Would You Rather...
Engage with a political or a religious evangelical???
As I write this, the election outcomes from Tuesday night are still somewhat up in the air. My state elected the Trump-backed author of Hillbilly Elegy as a Senator and my county will never not elect rabid election-denier Jim Jordan to the House, so I can’t say I’m feeling thrilled about my personal impact on election results. So I might as well try and be a little light-hearted in the spaces where I can. In that vein, let’s discuss…
Would You Rather… engage with a political / cultural evangelical or a religious evangelical?
Or a stronger way to put this: would you rather engage with a Trumplican or a religious fundamentalist?
Many people (usually outsiders to evangelicalism) who don’t understand the differences might lump these two groups together. But to me, especially living in the “God, Guns, and Country” type of area I live in, there’s a huge difference - even though they vote very similarly.
Growing up, there were countless litmus tests for whether you were a true evangelical. How well did you actually know your Bible? We had sword drills, AWANA Bible verse memorizing competitions, songs to help us remember what order the books of the Bible went in. If you let a swear word slip (I wasn’t allowed to say “crap” and using words like “geez” or “gosh” was frowned upon because of their resemblance to Jesus and God), your faith was clearly on rocky ground. And don’t dream about wearing a low-cut shirt, spaghetti straps, or god forbid a bikini!! You might as well admit you were having sex and planned on going to hell!
I don’t mean to, but I still carry some of these assumptions about what it means for someone to call themselves a Christian (not that I really even care, in reality!). I find myself having a knee-jerk judgmental reaction about the sincerity of people who don’t “act” Christian in the way I expect them to — which is terribly ironic and consciously not what I’m about at ALL. But the old ingrained habits die really hard, it turns out.
But one group I don’t feel bad about judging is what I am terming the cultural evangelicals who have hopped on the fear-mongering, Trump-supporting, ethic-less political bandwagon that has been propped up and often led by evangelicals themselves. These people might not be able to quote you a single Bible verse from memory and might make such gaffs as referring to “Two Corinthians,” but they would call themselves proud Christians and probably believe that the United States was ordained by God to be a Christian country.
Given choices where neither side feels terribly palatable to me, I find myself feeling surprisingly sympathetic to the group that I typically don’t have large amounts of sympathy for: the devoted religious evangelicals.
It’s sort of the like the line in the musical Hamilton, where Alexander Hamilton is asked to choose between endorsing his political arch-nemesis Thomas Jefferson versus his lifelong competitor Aaron Burr. He chooses Jefferson, because “Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.”
I hesitate to acknowledge this, because plenty of the conservative Christians just want me to be a quiet, submissive woman who’s happy to be a wife and birth plenty of babies, who at their most extreme (did anyone see Stephen Wolfe’s new book The Case For Christian Nationalism??? YIKES), would take away all my autonomy and my right to vote.
But I still understand where they’re coming from, because I came out of that. I understand some of the language to use to connect with them. And when I’m feeling really fanciful, part of me believes that if I could generate a really great religious argument that resonated with them, I might change their mind. (See again: fanciful).
To argue — discuss? — with a cultural evangelical though: I don’t understand that as well. I feel they appeal to a fierce, fear-based tribalism that I don’t know how to talk to except to maybe say “hey, have you tried, like, not hating people who are different than you?” They don’t really seem to care about the religion they pretend to adhere to (I’m reminded of Lauren Boebert ‘joking’ that Jesus didn’t have AR-15s to allow him to fend off the government. Please go read your Bible to learn about Jesus, Lauren).
So if these two groups could be neatly divided (I know it’s far more complex than that, but still; thought experiment!) I think I would rather have the religious evangelical devotee. Much as I disagree with the beliefs, I can at least respect that the religious evangelical is sincere about their beliefs, and I’m sympathetic that often it’s a combo of religious indoctrination, fear, guilt, and lack of exposure that might keep them from really questioning them.
Interesting.
Tell me your thoughts! Which group in this thought experiment do you find it easier to engage with? Lay out your arguments! And also, does anyone else now have the soundtrack to Hamilton playing in their head? Whoops…
Well, gosh and geez! Would I rather be shot in the forehead or the temple? LOL. Trumpers, like Jim Jordan, are generally just plain mean and hateful to their opposition and anyone who is different from them if you try to discuss politics. Religious evangelicals at least theoretically believe “love thy neighbor.” And I could argue from the Bible and maybe get at least some agreement on a point or two. So, I’m with you, Christine. Despite the trauma religiosity causes they *try* to have their hearts in the right place. (One recently told me I am demonic because I meditate—and later apologized.) So I guess I choose the temple!
For me, I think each group is so deeply entrenched in their mindsets that a debate/conversation feels like a waste of precious energy most days.
Interestingly, I’m from Canada and I encounter people as passionately in Trumpism as some Americans. Many people in my circles will engage in American politics more passionately than our own. I think this is because of the American political entertainment complex that’s also pumped into Canada.
Coming from a fundamentalist religious background with many of those same people entrenched in the Trump camp (little good it does them), I try not to lump them into one monolithic group and keep an eye out for people who are still using the religious or political talking points but who show sparks of being even a little open to real conversation.
Pre-Trump, pre-COVID, I was much more aligned with their worldview than I am now, spouting many of the same things, so I know it’s possible to change when your heart and mind are ready. Those are the people I look out for. I haven’t found many yet, but I’m looking. :)