article<\/a> by Ed Stetzer and Andrew McDonald.<\/p>\nAs much as moderate evangelical leaders want to try and salvage, and put the best face on, what happened this last presidential election, here are five reasons the findings of this survey fail to do that and amounts to, at the end of the day, putting lipstick on a pig<\/em>.<\/p>\nBefore we start, let\u2019s address a quibble, the article\u2019s title, \u201cWhy Evangelicals Voted for Trump: Debunking the 81%.\u201d\u00a0 Strange, I couldn\u2019t find a significant, \u201cdebunking,\u201d anywhere in the article\/survey.\u00a0 To debunk something is to show it as false.\u00a0 There is nothing false about that percentage or its implications.\u00a0 The title is somewhat misleading.\u00a0 A better sub-title would have been: \u201cPutting the 81% in context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, first<\/strong>, the writers note the 81% number fails to address,\u00a0motivation<\/em>.\u00a0 The 81%\u2019s vote wasn\u2019t an, \u201centhusiastic,\u201d vote.\u00a0 Seriously?\u00a0 Do we care at this point?\u00a0 Imagine a person drives a truck, one that is on fire and loaded with garbage, into your living room. The driver gets out, smiles, and offers, \u201cIt\u2019s okay, I wasn\u2019t driving enthusiastically.\u201d\u00a0 If we were supposed to feel some sympathy for the Trump voter, because he wasn\u2019t enthusiastic<\/em>, we should not.\u00a0 Our sympathy should remain with the home-owner\u2014the rest of the country.<\/p>\nSecond<\/strong>, we learn the 81%\u2019s vote was more about the economy than the Supreme Court or pro-life issues.\u00a0 Here was really the only surprise.\u00a0 But, are we supposed to take comfort in this finding?\u00a0 In my view, this makes the motivation for their vote even less understandable or worthy of sympathy.\u00a0 At least we might understand their choosing a morally challenged, ethically stunted, con-artist, with minimal character, honesty, and integrity, if we thought due to conscience, they felt compelled to vote, \u201cpro-life.\u201d<\/p>\nBut to learn they voted with the almighty dollar, mammon, foremost in mind is unbelievably worse.\u00a0 This reveals an even more shallow, unwise, and selfish motivation for their decision.\u00a0 For me, this was the most disappointing and shameful finding.\u00a0 This also undercuts the next finding that they would cross party lines over abortion.\u00a0 Why should we believe that when their primary motivation was the economy?<\/p>\n
Third<\/strong>, we are informed the 81% were taking the long view with their vote.\u00a0 Again, a very disappointing finding.\u00a0 It tells us white evangelicals decided to ditch their long-held advocacy of the idea that, \u201ccharacter matters,\u201d that candidates had to be decent people, honest, and ethical, (regardless their political views or party platform), and join the Machiavellian, modern, utilitarian chorus, to wit: The ends justify the means<\/em>.<\/p>\nSo, if the writers were hoping we would see how strategic, reflective, and purposeful, the 81% were being, please, just stop. There is nothing to admire about throwing up one\u2019s hands and basically saying: If we can\u2019t beat them, let\u2019s join them.<\/p>\n
Fourth<\/strong>, the writers finally get to the finding there is not enough lipstick to make up for:<\/p>\n\u201cMany evangelicals are willing to overlook personal character when voting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moderate evangelical pastors and leaders: This should bother you greatly.\u00a0 This reveals a deep disconnect between the pastors\/leaders and evangelicals in the pews when it comes to political theology and Christian ethics.\u00a0 The above finding is the result of a failure to disciple; or, the result of actually forming a person to believe character doesn\u2019t matter if it means we, \u201cwin,\u201d or gain power.\u00a0 Either way, a failure.<\/p>\n
They go on:<\/p>\n
\u201cPut another way, many evangelicals struggle to hold favored candidates to the same standards expected of rivals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or, we could be honest and put it a way that actually captures what this finding means: Hypocrisy<\/em>.\u00a0 And again, it is the result of ceding their congregants\u2019 discipleship and formation to outside, non-Christian, sources.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t there a verse somewhere that talks about protecting one\u2019s flock from wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing?<\/p>\nFifth<\/strong> and finally:<\/p>\n\u201cMany of the 81 percent were not influenced by church leadership\u2026Put another way, many evangelicals are likely turning to culture\u2014and often the most outraged voices [emphasis added]<\/em>\u2014rather than the church for political discipleship.\u201d<\/p>\nExactly.\u00a0 But here\u2019s a question: Was the, \u201cpolitical discipleship,\u201d ever offered?\u00a0 And what about the political discipleship that actually pointed people toward Trump (Jeffress, Graham, Falwell, Jr., etc.)?\u00a0 Too many evangelical pastors were either silent out of ignorance or fear of their conservative congregations, or they actually advocated for the candidate with the worst character and ethics.\u00a0 A failure, all the way around.<\/p>\n
So, moderate evangelical pastors\/leaders, what say you?\u00a0 What are you going to do about the findings in this polling?\u00a0 Please decide quickly, because I\u2019m not sure the rest of us, the world, or the good name of, \u201cChristian,\u201d can take much more of your people listening to everyone else, except, you<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe writers end on a positive note: \u201c\u2026 [they hope these findings] help evangelicals submit their political engagement to God\u2019s Word, in God\u2019s community, and under the discipleship of godly people rather than to a party, politician, or pundit.\u201d<\/p>\n
I should add that I like and respect Ed Stetzer and I would bet many of the findings of this polling bother him as well, even as he tries to put the best face on them.\u00a0 I just think there isn\u2019t enough lipstick in the world to make this look pretty.<\/p>\n
White evangelical pastors and leaders: Get your own house in order.\u00a0 Stop worrying about who can marry whom, bathrooms, cakes, scary women, or the black and brown people moving into your neighborhoods.\u00a0 Start worrying about the findings of this survey and the fact that rather than, \u201cdebunking,\u201d it confirms our worse suspicions and fears about the evangelical world and the reasons for their vote in 2016.<\/p>\n
I have a Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dilemma moderate evangelical pastors\/leaders find themselves facing is, well, the other evangelicals.\u00a0 The majority.\u00a0 Or, more specifically, the, \u201c81%.\u201d\u00a0 While evangelical pastors and leaders are almost evenly split regarding their approval of the sitting president\u2019s job performance, their congregants, their people, are much more supportive. What to do?\u00a0 These moderate evangelical pastors and leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[53,143,344,630,485],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity-today","tag-evangelicalism","tag-political","tag-political-theology","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n
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