that question. The latest attempt can be seen in an interview article by Amanda Marcotte (click here for bio). In that article, Marcotte is interviewing author Katherine Stewart about her book that tries to answer that question. In her book, Stewart claims that Christian supporters of President Trump have replaced worship of Jesus with worship of power (click here for the article).

Of course Stewart says other things about conservative Christian supporters of Trump. One of her claims states that the search for power has made these religiously conservative Christian vulnerable to political manipulation by operatives. Part of the time, Stewart describes how that manipulation works with different networks of pastors listening to messages that support policies that favor wealthy elites. She also gives a brief history on how what has come to be known as the pro-life movement was initially not an easy sell to conservative Republicans.

But the most important part of the article is the claim that Christian supporters of Trump now worship power rather than Jesus. And though there is some supporting evidence for the claim, the answer is not an easy one.

Some of the evidence comes by the fact that Christian nationalism has gotten a big boost during the Trump campaign and Presidency. Trump is seen as a hero king who is protecting God's people in a hostile land. That because Trump has a positive relationship with the Christian nationalist movement, Trump is seen as a king. Some have referred to him as King Cyrus from the Old Testament.

And yet, the answer to the questions is still not clear. And that is because Stewart's claim is neither right nor wrong. It is not wrong because many Christian followers of Trump have sacrificed many of their Christian principles on the altar of political power. They have more political say with Trump and thus Trump is the horse they are going to ride.

However, Stewart's claim is not right either. Why? That question goes to the question of why seek that political power. That question is important because if there is a reason for searching for that power, that reason becomes more important than the power these Christians seek. Thus that reason becomes what Christian supporters of Trump are actually worshiping.

The interview article with Stewart noted that the spiritual compromises that many Trump supporting Christians make the following pattern compared with some other nations. Such nations include Russia, Hungary, and Turkey. Other nations that could be included but were not mentioned in the interview were Egypt and Syria. In the last 2 examples, many Christians in those nations were supporting autocratic rulers because those rulers were protecting the Church from physical enemies. But in supporting those autocratic rulers, Christians in those nations were supporting the denial of rights and even oppression practiced against other groups in their nations. Thus, Christians in nations like Syria and Egypt have learned the art of the deal by trading concern for other oppressed groups for protection.

What could be a higher false god to Christian supporters of Trump than power? Perhaps that question could be found by first determining the most pivotal event in the 21st Century for religiously conservative Christians. That event would be the Obergefell decision that allowed for the legalization of same-sex marriages. For that decision became recognized as the final nail into the coffin of Christian privilege and supremacy in American society. It was after that decision, that there was a debate, and still is, recognizing America as now being in a Post Christian era and whether Christians should withdraw from such a society in order to remain pure.

The Obergefell decision put and end to the last vestiges of Christian control over society and so Christians are now in danger of becoming passé, irrelevant. And so just as Christians in Egypt and Syria were facing a physical crisis, so to did many religiously conservative American Christians face an existential crisis. That is because they have lost sense of significance in American society which they felt they have regained with the election of and alliance with Donald Trump.

Here we should note that it isn't the lack of power that makes these Christians so vulnerable to political manipulation. It is feeling insignificant that makes these Christians so vulnerable to manipulation of flattery and/or warnings of threats. And those who are holding the reigns to these Christians use both to steer the political sentiments of these Christians for their own purposes.

Thus, we see something similar in the relationship between the state and the Church in both Syria and Egypt with what exists in America with religiously conservative Christians and Trump. Just as the churches in Syria and Egypt respond favorably to dictators because they provide security in exchange for ignoring the oppression that the leaders of those nations bring on their own people, so the religiously conservative churches here respond favorably to Trump to protect them from existential threats in exchange for ignoring Trump's exploitive measures on people and the environment as well as his harsh measures against immigrants.

So perhaps the real God for Christian supporters of Trump is their collective ego.

 

The End Is Near For White Conservative Christian Americans

Isn't it ironic that the end is coming first for those who carry signs that say: 'The End Is Near'? And yet, according to Amanda Marcotte (click here for a quick bio and click there for her article), this is the case. And it isn't just Marcotte who is saying this. Several Conservative Christian blogs have been anticipating the coming period of exile where Conservative Christians will no longer have their traditional privileged position in deciding our society's laws and mores. What is the reason for this loss of power? 

Why is the sky falling now? I can think of 3 reasons 2 of which were mentioned by Marcotte. The first reason is demographics. There are getting to be fewer Whites in proportion to people from some other races and even still fewer Conservative Christians. The drop in the population percentage of Whites has to do with the population growth of other races. When you add to that the drop in the number of those who claim a religious affiliation, it is only natural to conclude that we will see a smaller percentage of white, conservative Christians.

But we should note, as Marcotte does, that the drop in the percentage of white, conservative Christians also has to do with their attitudes toward certain people who are different. And that difference has to do with attitudes toward sex. It seems that we have an old guard in the white conservative Christian American demographic who are punitive toward homosexuals in how they want society to treat homosexuals. They also cry foul when they are resisted. 

Now some of the resistance faced by that old guard, according to some of my fellow Christians, comes from the Political Correctness movement. And there is a little merit to that idea because of a few extreme elements in that movement. But the idea that a group that is losing its privilege and has been involved in marginalizing others would cry persecution and claim to be victims simply because some of its victims are making gains for itself is irritating to say the least. In fact, it is offensive. And when we add that to society's changing views of sex where, as Marcotte noted, in that people are feeling less guilty about having sex, we could add that it would be easy to see where some of the main messages preached by these Christians is losing its appeal.

Marcotte stops there, which perhaps reflects some of her major concerns; but there is one more point to make regarding why white, conservative Christians in America are losing their place in society. That point has to do with how their Christianity measures up to postmodernism. Postmodernism, as I understand it, is a reactionary movement that seeks to avoid the past moral mistakes of domination and colonization. Here we should note that the 'metanarratives' of both premodernism and modernism have been used to justify the exploitation and abuse of others. This exploitation and abuse in America occurs economically and in the world through foreign policies abroad. And included in premodernism is the Christian faith.

If we add to postmodernism's rise in popularity, the silence of white, conservative Christians on the domination and colonization we see in the world today provides another reason for why white, conservative Christianity is losing its appeal. The concerns regarding domination and colonization are real and merit opposition. So when white, conservative Christians try too hard to control the sexual lives of individuals while saying nothing to those who would exploit and abuse others, it seems that not only are white conservative Christian Americans losing their public appeal, they are creating a perfect storm for themselves. And that storm will cause the continued emptying of the white, conservative Christian movement in America.

Marcotte does say some significant things here about why white, conservative Christian Americans are no longer an in group. The comments on demographics are important and her calling the efforts of white conservative Christians to control what homosexuals are allowed to do in society 'overreach' is a nuanced way of being spot on. But there is a larger picture to consider as well. And that is where Marcotte fails. For while she looks at this Christian movement from a sexual issues perspective, white, conservative Christians continue to be silent about a status quo that relies on the exploitation and domination of others to live. Perhaps their silence is because they do not want to bite the hands that feed them. And this is what she should have also written about.