Many have wondered how Evangelical Christians could side with a President who displays little evidence that he embraces gospel values nor is even much of a conservative.
According to a recent book, Unholy, Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump, President Trump has simply manipulated the Christian Right leadership into supporting him by offering them direct access to him and the White House. In return, conservative Christians were a strong political force that aided his election in 2016 and they are working hard in his re-election effort.
Political Christianity, like political Islam, is a lot more about power than prayer and the current crop of religious right leaders are simply continuing an effort that began after President Nixon’s term of office. Their goal: to remake America in line with the dogma of the religious right. The author, Sarah Posner, digs into the radical history of the religious right and their anxieties about perceived threats to a white Christian America.
During his term, the author notes, Trump has given government jobs and political power to white evangelicals enabling them to pursue an agenda that devalues faiths other than Christianity and promotes the “freedom” to make life difficult for LGBTQ and other groups of whom they disapprove.
The author has penned other well-regarded books and has written for The Guardian, Rolling Stone, the Nation, Salon and The Washington Post.