The MAGA Church Isn't the Faith of Jesus

The distance between American evangelicals and Jesus continues to widen

Way back in 2016, when evangelicals first threw their support behind Donald Trump to get him elected, I was surprised and shocked, as many were. How could Christians support a man like that? I thought.

But ever the optimist, and as a Christian, I also thought back then: surely, as time goes on and they see and hear what he’s doing and saying, surely, surely, for the love of heaven support for Trump among evangelicals will fade.

And as the horror show continued through his first term, I kept waiting for evangelicals to come to their senses and drop their support. I mean, they’re Christians after all, aren’t they?

Oh, how naïve I was.

As a Canadian Christian living north of the US border, I’m sickened by the massive support (84%) white American evangelicals have for Trump. Many thoughtful people have lost their faith and left the church as a result, and I can’t say I blame them. Why would any thinking, caring person who values compassion and care for all people (not just white heterosexuals), want anything to do with a church that supports Trump – a woman hating, immigrant hating, convicted felon and sexual predator – in order to curry political influence.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, rather than seek to appease Trump and curry his favour, instead bravely spoke truth to power in her now famous sermon. It’s what real Christians are supposed to do. But the American evangelical church, rather than speak truth to power, has decided instead to lick its boots.

When I think of the evangelical church in America today, I’m reminded of the words of Fredrick Douglass. Douglass was a former slave who had converted to Christianity in his early teens. After escaping to the north he became one of America’s most prominent and outspoken abolitionists. In 1845 he wrote of the American church:

“…between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference… I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” (Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, page 108. Emphasis mine.)

Strong words indeed. Sadly, they apply just as much to the church in America today. Evangelicals supporting Trump are hugely in favour of war and the mass deportation of immigrants. They loudly demand and defend their right to own guns, and just as loudly demand the end of Obamacare. Trump is threatening my country, Canada, with annexation (spoiler alert – we aren’t interested). He is threatening Panama with military action. He’s threatening our NATO friend and ally, Denmark, with military action. This is the man that evangelicals in America continue to support.

Through everything Trump has done and said over the last ten years since he rode down that golden elevator, evangelical support hasn’t dropped one bit, its actually increased.

The hypocrisy of the MAGA church is mind-boggling. It makes me sick.

But I haven’t lost my faith, and one of the things that has helped me has been a re-reading of the gospels and a renewed focus on the simple words of Jesus, who repeatedly warned against greed and the excessive love of money. He said in many different ways and parables that rich people were going to hell, not because they were rich but for ignoring the needs of others, for loving money and power more than people, for simply being selfish. He had more to say about that single issue than any other issue.

And the only people he ever expressed anger at were the scribes and pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. In one interaction, Jesus warned them of God’s judgement and said: “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23).

Hmmm… they ignored the more important issues of the law, justice and mercy. Isn’t it interesting that’s what today’s MAGA church ignores. Isn’t it interesting that’s what Bishop Budde asked Trump for - mercy.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had him crucified. It’s therefore not at all surprising that the MAGA church has gone after Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for simply asking Trump to be merciful – one of the most basic virtues of the Christian gospel.

I think Douglass was right about the ‘Christian’ church of his day, and I think it applies just as well to American evangelicals today. When I look at the gun-loving, money-loving, war-supporting, power hungry, immigrant despising, racist ‘Christianity’ of America, I see the “widest possible difference” between it and Jesus.

I haven’t lost my faith for the simple reason that the evangelical church in America supporting Trump isn’t the faith of Jesus. They no longer represent, if they ever did, the faith of Christ. There is therefore no need for me to abandon my faith in Christ.

To steal words from Douglass, there is no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the evangelical religion of America today Christian. If it ever was, it no longer is.

For further reading on the condition of the American evangelical church, I’ve found the following books very helpful.

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Jesus v Evangelicals, by Constatine Campbell

Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith, by Obery Hendricks Jr.

The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump, edited by Ron Sider