The one wall Trump opposes, between church and state
So Donald Trump showed up at a meeting of more than 1,000 evangelical Christian conservatives late last month to announce that he’s on their side, that he’s a “tremendous” believer and that “we’re gonna straighten it out.”
And to prove it, he promised he’d get rid of the prohibition on clergy endorsing political candidates so as to preserve the tax-exempt status of their churches, allow public employees (such as high school coaches) to lead prayers and, of course, ensure sales clerks at Macy’s will once again say “Merry Christmas.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if that last one will be achieved by executive order or an act of Congress.
I’m usually loath to question candidates about their religions; in fact, I spend the bulk of my time urging them to keep politics and piety apart. But when a candidate goes out of his way to embrace religion on the campaign trail, it usually bears additional scrutiny.
Trump, however, is an unlikely icon for the religious right: a thrice-married former Democrat who acknowledges a love for money, claims membership in the Presbyterian church and struggles with the names (and often the nuances) of scripture.
Trump is nobody’s thundering Bible-thumper. In fact, voters stepped over several of them in order to hand Trump the nomination.
Yet Trump remains quite popular in the evangelical community, where a robust debate has broken out as to whether he’s actually one of them as opposed to a poseur searching for votes. (Pro tip: Always bet the under, evangelicals, although judge not, lest ye be judged.)
Certainly, Trump did his best to entice his audience when he promised to free them from the nasty grip of officially enforced tax neutrality, which Trump says stifles free speech.
“I think it may be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions — is to allow you to go and speak openly,” Trump said. “If you like somebody and you want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do that.”
Truth: They do, in a personal capacity, so long as they don’t use church time or resources.
And school prayer? “We’re becoming so politically correct that we can’t function as a country anymore,” Trump said. “When coaches aren’t allowed to pray on the field with their team, going into battle? That’s a disgrace, and that’s gonna change. And not everybody has to pray if they don’t want to, and that’s fine. But when a coach has a team and they’re going into battle and they’re restricted from praying — and they fire the coach! — those days will be over.”
I’ll leave it to others better qualified than I — spiritually and theologically — to gently suggest to Trump where he and Jesus may differ on issues. But even a lowly sinner such as I can see the danger of Trump’s ideas to more fully unite church and state, in the name of destroying political correctness. How ironic that in an instance where we really do need a wall, it’s Trump pledging to tear it down!
That is, if he’s serious. According to a video posted of the event, Trump seized on a New Testament exhortation to pray for political leaders to suggest that believers should more specifically pray for one person in particular to win the White House.
Not only is that powerful evidence that Trump misunderstands Christianity, it’s also a timely reminder to leaders of the church that there are more reasons than the tax code to withhold their labors from politics. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear…
Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and co-host of “PoliticsNOW,” airing 5:30 p.m. Sundays on 8NewsNow. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.
