Check out Stephanie McCrummen‘s Washington Post excellent piece on a Southern Baptist, Trump-loving church in Luverne, Alabama. Many of the members of this church fear immigrants, think Obama is a Muslim, and hate Hillary Clinton because they claim that she hated them. It is also worth noting that most of the pro-Trumpers in this church appear to be over the age of 60.
This whole remarkable article is a giant advertisement for @JohnFea1 ‘s new book Believe Me. https://t.co/PnMONaD2vL
— Peter Sillin (@psillin) July 22, 2018
Which makes me think that within that church, a lot can be explained by “hardening of the attitudes” with age. As Asimov wrote once about radical changes in science, “Then you wait for the Old Guard to die off”.
In reading the article, note the buildup with the portrait of the church culture and the pastor’s dilemma as he gets to the Seventh(?) Commandment in his sermon series. Not only is it another Epic Fail in Trump’s public behavior, but Christians have a habit of tunnel-visioning their sin-sniffing into “pelvic issues”. And caught in an impossible lose-lose bind, pastor bails out of “controversy” as a matter of survival. And the Church Ladies won. This is definitely NOT a mega with a wealthy Pastor/Dictator; just the opposite. Pastor is probably barely making ends meet and cannot risk “upsetting” the “gatekeepers” who really run the church. (I correspond regularly with one pastor within 100mi/160km of Messiah College who is in that exact position.)