12 days until Election Day. What are evangelicals saying?

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Why haven’t conservative evangelicals, especially those of the MAGA variety, remained mostly silent about Donald Trump’s line about Arnold Palmer’s genitals? What happened to the Christian Right’s longtime concern about the coarseness of American culture? This morning I was writing about the Christian Right’s outrage over the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” that exposed her breast to millions of viewers. But today, when the president of the United States uses a political rally to talk about genitals, no one says a word. What changed?

Those who did comment on Trump’s Arnold Palmer remark could not help but also taking a shot at Harris in the process. Evangelical whataboutism is still alive and well. For example:

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In case you missed it, the world’s most prominent scholars of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and thought, and the descendants of Bonhoeffer himself, have condemned the way the Christian Right, and especially Bonhoeffer biographer Eric Metaxas, is using Bonhoeffer to fight the culture wars. Learn more here. Some on the Christian Right are pushing back in a way that reveals their anti-intellectualism. Think about it. Every major Bonhoeffer scholar has criticized Metaxas’s book. The Bonhoeffer family has asked the Christian Right to stop dragging their relative into the culture war in an irresponsible way. And the defenders of Metaxas essentially say, “Thanks for your concern, but I think I will go with the guy who:

  • Published a history of the American founding riddled with historical errors.
  • Said that efforts to impeach Donald Trump for a second time were “demonic”
  • Claimed Jesus was white.
  • Sucker-punched an anti-Trump protestor outside the Republican National Convention in Washington D.C.
  • Wrote about Trump: “Is there anyone unto him.”
  • Compared his fight against “voter fraud” in the 2020 presidential election to the courage one needs to stop a heavily-armed man who is trying to murder his child.
  • Said that “God acts in history” and has acted on the side of Donald Trump.
  • Wondered why so many people were talking about COVID when “election fraud” was the new September 11th.
  • Blamed the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on Antifa and compared liberals to Nazi’s who used the Reichstag fire to gain political power.
  • Said that those who will not defend the January 6th insurrectionists are “dead to him.”
  • Told his followers to “be a rebel” and refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He also told his followers to “get a gun” to stop the government from gathering vaccination data.
  • Defended the views of conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell.
  • Asked his followers to vote for him for Culture Warrior of the Year.
  • Floated the idea that the coronavirus came from “Ukrainian biolabs.”
  • Said that “the evangelical church is enabling Hitler”
  • Called evangelical megachurch pastors Rick Warren, Tim Keller, and Andy Stanley “Hitler’s favorite kind of pastors.”
  • Said that Christian Right Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano would win the election “by divine appointment” and will be a “miracle.” (Mastriano lost in a landslide.)
  • Said that Mike Pence was not a good Christian because he chose to certify the 2020 presidential election.
  • Described Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as “satanic” and described the president as a “puppet of the devil”
  • Suggested that Joe Biden was a murderer.
  • Compared Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money case to a “lynching.”

Yeah, we’ll go with THAT guy!

We live in an age where expertise and experience is irrelevant. In an ironic twist, the conservative critics of postmodernism have now embraced postmodern ways of thinking. For the MAGA Right, truth is not found through evidence and scholarly consensus, it is found through power and platforms.

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Trump “spiritual adviser” Paula White was part of a Trump rally with MAGA evangelicals on Monday. Here is part of what she said:

Hello. I believe I’m here with some world changers right now, and I believe that God is raising up a mighty army! If you’re part of that army, you should shout. Yes! If there’s a company of Esthers. Come on, Davids Daniels. That I believe that there are some. Nehemiahs being raised up here for such a time as this. And this is your finest hour.

I’m so honored to be here as having worked with President Trump for 24 years now. I got a phone call. He was watching me on Christian television and she called up and said, “You’re fantastic.”.

And he repeated three of my sermons almost verbatim.

He said, “You have the it factor.”.

I said, “Sir, we call that the anointing.”.

That was our hello. From there. I’ve got to tell you, for 24 years I’ve worked with a great man of integrity as his pastor, as a person and a friend to the family and so many other things. And he has tremendous integrity, wisdom.

And because of all of you and so many of us that work together, because how many of you know we are the body of Christ? And it needs we all have to be together working in unity. There’s no big I and little view. This isn’t about fame. This isn’t about money. This isn’t about position. This is about the kingdom of God! This is about prayer! This is about standing up and helping each other.

Because together united. Do you know that when conservative Catholics and socially conservative Catholics who are faithful to the church and evangelicals come together, we are 38% of the electorate? That is bigger than the Hispanic black and union vote all together.

(APPLAUSE).

Turn to somebody, say, we can do this.

So here’s what I want to say to you in conclusion. I watched him go into the White House and he was the greatest, greatest champion of faith.

White has been saying the exact same thing since 2015.

You can watch the rally here:

Here is another excerpt from the rally. This is from Trump:

DONALD TRUMP: At a campaign stop, she heard shouting from the background. “Jesus is Lord Jesus is lord.”

