CREDIT: OLYA_STECKEL / ISTOCK EDITORIAL / THINKSTOCK
Donald Trump attempts to make himself a friend of the American Evangelical Right and fails miserably.

The United States of America is a big country and like Canada its population is diverse. Also like Canada, throughout its history it has rejected strong ties between the government and the church. The government of the U. S. from the moment the country was founded has not aligned itself with any one church.

Canada has followed the same path. This is not to say that the relationship between Christian faith and government in that country is identical to what we see in Canada. But there is a core similarity in that both nations value the freedom of the individual when it comes to questions about God.

Because of the high value we assign to the individual conscience concerning God and faith, in both countries there is a great diversity of churches. In our country, one can get a taste for this diversity by simply driving around any Canadian town. If you keep your eyes open you will readily find churches with labels such as Baptist, Catholic, Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Community and others.

We can get a good sense of the diversity of churches in the U.S. by reading articles posted by Americans who keep one eye on that country’s political life and the other on their churches. One of those writers is Rachel Held Evans.

Evans recently posted an article about Donald Trump’s attempts to make himself a friend of the American Evangelical Right. By “evangelical”, I mean those within the Christian tradition who focus a great deal on Jesus saving us from our sins. And by “right”, I mean those Evangelicals who are unhappy with the growing influence of a left leaning agenda for their country. That agenda includes: a growing acceptance of LGBTQ people, the assumption that science, not the Bible, tells us how the universe works and a commitment to social justice through government policy.

Trump’s most public attempt to get the approval of the Evangelical Right was his speaking at an institution that symbolizes so much of what that brand of Evangelicalism stands for, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. That university was founded by one of the Right’s most famous champions, the late Jerry Falwell.

In an insightful blog posting, Evans takes Donald Trump to task for trying to present himself to the Evangelical Right as a Christian believer. During his speech at Liberty, Trump mispronounced the name of a well known portion of the Bible. Not a big deal admittedly; however, it is part of a bigger picture.

According to Evans, Trump appeared totally ignorant of basic Christian ethics, which are presented in the teachings of Christ. She writes that he bragged about his extramarital affairs. He is ready to exclude refugees from his country based on their religion (Islam) and sometimes on their nationality (Syrian for example). He is callous about bombing civilians in order to get terrorists. He demeans African-Americans as well as Mexicans. Worst of all he says that he does not ask God for forgiveness because he doesn’t need it.

The thing that really grates, however, is that Liberty University, and others in the Evangelical Right camp, appeared to take no notice of the contradictions between these Trumpisms and the teachings of their own leader, Christ.

The Evangelical Right is a minority in the overall religious landscape of the United States, albeit, a vocal one, which does not necessarily mean that it is a powerful minority. Most Christians in that country, as in our own, are more thoughtful in their politics and believe that political leaders succeed in putting into practice the teachings of Jesus as they relate to public life.

Strangely, Donald Trump himself stumbled into a church service where the speaker that morning happened to be preaching on such teachings.

As Evans tells it, the preacher, the Rev. Dr. Pamela Saturnia of First Presbyterian Church of Muscatine, Iowa, spoke on the importance of humility.

Furthermore she spoke about Jesus’ announcement that he had come to bring good news to the poor.

Right on sister, although I hasten to add that Jesus came for the rich too and the middle class.

Trump apparently questioned whether the minister’s choice of Bible readings had been chosen with him in mind. As Evans points out that this was not the case, those Bible passages are part of a three-year cycle of Sunday readings.

If you or I had visited any Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran or Baptist Church the Sunday Trump visited First Presbyterian in Muscatine, chances are we would have heard the same passages read and spoken about.

All of this goes to show that the religious scene in the United States, like ours, is not a simple one and that there is no need to worry that most Christian believers do not think carefully about their faith and what it means in the public sphere. If you would like more assurances on this score, I would recommend visiting an Anglican, Presbyterian or Catholic Church this coming weekend.

On any Sunday in almost any church you are extremely likely to hear something that will make you wiser, smarter, and more compassionate. I like to think that even Trump got infected with some of the wisdom and grace of God as he heard Rev. Saturnia’s message.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.