For ten years of my early life I went to compulsory chapel every day of the week while at school. This is what I learned about Christianity, as preached buy the moderate Church of England:
Christianity means love your neighbour, forgive your enemies, help the old, the hurt and the sick, be unkind to no one, be loyal to your family and friends; do not be greedy; do not tell lies, be thankful to those who provide for you; never betray your friends or your country; treat people of different backgrounds, colours and faiths as equals; support the rights of women and minorities to live the way they want to, undirected by anyone else. Be polite and thoughtful of others Oh… and do no harm. (have I missed anything?)
The British evangelicals I know are very good people who would probably agree with my above list, but add evangelising. Why is it that we hear no mention of the above Christian teachings from American evangelicals? They seem to be preoccupied with sex (don’t do it), politics (divisive), immigration( ban it) and getting to heaven (really?). The question is: Do they understand christianity at all?
Evangelical leaders and anti-abortion groups are now ramping up their efforts to reelect President Trump. The Faith and Freedom Coalition (FFC) will spend tens of millions of dollars on a voter mobilization effort that aims to register 1 million Christians in key battleground states and reach 30 million people nationwide.
American evangelicals are told to attract people to Christ, to convince them, to witness to them, to speak the truth in a way that invites strangers in, welcomes them, makes them feel loved. But what are they welcoming newcomers into? A caring, loving social movement, devoted to caring for all Americans and righting wrongs? Or are they in reality a political party- cum-lobbying group that is very white and very resentful, and whose resentment has been caused by the very right- wing national policies they support. Baffling, isn’t it?
Hey Robert, I was just wondering if you have any sort of RSS Feed to send out these articles to emails on a daily basis, or whenever you write. I enjoy reading all of these and I’m a very active and staunch Epicurean myself.
I’m also starting to work on a Facebook ai chatbot that teaches you about Epicurus, perhaps down the line it could give out these articles?
As someone whose has met some American Evangelical supporters of Trump, there are two key aspects of Trump’s agenda they find attractive.
The first is his opposition to abortion. You quite rightly mention anti-abortion campaigners’ efforts to re-elect Trump- their involvement is crucial. For Evangelicals, abortion is state-sanctioned murder. Whatever their concerns about the deficit or the trade war with China, they will set those aside to win what they see as an existential fight for the lives of the unborn.
The second is his opposition to the cultural liberalism that pervades America’s institutions; the liberalism of the universities, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the media and Wall Street. For Evangelicals, social liberalism so utterly dominates American life, any prominent opposition to it must be rewarded. Evangelicals see their views entirely underrepresented by an establishment obsessed with identity politics, subverting gender norms and disparaging traditional values. So while Trump may be uncouth and deeply flawed, he upsets the right people.