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Ivan G Thompson
a book bubble about
The Making of a Great America Where the Church and the Founding Fathers Fell Short
Religion & Spirituality
Author Insight
Pence's Christian Endorsement of Trump
The-Atlantic-Daily-22-March-2023- Isabel Fattal “McKay: Pence made the calculation at the very beginning that he would vouch for Trump with conservative Christian voters. He would assure them that Trump was a good man, and that they didn’t need to worry about the various mistresses and affairs and exploits in his personal life. Pence was a key figure in creating a permission structure for evangelical voters to support Donald Trump, all of his personal foibles notwithstanding. In doing so, Pence unwittingly wrote himself out of conservative politics. He convinced what should have been his base—conservative religious voters—that personal character and morality don’t really matter in a presidential candidate. I heard that over and over in these focus groups. Voters would praise Mike Pence as an apparently decent, honest, wholesome guy who seems like a good Christian. And then, in the next breath, they would say, But I don’t really want to see him as president. And in many cases, they cited those qualities as evidence that he doesn’t have what it takes to be president. Pence accidentally conditioned the conservative Christian base to see as their ideal champion a brash, loud, charismatic, and morally dubious figure. Now that’s what they expect in a president. And the fact that Mike Pence doesn’t embody that persona now works against him.”
Book Excerpt
The Making of a Great America Where the Church and the Founding Fathers Fell Short
This is an excerpt from the chapter entitled "A Ringing Endorsement By the Church":
The Christianity Today editorial said, “None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.” (Galli, 2019).
The letter endorsed by 200 Christian leaders said just the opposite and touted the good things the president has done and called for “grace” to be extended to the president as it is to other sinners and saints in an “imperfect political system” and “fallen world”:
“’We are, in fact, not ‘far-right’ evangelicals as characterized by the author,' the letter said. ‘Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our president has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel.’
The letter continued: ‘We are not theocrats and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike. We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's — our public service.’” (Miles, 2020)
This letter endorsed by 200 evangelical leaders implies that “tens of millions” of “believers” agree with their stance to continue to support the president and imply that it is our “civic and moral obligation.” (Miles, 2020) The letter goes on to cite Scripture and imply that supporting the president, despite his continued gross misconduct, is part of our Christian “personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s—our public service.” (Miles, 2020)
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