Christians, please think twice before supporting Trump

james-dobson-2

James Dobson. Source: Speakerpedia

James Dobson and many other Christians support a vote for Trump because, they say, he upholds traditional Christian and family values better than Clinton. But coerced morality has a murky history of backfiring.

It is true that the Republicans have traditionally upheld conservative values in social policy more strongly than the Democrats. Trump has tapped into this history – e.g., with his slogan “Make America great again”. Of course, the slogan is also a catch-all reference to many other things such as turning the economy around.

I do believe that the success of modern Western civilization is built heavily on Christian principles and values, which, I agree, are currently being eroded. But I believe the successes of the West were not built on the legislation of religious values. Rather they were built on principles of religious freedom; the separation of church and state. And appropriate enforcement of law and order.

But law and order is not always the same thing as morality. There is definitely a connection, but also a lot of confusion. An obvious example of overlap is murder. Murder is both morally wrong and against law and order. But what about adultery? Is it immoral? Most would say yes. But is it, or should it be, illegal? Most would say no.

Then there’s a hotly contested grey area in between where what may be considered immoral is not necessarily considered illegal. Gay marriage and abortion would have to be placed here.

As Christian values are slowly being eroded, it is tempting for Christians to fight the changing moral landscape through legislation. But I argue that the attempted legislation of conservative morality is a sure sign of a society in decay. Look back at history. The Jews tried to codify hundreds of additional laws to ensure that their people wouldn’t suffer the natural consequences of breaking God’s moral laws. But they ended up crucifying Jesus and lost their nationhood. The Roman church of the Dark Ages tried to burn heretics to preserve their version of Christianity, but that merely spawned the Reformation and then the rise of atheism. Centuries later the Roman church’s deadly wound is only now being healed.

Western Christian leaders are now trying to legislate to marginalize Muslims, gays, immigrants, women and anyone else who poses a threat to white male beliefs, values and power. Trump has harnessed this mentality to garner electoral support. Will history look back any differently on today’s latest attempts at coerced religious morality by an unholy alliance of church and state?

coev113-campaign2016trump

Donald Trump. Source: globeandmail.com

Trump is hardly a standard for virtuous morality himself. And his constantly changing policy positions appear to be simply calculated to generate votes rather than being aligned to any moral compass. This hypocrisy has historical analogues in the corrupt Jewish leaders and the corrupt leaders of the Roman medieval church.

I understand there is widespread feeling that the American political system is broken. My appeal to my American friends is to consider whether you want to restore Christian values through legislation by a broken political system or through grass roots Christian revival unfettered by government coercion?

So when you go to vote, ask not “Who will legislate my religious values?” but rather “Who will allow freedom of religious values and beliefs, even those opposed to my own, and freedom to express and share religious beliefs and values with others?” State sanctioned coercion and persecution has only ever backfired, helping spread religious values opposed to the church-state union of the day. Just look at the early Christian church and then the Reformation for evidence of that in the past. And the Bible predicts another repeat in the near future.

So please take this perspective into account before promoting or voting for Trump. Note that I’m not asking my American friends to vote for a particular candidate. There are potential problems ahead if Clinton wins, too.

There is abundant evidence that Bible prophecy is compellingly accurate about our world’s past and present. Thus the predictions about the future are also compelling. Europe and America are focal points of Bible prophecy relevant to today. With the assurance of a track record of reliably fulfilled prophecy, I know the immediate future is not pretty, regardless of the outcome of this election. But God’s love and grace are enough to get us through whatever details the future holds.

I’m keen for the world as we know it to come to an end, but not because I want conflict and destruction. Instead, I am looking forward to God restoring our lives and planet to the perfect eternal love and happiness He intended.

3 thoughts on “Christians, please think twice before supporting Trump

  1. Good article Daniel. I would be interested in you applying this logic to federal politics in Australia. Could you write a similar article in our context?

    KB

    • Thanks Kevin! Interesting idea… I think both Abbott and Turnbull have a lot of similar characteristics to Trump / Republicanism. Abbott fits the bill for legislating conservative social values but bordering on coercive buffoonery, and Turnbull fits the bill for changing his policies to garner votes. However, Turnbull is probably a closer equivalent to Clinton than he is to Trump, in that Turnbull and Clinton both have appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and temperament to run a country, but both are not particularly well trusted. What applications or similarities were you thinking of, Kevin?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *