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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe racial demons that help explain evangelical support for [Redacted]
It is an abandonment of the evangelical path, these writers argue to varying degrees and with different emphases for believers who claim to care about the poor, the suffering, and the outcast, not to mention sexual morality and civic virtue, to line up behind a belligerent boor who bullies women, Mexicans, and Muslims and who has a manifestly feeble understanding of religious texts and history. Its not that evangelicals are personally prejudiced, these writers claim; nonetheless, they find it disturbing that such voters would overlook Trumps racism and misogyny for short-term political gains.
But these sympathetic critics fail to grapple with the idea that Trumps racism and misogyny might actually resonate with the evangelical base, which happens to constitute about 35 percent of the GOP coalition. In fact, racism and intolerance are more woven into the fabric of evangelicalism than these Christian critics care to accept.
I spent the first 15 years of my career as a scholar studying American evangelicals and race, and in my view, the failure to consider motivations rooted in anxieties about race and gender as an explanation of evangelical Trump support represents a striking omission. The history of American evangelicalism is intensely racially charged. The persistent approval for Trump among white evangelicals ought to prompt far more critical self-reflection within the evangelical community than weve seen so far.
Evangelicals tenacious affection for Donald Trump is not a bug driven by expediency. Instead, it reflects defining features of American evangelicalism that become clearer when we examine the historical record. Doing so reveals that when white conservative evangelicals feel threatened by cultural change, the old demons of racism and misogyny, which lurk at the heart of the American evangelical tradition, return with a vengeance. Trump is just another chapter in that story.
But these sympathetic critics fail to grapple with the idea that Trumps racism and misogyny might actually resonate with the evangelical base, which happens to constitute about 35 percent of the GOP coalition. In fact, racism and intolerance are more woven into the fabric of evangelicalism than these Christian critics care to accept.
I spent the first 15 years of my career as a scholar studying American evangelicals and race, and in my view, the failure to consider motivations rooted in anxieties about race and gender as an explanation of evangelical Trump support represents a striking omission. The history of American evangelicalism is intensely racially charged. The persistent approval for Trump among white evangelicals ought to prompt far more critical self-reflection within the evangelical community than weve seen so far.
Evangelicals tenacious affection for Donald Trump is not a bug driven by expediency. Instead, it reflects defining features of American evangelicalism that become clearer when we examine the historical record. Doing so reveals that when white conservative evangelicals feel threatened by cultural change, the old demons of racism and misogyny, which lurk at the heart of the American evangelical tradition, return with a vengeance. Trump is just another chapter in that story.
A story that needs lots more telling.
Over, and over, and over.
wearily,
Bright
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The racial demons that help explain evangelical support for [Redacted] (Original Post)
TygrBright
Apr 2018
OP
Racial demons...exactly...and you wonder why so many have turned away from
asiliveandbreathe
Apr 2018
#1
An excellent illustration of just why there needs to be separation between church and state.
TygrBright
Apr 2018
#3
asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)1. Racial demons...exactly...and you wonder why so many have turned away from
this so called religion evangelicals...young evangelicals..they get it!!!!
Anon-C
(3,430 posts)2. Standing O! Nt
TygrBright
(20,758 posts)3. An excellent illustration of just why there needs to be separation between church and state.
As soon as any shared faith/belief gets organized to the point of being a religion/doctrine/church/etc. it develops political ambitions and loses its essential quality of connection to the unknowable.
diffidently,
Bright