For Trump's Evangelicals, the Inconvenient Teachings of Christ

Harvard Divinity School

Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election thanks in large part to overwhelming support from one particular group of folks: white evangelicals. And despite what seems to be weekly, if not daily controversy over the president’s public remarks or past behaviors, a poll from earlier this year found that 75 percent of white evangelicals still hold a positive opinion of Mr. Trump. Given what we know about evangelicals and their social positions centered on family values, and given what we know about Trump, a thrice-married casino mogul facing numerous allegations of adultery, sexual assault, and bigotry, where does this evangelical support for Trump come from? This is the Harvard Religion Beat*, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society. Here, we're speaking with Dudley Rose, Professor of Ministry Studies here at Harvard Divinity, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. We wanted to get his insight into some of the historical and present-day factors that are behind evangelical support for Trump. We’ll also look forward a bit to 2020 and talk what the Democrats might need to do in order to appeal to Christian conservatives in the upcoming elections. The Rundown 00:26 - White evangelical support for Trump 01:53 - Intro to the pod and to my guest, Prof. Dudley Rose 02:25 - Evangelical oppression? 05:01 - Abortion as a redline 08:46 - Evangelicals "dream president" 10:47 - Jesus chatting w/ Trump 11:51 - Lesser of two evils? 14:56 - Democrats win over white evangelicals? 17:14 - "Evangelicals are people of hope, not fear" 18:06 - Golf clap + other ways to connect If you don’t already, please follow us on social and subscribe to our e-newsletter! And listen to our other pod “Ministry of Ideas!” https://hds.harvard.edu/news/connect https://www.ministryofideas.org/ *re-named from "Beyond Belief" in April 2019.