Daniel Darling: Rethinking evangelicals

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 21st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. President Trump’s dramatic political comeback comes with a so-called “vibe shift” for the country. Here’s WORLD Opinions contributor Daniel Darling.

DANIEL DARLING, COMMENTATOR: Over the last few months, tech CEO’s once fearful of alliance with Republicans, marched down to Mar-A-Lago to meet with the once and future president. Democrats, who once called Trump an enemy of Democracy, now signal new openness to working with him. Others are decrying the identity politics of the left as an electoral albatross. Some of this is to be expected in a popular vote victory.

One stubborn shibboleth that deserves to die is the tortured thesis that demonizes evangelicals for voting Republican and tying this preference to darker notions of white supremacy. This is a hard argument to make when you observe the multi-racial makeup of Trump’s electoral coalition. He won an astonishing 45% of Hispanic voters. Among black voters Trump drew numbers in swing states that Republicans haven’t seen in several generations. He also won a majority of native Americans, and made gains with Arab Americans and Asian Americans.

NBC analyst Chuck Todd declared of Trump: “He's put together the multi-ethnic working class coalition and it's a majority of the country, it's over 50 percent.” It turns out voters of all ethnic backgrounds rejected inflationary economic policies, radical transgender policies, and an out-of-control border.

However, this reality conflicts with the persistent narrative churned out by the anti-evangelical industrial complex. Consider Kristen DuMez, author of the bestselling jeremiad, Jesus and John Wayne. She warns darkly that the new administration will “embolden and empower the White Christian nationalist movement…in all likelihood,” she asserts, institutionalizing White Christian nationalism.

DeMuz’s sentiments are not unique. Though progressive Christians are statistically more political, many voices have loudly insisted that when conservative Christians bring their faith to the public square, it is an illegitimate power grab, a descent into idolatry, and a loss of mission. What’s more, for nearly a decade, even some evangelical leaders have advanced the slanderous charge that churchgoing evangelicals are inherently bigoted, racist, and anti-democratic.

Do politically active evangelicals have charlatans, idolators, and cranks in their midst? Yes. Do some take the name of Jesus in vain in their political activity? Yes. Like every cohort in human history, there are bad faith actors. Christians shouldn’t be afraid to hear criticism. Every generation needs sober voices warning the faithful. But the cottage industry of contempt that snickers at the saints is often more performative than prophetic. Genuine prophets speak to their own people, with tears, not taunts.

And this last election proves that many of the tired narratives about politically active evangelicals are stale and untrue. A multi-racial, multi-faith coalition rejected progressive identity politics.

Far from a danger, patriotic Christians are essential to the American project of ordered liberty. Some of America’s best leaders understood this. Listen to George Washington’s words, in his farewell address, “ of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” Presidents from John Adams to Harry Truman, from FDR to Ronald Reagan affirmed this.

Conservative Christians should engage with humility and purpose, understanding that this nation is the place God has called us to do a limited amount of good work in a fallen world. We engage because we love our neighbors. We seek the welfare of our cities. We steward the rare gift of citizenship. Does the arena of politics provide unique temptations and pitfalls? Yes. This is why we need the regular rhythms of church life, Scripture, and prayer.

But hopefully this election will offer a “vibe shift” from the tired anti-evangelical jeremiads who sell cheap cynicism to willing listeners. Let’s be less eager to cast aspersions on brothers and sisters in Christ for their political activity and be more willing to—in the words of Ephesians 4:3… “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

I’m Daniel Darling.

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