General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Evangelicals are not a religious group... [View all]The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,661 posts)but many people who belong to so-called evangelical denominations have placed political goals ahead of their religious principles. The evangelical denominations, generally speaking, are those that believe these three basic things: that the Bible is inerrant; that you have to be "born again," meaning accepting Jesus as your personal savior; and that you are obligated to spread the Christian message by proselytizing to the un-saved. The major evangelical denominations are the Baptist and Pentacostal churches but there are elements of evangelism in other denominations that aren't usually included in that category (Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, for example).
About 30 years ago many evangelical Protestants joined the Catholics on the anti-abortion bandwagon, which gave them political clout. The ultimate result has been a focus on political goals that often seem completely contrary to the basic altruism of Christianity; the power went to their heads. They became so invested in that power that they were willing to support the candidacy of Trump, a crude, dishonest, adulterous man who never sets foot in church if he can avoid it; and Roy Moore, a credibly-accused child molester, but one who defies "the establishment" that wouldn't let him put his Ten Commandments plaques in his courthouse.
Some religious leaders in the evangelical movement have started to figure out that their politics and their religion are incompatible and are backing away from Trumpism, but an awful lot of other people still are able to reconcile the viciousness and un-Christian-ness of the GOP and Trump in particular, with their "inerrant" Bible, which tells them to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger and comfort the afflicted.