And Kamala Harris ridiculed them, mocked them and told them they were, quote, “You’re at the wrong rally. Get the –” She basically said, get out. But I won’t say that because people didn’t hear that so much.

But they she said you’re at the wrong rally. And that’s really what she meant. That’s really what she meant. She’s very destructive to religion. She’s very destructive to Christianity and very destructive to evangelicals and to the Catholic Church.

And she’s, she is. She is. Let me put it this way, Ben. She is your worst nightmare. Much worse. Much worse than Biden. And he wasn’t so hot.

CROWD: (LAUGHTER)

DONALD TRUMP: But while Kamala says that people who believe in Jesus don’t belong to her rallies, you have to remember that. That’s as loud as it can be. A lot of people said that would be disqualifying for her. That would be a disqualification.

In our movement. We love Christians. We welcome believers, and we embrace followers of Jesus.

CROWD: (CHEERS).

Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus!

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.

Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus!

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

(LAUGHS) Boy, this is a lively group Ben. It’s a very lively group you’ve assembled. What’s going on with Ben? This is something, Ben.

As a Christian, I find the Jesus-Jesus-Jesus chanting is particularly troubling. I reminded of Philippians 2:10-11: “…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Was that what was happening here?

Philip Bump has more on this rally at The Washington Post.

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Over at Baptist News Global, Rick Piddock reports on two North Carolina rallies. The first rally was part of MAGA worship leader Sean Feucht’s “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour. The second rally was part of a progressive Christian “Faith and Democracy Tour.” You can read Piddock’s report here. What strikes me about these rallies is that neither one of them are really advancing democracy. They are essentially both preaching to the choir. I doubt any Harris fans were at Feucht’s rally and I doubt any Trump voters were at the “Faith and Democracy” rally.

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Jack Hibbs, who regularly brings politics into the pulpit, was upset about Kamala Harris’s rebuke to anti-abortion protesters at a rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Here is Hibbs: “Kamala Harris … did you see what she said the other day? She was speaking at a rally, and somebody shouted in the rally, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ And she said, ‘Wait, excuse me, you’re in the wrong rally; you need to go down the street where there’s fewer people.’” Hibbs added: “What are you going to do with that? Even Evangelicals for Harris — what are you going to do with that one? She said, ‘If Jesus Christ is Lord, you’ve got to go to the other party.’ Wow! … Well, you better hurry up, by the way, before they erase it (the video on YouTube).”

Harris said what she said, but I am not sure she knew that she was responding to the words “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The students were disrupting the rally and Harris asked them to stop disrupting the rally or leave. It was a fair request.

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At a recent conference at Princeton Theological Seminary, scholars discussed the rise of Christian nationalism among Hispanic evangelicals. According to Public Religion Research Institute, 59% of Hispanics believe “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.” That number is up from 43% in 2022. Read more here.

If one believes that “U.S. law should be based on Christian values,” then you may have to include A LOT of progressive Christians in the Christian nationalism crowd. I have been part of an ongoing scholarly conversation about Christian nationalism with some great scholars who are trying to bring more complexity to this subject. We are flying under the radar screen right now as the activists take center stage. But our book will be out soon. I should probably note that I am the only evangelical scholar involved in the project. Stay tuned.

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In Texas, evangelicals are using the words of the Lord’s Prayer, especially the phrases, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” to justify a vote for Donald Trump. Scott Sigmon, the pastor of New Beginnings Church in the Dallas suburbs, has his own version of this phrase. It goes like this: “They kingdom come, they will be done on earth, in my home, in my school system, in my government, in my nation, they kingdom, they will be done in all those places and more.”

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Let’s see what’s happening on X:

Jemar Tisby (self-proclaimed “evangelical adjacent”) and Jim Wallis (evangelicals) are speaking:

Bart Barber, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, joins the chorus of conservative evangelicals who are not happy with the GOP platform this year. He also seems to think Mormonism is a cult:

I don’t know if Adam Kinzinger’s wife Sofia is an evangelical (like her husband is) but this is worth noting:

Trump met with Hispanic evangelicals today. This happened:

This is the guy who is praying for Trump:

Apparently NBC Sports does not have a problem with Tony Dungy promoting his evangelical politics:

Jenna has some thoughts about Kamala:

The Faith & Freedom Coalition thinks Harris was “saving face”:

The “supernatural hand”:

And so it begins!:

Translation: “Vote for Trump”:

I don’t have time to explain this, but Metaxas does not understand John Winthrop or “A Model of Christian Charity.” He actually doesn’t understand the Sermon on the Mount either. Ronald Reagan added the word “shining” to the “city on a hill,” but that didn’t stop Metaxas from typing it all in caps.

And let’s not forget the theobros:

Justin Giboney:

Witches are apparently casting spells on God’s anointed one: