If we denounced Donald Trump, how many congregants would leave our pews?
In 2004, Pastor Greg Boyd gave a sermon entitled “The Cross and the Sword,” in which he claimed that a “significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry.” Over a thousand people left his church after the sermon.1
Boyd believed that our Americanism “blinds us to the way in which our most basic and most cherished cultural assumptions are diametrically opposed to the kingdom way of life taught by Jesus and his disciples.”2 This kingdom, as Jesus proclaimed, was an utterly countercultural, upside-down way of life.3
Do we expect the United States of America to advance the objectives of the Kingdom of God?
The response from most evangelicals is born from biblical or historical illiteracy (usually both). But maybe I should go back to teaching Sunday school—because children often understand this naturally. Our scriptures are not arbitrary; they’re narrative, a story born from a Palestinian immigrant who talked of another world intersecting with our own.
The United States of America is not that other world. The United States of America is not a Christian nation because, foremost, there is no Christian nation. That is the point of the New Testament, a bunch of nobodies testifying that the gates to God’s kingdom are opened with reckless abandon for all migrants to enter freely.
I don’t think it’s controversial to denounce Christian nationalism. This is like denouncing a four-sided circle. What do you mean by circle? What do you mean by Christianity? “Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ,” Frederic Douglass said, “I recognize the widest possible difference.” Yet, almost two centuries later, the land is still witness to our Americanized gospel. “The church,” Pastor Eugene Peterson said, “has become more like the culture . . . than counter to it.”4
But if we must make biblical to national parallels, let’s consider Babylon in the place of our Americanism. That’s just our history, and the reality of a country that outspends most of the world on better ways to kill people.
I know some white folks who are begging to ask me about my buddy Joe Biden. Frankly, I don’t care. No one is claiming he is God’s plan for this country. And if they did, I’d just copy and paste this article and change the title. Let me explain why I’m writing about Donald Trump.
On March 21, 1965, Jerry Falwell Sr. gave a sermon entitled “Ministers and Marches” in which he questioned “the sincerity and non-violent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” and the “alleged discrimination against negroes in the South.” On the same day, King and other ministers walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. In conclusion to his speech, Falwell stated, “Love cannot be legislated.”
In 1971, Falwell co-founded Lynchburg Baptist College, now Liberty University.
In the 1979, Falwell founded a political organization, the Moral Majority, to mobilize Christians in support of conservative values, notably against abortion and gay rights. Other members included Pastor Ed Dobson, whose son, a U.S. Army veteran, opened up publicly in 2013 about being gay.
In 2012, Donald Trump gave the convocation address at Liberty University, which was then headed by Falwell’s son, Jerry Falwell Jr.
In 2015, Ted Cruz launched his campaign at Liberty. Yet, Falwell Jr. ultimately endorsed Trump for president. Over the following years, Liberty donated millions of nonprofit funds into the 2020 Trump campaign.
In August of 2020, Falwell resigned after allegations of a sexual relationship with a younger man, among reports of financial misconduct with the university.
Pastor Brian Zahnd asked, “Can you feel the falseness that prevails in Babylon?” It conceals its true idols, money and power, behind a façade of religion. “It’s not the task of the church to ‘Make America Great Again,’” he said, but to “make Christianity countercultural again.”5 Mainline American Protestantism is like “an aging dowager,” theologian Stanley Hauerwas wrote, “living in a decaying mansion on the edge of town, bankrupt and penniless, house decaying around her but acting as if her family still controlled the city.”6 I have asked those outside the church to tell me what they see. From the outside looking in, the cornerstone of the American church is our proximity to economic and political power. Our motto is America first. So, let me explain why I’m writing about Donald Trump.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In response, the Reverend Billy Graham said, “Only when Christ comes again will little white children of Alabama walk hand in hand with little Black children.”7 In 2016, his son, Franklin Graham, held rallies across the country to advance evangelical turnout, and after Trump’s victory, said “God’s hand was at work.” Franklin Graham runs Samaritan’s Purse, one of the largest Christian charitable organizations in the United States, with over $1B annual revenue in 2023.
Graham said, “The vast majority of the evangelical community supported Donald Trump because he has said he is going to support Christians, not only at home but around the world. . . If you take Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, I don’t know of one evangelical Christian in the White House. I don’t know of one evangelical Christian on her campaign. None.”8
In December 2020, he said that “President Trump will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents of our nation.”9 Graham famously owns a Trump Bible, inscribed with “God Bless the U.S.A.” Shane Claiborne in Jesus for President said that some folks are “really bummed to find that ‘God bless America’ does not appear in the Bible. . . . sometimes we’d rather have a God who conforms to our logic than conform our logic to the God whose wisdom is a stumbling block to the world of smart bombs and military intelligence.”
In 2016, Bill Johnson, senior pastor of Bethel Church, wrote an op-ed entitled, “Why I Voted For Donald Trump,” in which he condemned Clinton’s pro-choice views, her handling of Benghazi, and her “immoral code”. He claimed that “socialism is contrary to Jesus and His teachings,” and concluded by saying “I found that he who blesses Israel is blessed by the Lord, and that the present liberal agenda has put at risk decades of success with this important ally.”
In 2020, after four years of the Trump presidency, Johnson endorsed Trump again, saying that Trump exhibited “honorable character” and that his “passion for godly counsel is also legendary.” Citing Trump as a “moral choice,” he quoted Wayne Grudem’s article titled “30 Good Things President Trump Has Done for America.”
