Published November 26, 2024
A new game is unfolding on social media among the evangelical commentariat.
It goes something like this: If you, as an evangelical, did not vote for Donald Trump, your job is to gloatingly berate Trump-voting evangelicals for each of the president-elect’s Cabinet picks that run counter to the values of evangelicals, like one of his appointees who is pro-abortion or gay. “We told you so,” will come the voices. “He will embarrass you, and you will have nowhere else to turn because Donald Trump knows he has your vote. Cheap dates, you are.” This group is also prone to criticize D.C. social conservatives as a bunch of craven sellouts for not boldly opposing each appointee who violates evangelical convictions.
Group two is the evangelicals who feel it necessary to stay silent or exuberantly defend and justify each of the president-elect’s appointees. “Trump’s picks will not be perfect,” they will say, “but the alternative in a President Harris would be so much worse.” Group two will offer throat-clearing defenses to distract from the offensiveness of a flawed nominee by noting that while the nominee may be gay or pro-abortion, the area they will oversee has nothing to do with those issues.
May I humbly suggest that the latest imbroglio over evangelicals and Trump is going the wrong way? It’s going to be a long four years if this is how things are going to play out. May I also try to carve out a path forward that some may not have considered?
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Andrew T. Walker, Ph.D., is a Fellow in the Evangelicals and Civic Life Program at The Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is also the Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and the founding Managing Editor of WORLD Opinions. He co-hosts The Bully Pulpit, a weekly podcast exploring faith, culture, and politics from a conservative Christian perspective.
