"It's a desire to affiliate with Donald Trump": An exvangelical on the implosion of his former faith

[marmar]

"It's a desire to affiliate with Donald Trump": An exvangelical on the implosion of his former faith
In "Exvangelical and Beyond," Blake Chastain offers hard truths about why people leave evangelicalism

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published September 30, 2024 5:48AM (EDT)


(Salon) Large numbers of Americans are giving up on Christianity. The trendlines are unmistakable. Fewer people are going to church. The number of people who say they have no religious affiliation has risen. The "nones" are the biggest religious group now, outnumbering both evangelicals and Catholics. For some, walking away from religion is easy. But for a lot of people, especially those who once counted themselves in the ranks of the evangelicals, it can be a lot harder. The evangelical identity can be all-consuming, shaping not just how a person prays, but how they identify, how they vote and how they live their daily life. So it's no surprise that an online community of ex-evangelicals — exvangelical— has formed, giving those who have walked away a space to process their experience, move into a new life, and, often, warn other Americans about the political threat looming from this subset of Christianity.

In his new book "Exvangelical and Beyond: How American Christianity Went Radical and the Movement That's Fighting Back," podcast host Blake Chastain goes beyond recounting his own journey out of the Christian right, and into the larger story of how that community even came to be. He chronicles how white evangelicalism is not an ancient tradition, as its proponents often assume, but an American phenomenon. The faith, he argues, exists as much to justify racism and unbridled capitalism as it does to praise Jesus.

....(snip)....

In this book, you don't seem too interested in the theological discourse about what constitutes evangelicalism. Instead, you write about evangelicalism as a socio-political phenomenon. Why do you center the politics and white identity politics of evangelicals, and not so much their theological beliefs in things like the rapture?

Conservative evangelicals decry identity politics, but they also take part in them. You can see through different surveys that have been done, especially since 2016, that there's a drift of what the word "evangelical" means. Many people who have not participated in a local evangelical church or community self-describe as "evangelical." It's a desire to affiliate with Donald Trump, the GOP, or general conservatism. It's drifted for those theological markers.

But even before that, scholars for years have argued that theology is not necessarily the defining characteristic of evangelicalism. Whiteness, capitalism, and power helped to develop an evangelical industry. The theology takes a back seat. That may not be the case for every single person that uses the term "evangelical." But conservative white evangelicals act in a particular way, and that deserves our attention. It deserves to be criticized within those terms, as much as whether they live up to their espoused theological beliefs. .....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/30/its-a-desire-to-affiliate-with-donald-trump-an-exvangelical-on-the-explosion-of-his-former-faith/

[duncang]

1. I remember a poll asking people if they were Christian .

Then asked what religion of those who answered evangelical were also asked if they went to church. A lot of those said no. It along with other religions sometimes is a fill in the blank question. I may say I’m a Lutheran on a form but haven’t gone to church in decades. MAGA has found their own religion one that affirms their prejudices. It’s the altar of the orange hater. I’m the only one who will be saved in the upcoming years. I will smite my enemies.

[Lovie777]

2. Out of nightmares..................

Many evangelists are into the supernatural, i.e, demons - witchcraft.......................

WTF, they want to go back to the "Dark Ages", and history knows how that played out, and was not favorable to life on earth.

[keithbvadu2]

3. Evangelicals and Jesus

[lees1975]

4. One of the difficulties in attempting to debate MAGA politics with Evangelicals using Biblical theology is that their

theology is generally not based on the Bible. As the article states, it is based on whiteness, capitalism and power.

Ironically, it was in a university affiliated with an Evangelical denomination where I learned that what is preached and taught in most evangelical churches is actually contrary to the Bible, when it is interpreted using the linguistic tools, the historical and cultural context in which it was written, and consideration of the teachings of Christ in the four gospels as the interpretive standard for developing any theological point in the Christian gospel. What comes from that is completely different than what presents itself in popular religious media as "conservative evangelicalism."

It's impossible to sustain support for a political candidate with the character, temperament, lack of morals and ethics, and the political policy of Trump and remain committed and obedient to the kind of faith practice that is derived from Christian theology. The Bible's writers describe that kind of political loyalty as idolatry. And several of them wrote descriptions of this kind of intrusion into the church that makes it seem as if they were experiencing it themselves, what we see happening is so similar to what they experienced with political intrusion in the first century.

I've been frustrated on many occasions attempting to point out to people who claim to be the pillars of their church and who think Trump is sent by God to save America how flawed their reasoning is, according to the theology and doctrine of their own church, of which they are completely ignorant, or deliberately ignorant.

[dmr]

6. Excellent post, lees

Thank you, I've saved this.

It helped answer a couple of things that I've been wondering about.

[dmr]

5. If they don't make theology a priority, perhaps their tax-free status need be revoked.

It all sounds more like a club of sorts.

They meet up at least once a week, maybe more. They enjoy the goals of prosperity, whether they attain it or not.

Whiteness, capitalism and power -- yup, sounds like the GOP, and the Maggats.

If these are their priorities, and not tending to the sick, the poor, children, elders, the environment, etc., then there's no need for them to bank all those taxpayer doĺlars. They're not helping anyone in need.

Helping yourself doesn't count, otherwise I'd be tax exempt. Although, I do ... aw, never mind I don't want to toot my own horn.

That was a good insightful article, marmar. Thank you for posting it.

Anyway, I believe in paying taxes. I believe in infrastructure, environment, law and order, domestic and national security, just to name a few.