Being a Christian can be frustrating sometimes. In the least religious generation in history, it’s tough not to feel a little weird. I don’t really like telling people about my faith, because I don’t want them to think I’m one of "those Christians". I feel the need to constantly explain myself: Yes I believe in evolution, no I don’t care about pre-marital sex, gay marriage, or abortion, and yes, of course I drink, why else would I have come to Otago?
Which is why I despise it when religion mixes in with politics, especially the way Republican presidential candidates have been using it, because I know it only feeds the negative stereotypes of my faith. There are actual candidates for President of the United States this year who have stated beliefs that the earth is 4000 years old and Hurricane Sandy was caused by gay marriage. Statements like that have no place in politics, and certainly do not represent the teaching of the church that I know.
My personal theory is that within the greater demographic of the American religious right that buy into this kind of rhetoric, there are two distinct groups: Christian Conservatives, and Bigots. Christian Conservatives are true believers who have been taught a very rigid interpretation of the scripture, which leads to them taking some extremist political positions. Bigots on the other hand, are just assholes who use the Bible to justify their poisonous worldview.
Take the issue of abortion, for example. A Christian Conservative may be opposed to abortion on the basis that they believe life begins at conception, and they see the termination of a young life as a greater evil than forcing a woman to carry her unwanted child to term. A Bigot’s opposition to abortion is founded on a mixture of sexism, slut-shaming, and the idea that pregnancy is a punishment for female promiscuity.
It’s the same on gay marriage. A Christian Conservative may be opposed on the basis of a narrow interpretation of Leviticus. A Bigot is opposed because they think gay people are icky.
Even back in the 1960’s Christian pastors were justifying their opposition to Civil Rights by claiming that black skin was God’s punishment on all the descendants of Cain for the murder of his brother Abel in the book of Genesis. It’s not hard to see how an honest believer could be swayed by an influential pastor into adopting racist beliefs in the name of God.
So when you see ultra-religious candidates like Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ben Carson, who tend to do well in early voting states like Iowa with the backing of evangelic voters, you have to give both the candidates and their supporters the benefit of the doubt that they are indeed true Christian Conservatives who have founded their beliefs on scripture.
But the rise of the newly anointed son of the religious right, Mr. Donald J Trump, would suggest otherwise. This is a candidate whose first foray into the political arena was as the figurehead of the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theory, who launched his campaign by promising to round up and deport 12 million illegal immigrants, claimed that Prisoners of War weren’t heroes because “they got captured”, and whose biggest policy proposal thus far is an outright ban on Muslims entering the United States.
While I am far from the gatekeeper on what it means to be a Christian, it doesn’t take a theological scholar to tell that these are not exactly the “Love thy neighbor” teachings of Christ.
Recent polling has shown that some 89 percent of Trump voters self-identify as Christian. Of course, plenty of Republicans are supporting Trump on the basis of his business acumen, fiscal policy, or perceived electability. But those who support him because of his social policies? Don’t believe for a second they’re supporting him because they’re Christians, they’re supporting him because they’re assholes.