Ballot Boxing: The race for faith

As the 2016 presidential race enters the final laps before Election Day on Nov. 8, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are finally facing off on issues like foreign policy, but they also continue to try to convince voters they have Christian credibility.

The latest testing ground: historically black churches.

With polls showing the race narrowing, Trump is looking to pick up votes from blocs usually reserved for Democrats, including African-Americans, who have polled around 1 percent in support of Trump.

Clinton knows she needs every vote she can get too, so the Democratic candidate has looked to shore up support among black voters who might be tempted to look in a different direction, or not vote at all.

But when making a case for spiritual credibility, both candidates seem confused about the qualifications.

On Thursday, Clinton addressed a mostly black audience at the National Baptist Convention in Kansas City, Mo., where she told the crowd she was “grateful for the great gift of personal salvation and for the great obligation of the social gospel.”

But for Clinton, personal salvation and the social gospel seem to be one and the same.

I recently wrote about the candidates’ religious backgrounds for WORLD Magazine, and how a young youth pastor in the 1960s heavily influenced a teenage Hillary Clinton growing up in a United Methodist Church.

That youth pastor, Don Jones, introduced his impressionable flock to existentialist philosophy and radical thinkers like Saul Alinsky. Saving the world became a project more for men aiming to relieve social ills and less the accomplishment of Christ’s atoning work for sinners.

The young Clinton became confused about her politically conservative upbringing, once asking Jones in a letter, “I wonder if you can be a mental conservative and a heart liberal?”

I’ve thought often about the teenage Clinton asking that question, and I’ve wondered what would have happened if a pastor, Sunday school teacher, or youth worker who emphasized the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone had influenced her instead? What if she had learned and embraced that the narrow way of salvation opens a wide door for spiritual hope in a needy world?

One takeaway for Sunday school teachers and youth workers doing humble work at biblically orthodox churches: Don’t underestimate the importance of your labors. Teach the truth with joy and boldness to children who need to hear it.

For Clinton, personal salvation and the social gospel seem to be one and the same.

Meanwhile, Trump on Saturday visited Great Faith Ministries International, a predominantly black church in Detroit. The Republican nominee read from prepared remarks, calling on Americans to “turn again to our Christian heritage to lift up the soul of our nation.”

Trump’s own spiritual heritage has flowed largely from the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale, a minister at a New York City church for decades, and the first self-help guru of the 20th century. Trump has said he loved Peale’s message of the power of positive thinking and how it applied to business.

As I’ve noted in my magazine article, Peale’s imperatives to avoid negative thinking about oneself may have influenced Trump’s reluctance to recognize he’s a sinner in need of salvation, not just a businessman in need of success.

I’ve often thought about this too, and wondered what would have happened if a biblically orthodox minister had filled Peale’s pulpit when Trump was building his personal empire and bragging about his sometimes-sinful conquests without being challenged?

One takeaway for biblically faithful pastors working on sermons for this Sunday: Preach the full Christian gospel with joy and boldness to a congregation where everyone needs to hear it.

Peale’s imperatives to avoid negative thinking about oneself may have influenced Trump’s reluctance to recognize he’s a sinner in need of salvation, not just a businessman in need of success.

It’s notable that The New York Times reported a leaked version of a script of questions and answers the Trump campaign reportedly considered using at the Detroit event.

The first question according to the Times: “Are you a Christian and do you believe the Bible is an inspired word of God?”

The answer Trump’s scriptwriters suggested: “As I went through my life, things got busy with business, but my family kept me grounded to the truth and the word of God. I treasure my relationship with my family, and through them, I have a strong faith enriched by an ever-wonderful God.”

The Trump campaign reportedly ditched the script after it was leaked, but the scripted answer is telling. It would have Trump claim a strong faith in God through his family. Here’s hoping one of the spiritual leaders—including several evangelicals— who have signed on to advise Trump will explain to him that the only mediator between man and God is Jesus Christ.

In a weary season of messy politics and widespread angst, that’s the most important news for all of us to absorb every day, even if we’ve been blessed enough to hear it a thousand times before.