R&I – TxPAT *****
Opinion by Diana Butler Bass
Updated 2:47 PM ET, Sat May 15, 2021
(CNN)How can you defend White evangelicals?
When I talk to readers and people in my community about faith and my relationship with Jesus, this is what they ask me. These days, it seems to me, it is tempting to reply, “I can’t.” But I’m realizing that answer denies the power of history — mine, and many others.
During the Trump presidency, White evangelicals formed the bedrock of the former President’s political strength — a huge number voted for him twice and never wavered in their support for either the man or his policies.
As a result, White evangelicalism has emerged as a political and theological explainer for some liberals and progressives to understand the continuing appeal of Donald Trump. Several brilliant recent books, including Robert Jones’ “White Too Long,” Anthea Butler’s “White Evangelical Racism” and Kristen Kobes Du Mez’s “Jesus and John Wayne,” have generated important public conversations on the complicity between White evangelicalism (and White Christianity more broadly) and racism and sexism. For the most part, these authors insist that ideologies of Anglo-Saxon supremacy and misogyny are at the very core of American evangelical identity among its White adherents. Donald Trump — no matter his personal failings — embodies their deepest beliefs. He doesn’t just represent their interests. He is them.
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Carl Sagan
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/15/opinions/white-evangelicals-after-trump-butler-bass/index.html