Christian voters face an uncomfortable choice

This past Sunday, a Christian pastor stood behind the pulpit and made the following declaration: “The national conscience can become so seared that extreme godlessness becomes the fabric of an entire political party’s agenda and identity — and I’m speaking of the Democratic Party.” Conceding that the GOP isn’t perfect, and that you don’t have to vote for Republicans, this preacher went on to say, “I want to give you 10 reasons why you cannot vote for the Democratic Party.”

Sitting somewhere in the back of that pastor’s church was yours truly. If I was looking for a sanctuary from politics, I had come to the wrong place.

Now, I have no idea what it takes to violate a church’s tax status, and I’m not interested in finding out. Likewise, I’m also well aware that electioneering goes on in progressive churches, too. But I can’t help wondering how many of my fellow Christian conservatives are hearing similar sermons this year.

Moreover, I wonder how many will do what I’ve decided to do: Find another church.

Sadly, some people will probably just check out of religion altogether, having made the assumption that Christianity equals MAGA. That would be a mistake.

In my opinion, this pastor’s logic doesn’t add up (nor did his list; I’m not sure he ever actually got to 10).

As you might have guessed, abortion topped his list. As a conservative, I am generally opposed to the practice. Having said that, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has raised questions regarding the life of the mother, including the need to explicitly ensure that medical care for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages is not criminalized.

There is no doubt that Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning in on the abortion issue. On the other hand, as recently as August, former President Donald Trump pledged, “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”

Trump’s stated position is to send the decision back to the states, many of which have liberal abortion policies. What’s more, Trump is criticizing conservative states like Florida that have implemented more restrictive policies, calling it a “terrible mistake” and saying the policies are “too tough, too tough.”

There’s a vulgar old joke whose punchline ends with, “Now we’re just haggling over the price.” If you believe abortion is a no-compromise litmus test, then it’s hard to say that you could, in good conscience, vote for either candidate. Yet this Christian pastor has no problem with parishioners casting their ballot for Trump.

If your litmus test doesn’t demand a 100 percent consistent pro-life stance — a threshold neither candidate could overcome — you may take the more pragmatic position that politics is about choosing the lesser of two evils. If that’s the case, you might conclude that you can’t vote for a thrice-married casino magnate who paid hush money to a porn actress and was found liable of sexual assault. That conclusion seems reasonable.

Maybe, as a believer, you honor the Old Testament verse that says, “You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Or maybe you take to heart the verse that says of God, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”

If so, you might find it hard to justify voting for a presidential candidate who wants to establish mass deportation camps, or for a party whose top policy strategist just said, “America is for Americans and Americans only.”

Of course, some Christian conservatives grudgingly concede that Trump is depraved and decadent, while putting a lot of faith in the GOP platform to save the day.

Regardless of the wisdom of trusting something that has become as irrelevant as a party platform, one thing is clear: Trump’s behavior is not limited to Trump. Look no further than his fellow MAGA heroes — Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Lauren Boebert, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Hulk Hogan, et al. — if you want to get a sense of the wholesome family values represented by the new right.

The second item on this pastor’s list was the transgender issue (“the mutilation of bodies,” as he said), which was also lumped in with the “feminizing of masculinity” and “redefining marriage.”

Again, if those issues are dealbreakers for you, then you need to grapple with the fact that the Trump administration offered “gender-affirming care” to prisoners, and that Richard Grenell, Trump’s director of national intelligence, called him “the most pro-gay president in history.”

The preacher also cited the Drag Queen Story Hour, a children’s event that originated in 2015 with the goal of promoting reading and diversity, as if this was something that Harris personally condoned and conducted.

While Christians can find much about the left and the right to dislike, Harris has at least sought to moderate her past progressive stances, while Trump personifies the worst aspects of the right. As P.J. O’Rourke said of Hillary Clinton, Harris is “wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters.” Trump is outside the normal parameters on everything.

The truth is that neither political party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. From a biblical perspective, progressives tend to be good on social justice but bad on sexual morality. Conservatives tend to be good on sexual morality but bad on social justice. It turns out, these topics are mentioned a lot by Jesus, yet rarely show up on Christian Coalition voter guides.

But that was the old paradigm from the Reagan and Bush Eras. Trump is bad on the whole spectrum. Trump is bad on sexual ethics and he’s bad at helping the poor and immigrants. He mocks war heroes and disabled people. Indeed, one could say that no Christian in good conscience could ever vote for him.

But I won’t do that. Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar.

We live in a fallen world, and politicians, like the rest of us, are inherently broken. The only way to remain untainted is to wash our hands of politics. But we are called to be in this world, but not of this world.

As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said, “The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.” And the duty of the clergy is to point us sinners toward God — not toward a particular party on a ballot.

Matt K. Lewis is a columnist, podcaster and author of the books “Too Dumb to Fail” and “Filthy Rich Politicians.”