Someone must have an answer. I need one, quickly. Maybe one of our many Evangelical Christian (EC) relatives can help me. The polls suggest that over 90 percent of ECs voted for Trump to be the forty-fifth president of our country.
Here’s my first question: What did you honestly think when Mr. Trump, for many years, vehemently stated that President Obama was born outside our country and was a Muslim? Even after newspapers showed his official birth certificate proving Obama was born in Hawai’i, “the Donald” kept repeating this lie. As an EC, did you believe Donald, or did you believe that Obama was a bona fide US citizen?
Coming from your evangelical beliefs, how did you process this? If you believed Mr. Trump, what did seeing the photo of Barak’s US birth certificate do for you? If you had accepted the fact that he was a US citizen, how did you feel when others called him a foreign-born Muslim?
I’ll share my thoughts. I couldn’t believe that some of my Christian brothers and sisters would buy into this malicious rumor. Slandering others is not what Christianity advocates. Please help me understand why so many ECs find spreading Trump’s malicious lies to be acceptable Christian behavior.
There’s another trait of Mr. Trump’s that baffles me. About every two weeks, he starts a new rumor for which there is no evidence. Recently he tweeted that over three million people had voted illegally. Not only was this lie damaging to our democracy, it also said to the rest of the world that the United States is a corrupt and evil country. For ISIS, this had to be great recruiting material—right from our president’s mouth. My questions: Is it permissible for ECs to behave this way? If so, where in the Bible does it state this?
There was another tweet: Mr. Trump stated that President Obama had wiretapped the Trump Towers during the election. If true, this would be totally unacceptable. Fortunately, some governmental agencies immediately informed us that presidents cannot order such a thing. Despite that reassurance, Mr. Trump now wants Congress to appoint a commission to investigate this imaginary wiretapping. What are your thoughts when Mr. Trump does strange things like this?
Personally, I lose any respect that I might have had for Mr. Trump, wondering why I should believe anything this president or his staff tells us. Am I wrong to feel this way?
Another question: Do you really think that building a wall is going to keep out illegals? We have visited some of the many walls in the Tijuana area. They are almost totally ineffective because the folks then enter the United States by sea, through underground tunnels, by air, or in vehicles. They are not to be stopped, simply slowed down.
I was hoping ECs might hear the most powerful words of Jesus, found in Matthew 25:38—to ”welcome the stranger.” Wouldn’t an intelligent immigration policy be much more powerful in resolving this issue than trying to deport eleven million people? We need so many of the folks who cross illegally as well as those already here to keep our economy strong and our country a true democracy.
I’m asking the ECs if they might have a better plan. Couldn’t we work on it together as Followers, along with Muslims and all faith-based communities? I’d love to hear your creative thoughts and ideas.
Of this I am quite certain: Mr. Trump’s present plans are not making me feel more secure in my country. They are having the opposite effect. I’m concerned that his policies, so openly targeting Muslims, will provoke some terrorists to be even more determined to attack us.
I would love to hear some thoughts from an Evangelical Christian.
Photo courtesy of Alisdaire Hickson. CC by-sa 2.0