I am not a Christian, but I do believe the world would be a better place if more people lived in alignment with the teachings of Jesus. In truth, the world would be far better if only more Christians did. Unfortunately, many if not most have turned their backs on the humble carpenter to instead follow one of the least Christian people on the planet.
Despite centuries of iconography to the contrary, Jesus was a young, dark-skinned, radical Jew who routinely defied authority, welcomed people from all walks of life, and worked to combat the systemic injustices of his society. He was the kind of person you might describe as “awake.” He certainly wanted to change things for the better, i.e., to make progress. You might say he was a real progressive.
Jesus advocated nonviolence, humility (Matthew 23:12), austerity (Matthew 19:21), charity for the poor (Luke 14:13–14), and love for our enemies (Luke 6:27). He advised us to turn the other cheek (Luke 6:29), to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:44–45), and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–39). Amen!
He warned against the accumulation of wealth (Matthew 6:19–24), treated women as equals, and instructed his followers to pay their taxes (Mark 12:17). His early followers, led by Peter, even forged an essentially socialist community (Acts 2:44–45).
However much the Christian right still claims the symbol of the cross, their politics could not be more antithetical to Christ’s teaching. The lyrics of Everclear’s “Jesus Was a Democrat” (love this song…) capture the contradiction well: “He would be all locked up in Guantanamo Bay if he were alive today.” And, “If Jesus was alive today…I’m pretty god-damned sure that you and your friends would find some way to kill him all over again.”
How exactly did this liberal Middle Eastern social justice advocate become a symbol of the far-right? And how is it that many ostensible Christians now prefer a convicted fraud who is obsessed with celebrity, power, money, vengeance, and cruelty toward outsiders? Admitting your sinful nature doesn’t give you a free pass to do whatever you like. Given their adoration for a starkly un-Christian demagogue, can evangelicals even properly be called Christians anymore? Too bad “What Would Jesus Do?” never became more than a successful branding tactic.
In a moving essay titled “I Voted for Trump,” pastor and writer Kevin Young writes “Every influential voice in my life reinforced the narrative that conservative Republicans were the party of God, doing his work in this world. With one voice, pastors, parents, grandparents, and fellow parishioners regularly reminded me that a Christian could only vote for one party and be a follower of Christ. No exceptions.” Eventually the stark contradictions between Jesus’ message of compassion and Republican bigotry became too big to ignore and Young broke free of his childhood programming. However, millions live comfortably with the hypocrisy, largely by clinging to the symbols of Christianity while ignoring the substance.
In his essay in The Atlantic, “My Father, My Faith, and Donald Trump,” Tim Alberta describes how his father, an evangelical minister, initially supported Trump as a compromise necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, as for so many other evangelicals and well-meaning conservatives, this first capitulation of his principles created a slippery slope, and he soon became an apologist for Trump’s cruelties, “dismissing criticisms of the president’s conduct as little more than an attempt to marginalize his supporters…he believed that the constant attacks on Trump’s character were ipso facto an attack on the character of people like himself, which…created a permission structure for him to ignore the president’s depravity.”
Conditioned by their leaders to see the secular world as corrupt and a threat to the Christian way of life, it was easy for evangelicals to overlook Trump’s numerous flaws in the name of self-preservation. Anything can become acceptable as long as the alternative appears worse. This is why evangelical and Republican leaders consistently cast their opponents as irredeemably evil. It keeps the flock in line, lets the leadership get away with anything, and is so much easier than offering a positive, hopeful vision.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “A person will worship something — have no doubt about that…That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.” And so today’s evangelicals become ever less like Jesus and more like Trump, less attuned to the Ten Commandments and more like the Israelites in the desert worshipping a golden ass.
Jesus warned his followers to “Watch out for false prophets,” (Matthew 7:15). He also warned that “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash,” (Matthew 7:26–27). It’s easy to see this in the decay of the Christian church, the Republican party, and the nation of which they are such a major part.
Tell me conservative Christians: Do you “love thy neighbor,” or do you “build the wall”? Do you “turn the other cheek,” or do you “lock her up”? Do you “love your enemies” or “own the libs”? Do you seek the kingdom of God, or do you make America great again? Do you believe the truth shall set you free, or do you uphold The Big Lie? Do you welcome the stranger and let the little children come to you, or do you support border detention and family separation? Because, to quote your Lord and savior, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both…” (Matthew 6:24).
Call yourself a Christian if you like, but a follower of Trump is no follower of Christ.
*This piece originally appeared in the March 2, 2024 issue of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.