In 2016, Wayne Grudem published a piece entitled “Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice,” only to retract it months later after the release of the Hollywood access tapes. In his response, he said, “Hillary Clinton is no better.” He is a professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona. He served as an editor to the ESV translation of the Bible from 2005 to 2008. He endorsed Trump for president in 2020.
Robby Dawkins, an evangelist and best-selling Christian author, posted a clip on Facebook of the Fox News coverage of Pete Hegseth’s congressional hearing, in which Hegseth claimed “All glory, regardless of the outcome, belongs to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.” Dawkins asked, “Why wouldn’t anyone want this God-fearing man leading the most powerful army in the world?” In the hearing, Hegseth said his primary goal was to bring the “warrior culture” back to the Department of Defense. In 2017, Hegseth was accused of sexual assault, which he claimed was consensual, and he paid $50,000 to settle the case. He was forced out of several nonprofit groups after allegations of financial, sexual, and personal misconduct. Dawkins later posted a clip praising Donald Trump for creating the White House Faith Office to “protect Christianity.”
On December 6, 2019, a number of prominent evangelical leaders gathered for a “faith briefing” with Donald Trump and Mike Pence at the White House. This was led by Paula White-Cain, who was the president’s “personal pastor and special advisor.” In attendance was Brian Houston, senior pastor of Hillsong Church, who said, “When America is strong, the world is a better place.” Other leaders there included Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Brian and Jenn Johnson (son and daughter in law of Bill Johnson), and Sean Feucht (former worship leader at Johnson’s Bethel Church).
In 2020, Sean Feucht led a series of “worship protests” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in response to lock-downs and mask mandates in major cities across the US. During the events, which often drew crowds of several thousand, many unmasked attendees came “wearing Donald Trump regalia or waving American flags.” In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Feucht said, “Part of being a Christian and part of the call of the Gospel is to take light into darkness. And at that point, the two darkest places in America were Portland and Seattle.” The annual revenue of Sean Feucht Ministry Inc. increased from $280,000 to over $5.3 million that year.
On Twitter, Feucht posted a picture of himself in Portland with over 30 white men who were “ex-military, ex-police, private security,” saying “If you mess with them or our 1st amendment right to worship, you’ll meet Jesus one way or another.”
In May of 2020, Feucht founded the nonprofit Hold the Line, which he describes as a “political activist movement.” Two years later, he wrote an open letter to church leaders stating, “People complain that Biblical truth should not spill over into political matters. I disagree.” He asked, “Whatever happened to the ‘moral majority’ of the 80s, and ‘Focus on the Family’ in the 90s,” adding “It’s time to go against the grain of culture and unfriend the world.”
I don’t hear many dissenting voices from the pulpit. I want someone to say, “Now hold on,” and hopefully, after they take the straw out of their mouth and tip their hat, “y’all wouldn’t know a sheep if it got its head stuck in your fence.”
Donald Trump does not demonstrate the fruit of Christianity. “The Christian icon is not the Stars and Stripes,” Claiborne said, “its emblem is not a donkey, an elephant, or an eagle, but a slaughtered lamb.”10
Jesus loves his enemies and prays for those who persecute him.
Jesus values humility.
Jesus values kindness.
Jesus values integrity.
Jesus values the truth.
Jesus is slow to anger.
Jesus is quick to forgive.
Jesus welcomes the stranger.
Jesus gives shelter to those without a home.
Jesus gives favor to those in poverty.
Jesus embodies bottom-up servant leadership.
Jesus is patient.
Jesus is other-oriented and self-sacrificial.
Jesus tears down prejudice.
Jesus lifts up the lowly.
Jesus rebukes monetary gain.
Jesus speaks well of the marginalized.
Jesus is God’s Word. Donald Trump printed and sold it for $60 with a complete copy of the nation’s founding documents inside the cover.
In 2016, 81% of white evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump.11
In 2020, 81% of white evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump.12
In 2024, 82% of white evangelical Christians supported Donald Trump.13
“I believe in conservatism, but I rebuke Donald Trump, his character and his actions. He does not reflect the fruit of Christianity.” I never heard that from anyone. We elected him. We supported him. We told the country that he’s God’s plan, a moral choice, a moral leader. So let the record show that this no-nothing fiddler from no-where Missouri is standing on the last pew in a small-town church, saying, “There’s a fox in the hen house.”
Donald Trump is nothing like Christ. Donald Trump is not a Christian leader. Donald Trump does not represent the Kingdom of God. Donald Trump’s language and actions are evil. This should not be controversial. But it is—it is provocative because our churches have become more like the United States of America than the Kingdom of God. Where are the prophets who will call us back to humility and service?
The reason I’m writing about Donald Trump is because his power stems from Christian nationalism, which is a clear and present danger to the body of Christ.
- Greg Boyd, Myth of a Christian Nation, p. 9 ↩︎
- Ibid., p. 12 ↩︎
- See John 18:36 ↩︎
- Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection, p. 107-08 ↩︎
- Brian Zahnd, Postcards from Babylon ↩︎
- Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, Resident Aliens ↩︎
- Anthea Butler, White Evangelical Racism, p. 34 ↩︎
- See https://www.christiantoday.com/news/franklin-graham-donald-trump-is-a-changed-man-i-trust-him ↩︎
- See https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/3957463454309806 ↩︎
- Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President ↩︎
- See https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/ ↩︎
- See https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/08/30/most-white-americans-who-regularly-attend-worship-services-voted-for-trump-in-2020/ ↩︎
- See https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/09/white-protestants-and-catholics-support-trump-but-voters-in-other-us-religious-groups-prefer-harris/ ↩︎
Regarding Life 