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<\/a><\/p>\nYesterday we tried to think through just why Evangelicals, who only recently held a prominent position in American culture, have become what James Davison Hunter<\/a>\u00a0calls \u201cthe cultural other,\u201d viewed by a large number of Americans as being so different, so far beyond the pale of social acceptability, that they cannot be empathized with.<\/p>\n We discussed how Jesus said that Christians should expect to receive hatred when they follow Him, though there is also hatred Christians receive when they fail to follow Jesus and violate their own beliefs.<\/p>\n Then we came around to politics. The immediate reason for the backlash against Evangelicals is that they\u00a0have been the most reliable supporters of Donald Trump.\u00a0 The Social Elite cannot stand Trump, and so they cannot stand\u2013or understand\u2013those who support him, particularly Evangelicals.<\/p>\n Now not all Evangelicals did, in fact, support Trump, and those who did often had various reasons for doing so.\u00a0 It is certainly rational for Evangelicals to support a politicians who advances their agenda\u2013as Trump did when it comes to pro-life and religious liberty issues\u2013even when the politician is not one of them and has personal qualities that they might not approve of.\u00a0 This is how politics works in a democracy:\u00a0 you vote for whoever delivers on your issues.<\/p>\n It is true, though, that some Evangelicals have gone to extremes in their devotion to Donald Trump, treating him as if he were inerrant or infallible, to the point of idolatry.\u00a0 (Venerating a golden image<\/a> of this mortal, reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3, is surely uncharacteristic of Protestant Christians, even as a joke.)\u00a0 And some Evangelical churches confused the political with the spiritual in wholly inappropriate ways, turning their conservative political activism into a social gospel of the right, the mirror image of what progressive churches have done with their social gospel of the left.<\/p>\n In his essay, Why Do They Hate Us?,<\/a> the never-Trump Evangelical David French discusses these issues and Hunter\u2019s research.\u00a0 But he concludes that Evangelicals\u2019 support for Trump \u201cis a symptom, not the disease.\u201d\u00a0 Recognizing the truth of John 15, that Christians can be hated for good reasons\u2013being faithful to Christ, opposing abortion, holding to sexual morality\u2013French cites data that suggests that Evangelicals often hold to unpopular secular positions that have nothing to do with Christ.<\/p>\n For example, Americans in most demographics have become highly concerned with racism and the way Black people and other racial minorities have been and continue to be treated in this country.\u00a0 Not white Evangelicals!\u00a0 That is the demographic least<\/em> concerned about racial issues.<\/p>\n White evangelicals are the demographic most<\/em> opposed to illegal immigration.\u00a0 They are the least<\/em> bothered by immigrant children being separated from their parents at the border.\u00a0 Furthermore, a study found that Evangelicals support Trump more for his hard line on immigration than for his opposition to abortion!<\/p>\n There are good reasons for opposing illegal immigration, but it isn\u2019t a theological issues, per se<\/em>.\u00a0 It certainly isn\u2019t more important than opposing abortion.<\/p>\n In all of this, Evangelicals come across to the general public as mean-spirited, hypocritical in their claims to be moral, and insincere in their professed allegiance to Jesus.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying this is accurate\u2013I think it shows great misunderstanding\u2013but this is the perception.<\/p>\n You should also read the discussion of Hunter\u2019s research by historian and fellow Patheos blogger John Turner, entitled Evangelicalism as Bad Religion<\/a>.\u00a0 He sees similarities between today\u2019s perceptions of Evangelicalism and other religions that have been considered \u201cbad\u201d in American history.\u00a0\u00a0He focuses on Islam and, from the 19th century, Mormonism<\/a>.\u00a0 I would add 19th century Catholicism.<\/p>\n Following on his suggestions, but adding some of my own, consider that each of these \u201cbad religions\u201d acquired associations of violence:\u00a0 Mormons<\/a> (as in the Mountain Meadows Massacre<\/a>); Catholics (as in the Inquisition); Muslims (as in the 9\/11 attacks and other acts of terrorism); Evangelicals (the characterization of the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol).<\/p>\n They also were thought to involve anti-American political beliefs and to seek to take over the nation:\u00a0 Mormons (with their theocratic government); Catholics (with their allegiance to the Pope), Muslims (with their goal of imposing Shar\u2019ia Law); Evangelicals (with their alleged \u201cinsurrection\u201d at the Capitol and desire to overthrow the election to install Trump as dictator).<\/p>\n These \u201cbad religions\u201d were also associated with what were considered bizarre sexual practices:\u00a0 Mormons (polygamy); Catholics (celibacy); Muslims (polygamy); Evangelicals (monogamous heterosexuality).<\/p>\n Next time:\u00a0 What Evangelicals and other conservative Protestants might do to repair their \u201cbrand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Image by\u00a0Pete Linforth<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A major reason Evangelicals have become so disliked today is politics; specifically, their high level of support for Donald Trump. What, though, does that mean?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":53834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,20,36,37,39],"tags":[457,3881,10558,788,10556],"class_list":["post-53828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-history","category-politics","category-psychology","category-religions","tag-christianity-and-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-evangelical-unpopularity","tag-evangelicals","tag-otherness"],"yoast_head":"\n