Conservative evangelicals responded quickly to the Republican National Committee’s release of the GOP Platform. Described by NPR as a platform that “steers away from traditional GOP social issues,” many committed pro-lifers are troubled by the absence of language calling for a national abortion ban, something the platform has included for forty years. Concerns have also been raised about the party’s stance on marriage and a seemingly increasing support for LGBTQ issues. The two social media posts below from two Southern Baptist pastors reflect a fair summary of the online response from conservative Christians:
These responses are, of course, not surprising. Conservative Christians have long held for the sanctity of life and opposition to abortion from conception. Most evangelicals have not responded favorably to the GOP platform on life. However…
…the impact of the GOP platform is a different story. Although virtually all evangelicals are less than thrilled with the platform, the responses describing the potential effect on Donald Trump or Republican support are diverse and fascinating.
I’ve noticed three general evangelical responses:
First, there are Christians who have predicted this moment since 2016 and warned of the potential devastation from Trumpism. These Christians are usually labeled as “moderate” or “liberal” and continue to be dismissed by the more conservative Christian community. They were never voting for Trump in the first place, so the GOP platform has little impact on their intentions other than providing them a perceived justification to say, “I told you so.” The following two posts represent this group (the first is sarcasm):
Second, there are conservative Christians who have historically been single-issue voters related to abortion but are nevertheless willing to stay with Trump. They are making that decision because Republicans seem to offer a significantly more conservative approach to social issues, despite the problematic GOP platform. Some in this group are acknowledging the decline in the GOP’s social convictions, while others are issuing reminders that Roe v. Wade was overturned and as such, the states now have the right to determine the law of the land. Still others in this group believe that the Republican party has been fractured for years – well before Trump – and that conservative evangelicalism has been but one important, but not exclusive faction of the party. Here are two posts representing this group:
Third, there is a group of conservative Christians who were heavily pro-Trump but remain committed to being a single-issue voter and will no longer vote for Trump. This group is perhaps the most fascinating since, it seems to me, they represent the most conservative of the three categories. That might initially cause one to think that this group would be pro-Trump since they have defended him through all kinds of madness. But for this group, abortion truly is the Rubicon; there is no going back.
A frustrating argument from this group goes like this: “Since we have told fellow Christians for years that we can’t vote for a Democrat due to their pro-life position, how can we now vote for Trump? The principle remains the same.”
Well, I agree with that principle. So, why is it frustrating to me? Because conservatives had also told Christians for many years that we must not vote for a candidate who embodies deficient moral character. What happened to that principle in 2016? For some reason, the abortion principle is absolute (which I have no problem with) while the moral-character principle was not (which I do have a problem with). Thus, I respect this group’s ultimate conclusion, but I’m frustrated by their inconsistency. Here are two posts representing this group:
We will see what happens over the next couple of months to these three categories of evangelicals.
