Tim Farron

Why Christians should dump Trump

Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside a Washington, DC church (Getty images)

You won’t be surprised to hear that I won’t be supporting Donald Trump in next week’s election. But while most Lib Dems won’t be cheering on Trump either, there are plenty of Christians who will.

When Trump won in 2016, an estimated 81 per cent of white evangelical Christians voted for him. Trump is hoping that, once again, these Christians ignore his disregard for the dignity and wellbeing of others, his contempt for equality, his ungracious rhetoric and his lack of compassion for the vulnerable – and back him at the ballot box. Yet this support not only gives faith a bad name, it is a complete misunderstanding of what Christianity is all about.

White evangelical Christians are a powerful lobby in the States. They enjoy considerable influence in national politics, but clearly feel increasingly threatened by secular liberalism and the growth of other ideologies around identity politics. To fight their corner in the culture wars, they crave power and influence – and Trump is promising it to them. But they are wrong to accept his offer.

He has shown that his values contradict pretty much everything the Bible says, yet claims to be the only one who will defend their right to exist. He signals this through stunts such as holding up a Bible outside a church in a stand against ‘lawlessness’ during the unrest following the death of George Floyd; or allowing his press secretary to quote from the Bible to justify separating children of illegal immigrants from their parents. His son Eric has gone so far as to claim that his father has ‘literally saved Christianity’. No, he hasn’t.

Thankfully there are Christian evangelicals who are taking a stand against Trump’s posturing.

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