Open Letter to My Evangelical Friends

Friends and Family,

This is a friendly letter.  I mean that.  I know that sometimes in the past, I've posted things publicly that have been very critical of evangelical subculture and conservative politics, but I hope you'll permit me to speak candidly with you now, even if I have caused offense in the past.  As a Christian who grew up among evangelicals, I know your language and how you think.  I was raised among you and, within the circles that actually know how to properly define the term, I still self-identify as an “evangelical.” So I speak to you as a friend and as a brother.

Last night I watched with great alarm as Donald Trump took the stage to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president.  Up until last night it had all seemed so distant and silly.  I laughed when Trump first announced his candidacy, with amusement I watched several of the GOP debates as Trump bullied the other candidates, I shook my head in disgust when he would say something particularly hateful, but all the while it seemed like it was a bad dream, a traveling carnival sideshow that would eventually pack up shop and leave town.  And last night as Donald Trump stood up in Cleveland to accept his nomination, it hit me – as perhaps it hit you – that this is real.  Trump isn’t going away. 

And it isn’t funny anymore.

I invite you to take a moment to separate yourself from all of the memes on social media, all of the bickering between Hillary-haters and Trump-haters, and all of the noise that floods our ears each day through the TV, radio, and Internet.  Our nation is at an important moment and it calls for some prayerful, sober reflection.  Do we really want this man to be our next president?  Does he really stand for the values that you and I hold dear as evangelicals?

I’m writing for only one reason: to beg you not to vote for Trump in November. 

When Trump met with Franklin Graham, James Dobson, and a number of other evangelical leaders several weeks ago, I was certain that these earnest men and women would see right through Trump’s façade, calling a spade and spade, and tell all of us that this whole evangelical-Trump alliance just wasn’t gonna work out.  Too many differences.  And when Graham and Co. took the airwaves after their little closed-door meeting, I was floored – perhaps like you were – at these leaders’ willingness to overlook his flaws, declare him to be a “baby Christian,” and to throw their support behind him.  The time has come to step up and say, “No!”  We will not compromise our allegiance to Christ for the sake of this hotheaded buffoon. 

Now I know that the alternative candidate isn’t a viable option to you and I am certainly not asking you to vote for Hillary.  Personally, I think she is untrustworthy and hopelessly corrupted by the Washington system.  I’m not asking you to hold your nose and consider voting for her.  Given the choices we have before us, I’m asking you not to vote at all.  Or, if you must vote, then vote for some third-party candidate.

In the 1930’s when a loud-mouthed demagogue in Germany was promising people that he would “Make Germany Great Again” and sweep his nation clean of undesirable ethnic groups, most of the Christians stood by in silence and tacit approval.  Most church leaders supported this new “law and order candidate” and they didn’t see any biblical or moral reason not to.  But a few saw through it, saying “Enough!”  Joining together, they created the Confessing Church, declaring their utter rejection of false ideologies, “as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans" (Barmen Declaration, 1934).

We need a Confessing Church movement today.  Will you join me in saying “no” to Trump this fall?  The Bible warns us about loud and arrogant men who would lead us astray.  “The fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.” (Prov. 29:9)

Last night Trump thanked “all the evangelicals” for winning him the nomination.  He shamefully joked about how he didn’t really deserve their support.  Even he knows it’s rather laughable that evangelicals might support him.  Let’s not allow him to give the same half-hearted thanks at his inauguration in January.  The world is watching.  We’ve already lost so much credibility.  What will we do now?