Over at NBC News, Christian author Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove reminds us, as I did extensively in Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump, that white evangelicals are very nostalgic people.
Here is a taste:
Trump’s use of nostalgia has helped maintain connections between the Trump administration and a conservative faith community shaped by decades of culture wars. The religious right, which traditionally emphasized “family values,” has nonetheless lined up to support a thrice-married, Casino-owning playboy who flaunts morality and marital fidelity. When asked, Trump’s religious backers consistently point to his support for their issues. But the issues that the religious right taught white evangelicals to focus do not spring from a Biblical concern for widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor. They are instead the white cultural values of order, respect for authority and traditional gender roles.
Prophetic stands and moral outrage are well and good. I respect Wilson-Hartgrove and others.
But if Christians want to do something to end the nostalgic longings of white evangelicals, they need to consider the long view. A false view of American history, propagated by the likes of David Barton and Eric Metaxas, is the foundation of this nostalgia-fueled politics. We must do better at teaching Christians about American history, the history of the Christianity, and historical ways of thinking about the past. We must throw our money behind these efforts. If we do not, we will be fighting these battles against evangelical nostalgia for a long, long time.
