Every American dollar bill declares proudly “In God We Trust” and the Declaration of Independence proclaims that the rights of every citizen come from a “Creator” and “Nature’s God” — but nowhere does it specify the nature of the God who is being appealed to. The fact that Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin saw Jesus as little more than a good man is immaterial. Large numbers of Americans believe that the Christian God inspired the nation’s founders, and that the intention of the Declaration was that the United States should be a Christian nation. Such views are especially strong among white evangelicals, most of whom are Republicans.
“The idea of Christian nationhood fills Americans’ need for an origin story, a belief that ‘we’ve come here for something special, and that we’re here for God’s work’.”*1 The one-third of American adults who affirm their belief that God intended America to be a promised land for European Christians in order to set an example to the world, would seem to support this statement.*2
Despite the theological ambiguity of the Declaration of Independence, or maybe because ambiguity creates a space where words can mean what we want them to mean, six in 10 American adults believe the nation’s founders intended America to be a Christian nation and about 45% said the United States should be a Christian nation. Four in five white evangelical Protestants agreed with each assertion.*3
I apologise for appealing to statistics once again, but I do so because they seem to reveal why Donald Trump’s recent campaign tactics are strengthening his support amongst the white evangelicals he appears to be targeting in his recent campaigns. When asked if they believe that what Trump tells them is true, 71% of his supporters said yes, trusting him more than friends and family (63%), and their own religious leaders (42%).*4
In a speech in February this year Trump promised the delegates at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention that he would use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values:
“Remember, every communist regime throughout history has tried to stamp out the churches, just like every fascist regime has tried to co-opt them and control them,” Trump told hundreds of cheering attendees. “And, in America, the radical left is trying to do both. They want to tear down crosses where they can, and cover them up with social justice flags, but no one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration, I swear to you… The left is trying to shame Christians. They’re trying to shame us. I’m a very proud Christian.”
The following month at a rally in Ohio, many of the T-shirts and hats that were worn and sold at the rally in March proclaimed religious slogans such as “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president” and “God, Guns & Trump.” One man’s shirt declared, “Make America Godly Again,” with the image of a luminous Jesus putting his supportive hands on Trump’s shoulders.*5
As the planet faces a number of existential crises, America has an additional set of challenges it is clearly struggling to come to terms with. It remains the most powerful and dominant nation on earth, but it finds itself having to deal with the rise of rival powers that are driven by completely different ideologies that it does not seem to be able to understand. I don’t think I am being too simplistic to see some kind of link between the popular ‘Christian’ origin story, increased pressures both within its borders and from overseas and the rise of Donald Trump.
The world laughed out loud when a video made by a Trump supporter went viral at the beginning of the year.*6 God Made Trump is as ridiculous as it is blasphemous, but when pastors and denominational leaders across the States are being fired for inviting congregations to follow teachings of Jesus church members deem too ‘weak’, ‘liberal’ and even ‘socialist’*7, and many agreed with the statement that Jesus died because he didn’t have enough assault rifles “to keep his government from killing him”,*8 it is no surprise that many evangelicals are now looking to God for a different kind of saviour. During the Covid pandemic, it was churches that refused to close that burgeoned in size, and it is many of these same churches that have replaced the biblically-based sermon with populist ranting. Maybe this is why slightly more church-goers support Trump than those who stay away?
When Donald Trump endorsed a Bible edition that includes U.S. founding documents and the lyrics to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” he did so because his famed ‘animal instincts’ had read the mood rightly. The slogan “Make America Great Again” taps into the “ethno-religious vision of a white Christian America, just barely underneath the surface.”*9
Trump’s campaign events have the feel of a high-octane worship service at which he is the preacher. When he declares “They’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just standing in the way”, he is assuming the role of martyr before crowds who, rightly or wrongly, feel oppressed. His framing the election as “the final battle”, in which he would defeat “demonic forces” threatening the country declaring “I am your warrior, I am your justice… I am your retribution”, is also modelled on texts the evangelicals in the audience are used to hearing in church on Sunday and his congregants respond by giving him the adulation and power he so deeply desires.
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On April 30th 1944 Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his brother-in-law from Tegel Prison in Berlin:
“What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience–and that means the time of religion in general. We are moving toward a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as “religious” do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by “religious.”
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It is important to acknowledge at this point that there are many prominent evangelicals who never favoured Donald Trump, or have become aware of the price their movement is paying and have withdrawn their support.*10 There are also a growing number of Christians in the States who would consider themselves former evangelicals and are asking similarly profound questions to those Bonhoeffer wrestled with in prison.
I believe there is still interest in the actions and teaching of a man who was born to a family living close to poverty, to an apparently unwed mother, and who, when he grew to adulthood, lived communally with former terrorists, collaborators, artisans and sex workers. His teaching and activities were authentic and won him respect because of his attitude to power and the powerful.
Jesus refused to promote himself, and frequently demanded the same from others. He stood up for the marginalised, especially when the influential religious authorities mocked them or used them as scapegoats. Jesus opposed those same religiously powerful leaders, exposing their hypocrisy and their misplaced zeal.
I believe the time has come refuse to use any qualifying labels to define any branch of Christianity we feel most allied with. The true body of Christ is not divided, and any hint that it is must surely be resisted. It may even be wise, in certain circles at least and if we wish to be understood, to refuse to be defined as a ‘Christian’ given how that term has been abused. I most definitely reject the idea that Jesus came to begin a new religion, so for me this is not difficult to practice. Whatever we decide, “let us not [however] become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”*11
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*1 Eric McDaniel – Associate Professor of government at the University of Texas. Quoted in https://apnews.com/article/american-founders-christian-nation-conservative-beliefs-4ea388e8d80c54016a6a4460cbef9b82
*2 Public Religion Research Institute 2023. https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/
*3 Pew Research Center survey October 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/10/27/views-of-the-u-s-as-a-christian-nation-and-opinions-about-christian-nationalism/
*4 See https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/21/poll-trump-voters-trust/
*6
*8 Lauren Boebert. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, ‘born again’ Christian, Donald Trump supporter and gun rights activist.
*9 Robert Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute.
*10 Wayne Grudem is in the latter camp, writing an open letter calling Donald Trump to withdraw from the presidential race in December 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/why-trump-should-drop-out-now-conservative-republican-viewpoint-1852267
*11 Galatians 6:9.
