18 Time July 8, 2019
It’s worth contrasting Trump, who denied
Carroll’s claim (as well as his other accusers’),
with Clinton because his scandals helped
spur the Southern Baptist Convention in
1998 to issue its seminal “Resolution on
Moral Character of Public Officials.” That
document’s key statement was ominous
and unequivocal: “Tolerance of serious
wrong by leaders sears the conscience of the
culture, spawns unrestrained immorality and
lawlessness in the society, and surely results
in God’s judgment.”
The relentless drumbeat of claims against
Trump—combined with the clear moral dec-
larations of the past—have caused millions of
Americans to look at their evangelical fellow
citizens and ask, simply: Why? Why have you
abandoned your previous commitment to po-
litical character to embrace Donald Trump?
Part of the ex-
planation is un-
deniably basic
partisanship and
ambition. White
evangelicals are
largely Republican,
and they’re gener-
ally going to vote
for Republicans.
And proximity to
power has always
had its attractions
for religious char-
latans of all stripes.
But I’d suggest the
real reason for the breadth and depth of evan-
gelical support is deeper and—perversely—
even more destructive to its religious witness.
That reason is fear.
Talk to engaged evangelicals, and fear is all
too often a dominant theme of their political
life. The church is under siege from a hostile
culture. Religious institutions are under legal
attack from progressives. The left wants
nuns to facilitate access to abortifacients and
contraceptives, it wants Christian adoption
agencies to compromise their conscience
or close, and it even casts into doubt the
tax exemptions of religious education
institutions if they adhere to traditional
Christian sexual ethics.
These issues are legally important, and
there are reasons for evangelicals to be con-
cerned. But there is no reason for evangelicals
to abandon long-held principles to behave
like any other political-interest group.
Instead, the evangelical church is called
to be a source of light in a darkening world.
It is not given the luxury of fear-based
decisionmaking. Indeed, of all the groups in
American life who believe they have the least
to fear from American politics, Christians
should top the list. The faithful should
reject fear.
This is made plain to young Christians from
the early days of Sunday school. There, many
millions of young believers are taught the bib-
lical verse: “For God gave us not a spirit of fear
but of power and love and self-control.”But in 2016, something snapped. I saw
Christian men and women whom I’ve known
and respected for years respond with raw
fear at the very idea of a Hillary Clinton
presidency. They believed she was going
to place the church in mortal danger. The
Christian writer Eric Metaxas wrote that
if Hillary won,
America’s chance
to have a “Supreme
Court that values
the Constitution”
will be “gone.”
“Not for four years,
not for eight,” he
said, “but forever.”
That wasn’t
faith speaking.
They were the
words of fearful
men grasping at
fading influence by
clinging to a man
whose daily life mocks the very values that
Christians seek to advance.
But why? The American evangelical
church isn’t so weak that it needs Trump’s
version of secular salvation. The early
persecuted church would be stunned at
the modern American church’s immense
political strength. It has become so strong
that it exercises veto power over the political
prospects of any Republican nominee.
Yet the church is acting as if it needs
Trump to protect it. That’s not courageous.
It’s repulsive. And so long as this fear contin-
ues, expect the church’s witness to degrade
further. In seeking protection from its per-
ceived enemies, the church has lost its way.
It’s time for evangelicals to exercise their
political veto power. America’s conservative
people of faith should seek a primary chal-
lenger to Trump and send a message to the
GOP that it will not compromise any lon-
ger. And it should do so from a position of
confidence— and faith. •Then-candidate Trump at a 2016 service at
the International Church of Las VegasTheView Opener
SHORT
READS
▶ Highlights
from stories on
time.com/ideasA dangerous
missionPresident Trump
was right to call off
strikes on Iran, writes
retired Admiral James
Stavridis. But the last-
minute decision is not
without consequences,
as it “creates further
uncertainty in crews
already poised on the
edge of combat.”Messing with
TexasWhen a Chicago-based
investment firm bought
a controlling interest in
Whataburger, fans of
the Texas chain were
beside themselves.
Adam Chandler,
author of Drive-Thru
Dreams, explains why:
“Strongly felt passion
for regional fast food is
practically a national
rite.”Overlooked
in the opioid
crisisThe President’s Council
of Economic Advisers
recently highlighted
potential solutions
for fighting the opioid
crisis. Missing from
the list, write former
Secretary of Health and
Human Services Tommy
Thompson and David
Hebert, CEO of the
American Association
of Nurse Practitioners,
is the idea of
empowering nurse
practitioners who are
“well positioned to
help patients get the
care they deserve.”