Christian conservatives pivotal in the South, and feeling under siege

McclatchyDC ^ | 2/12/2016 | DAVID GOLDSTEIN

[Albion Wilde]

I don't care. I don't vote on the basis of religion.

Then why do you care whether or not Trump's motivations are religious in nature? Seems a bit hypocritical.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

I’m catching up tonight and literally laughing so hard at your attempts to answer this poster, he/she is done a rabbit hole with no way out! Great job on your part.

Somehow I imagine some Cruz supporters being mad if Jesus were to return, they’d chastise him for talking to the tax collectors and adulterers. There is just no reasoning with some people.

[Georgia Girl 2]

So true. No reasoning with some. :-)

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well if you don’t need proof of Christian faith because you don’t care about it why are you so concerned with getting proof of Trump’s Christian faith. I see your curiosity about Cruz is non existent. Its a good thing because I think you will wait a long time to see any proof of it from the way Cruz is behaving this election cycle.

[bert]

he said he is Presbyterian

for all but a zealot, that is enough

[Poison Pill]

Obama is said to be a Protestant

[bert]

but Obama went to the Church of Wright, not a legitimate Christian denomination

I understand that zealots don’t put much faith in Presbyterians.

[Poison Pill]

why are you so concerned with getting proof of Trump’s Christian faith.

For many, many years I have made common political cause with evangelical Christians. Though we don't share religious faith, we have shared a belief in the principles embedded in the Constitution (the right to property, privacy, to arms, and so forth). During this time, I have heard over and over from these evangelicals how important their Christian faith is to them, how it informs their lives and guides their actions. I assumed that was not empty talk.

Now, along comes Trump. He is not late on the national scene. He first came to my attention in the early 80s. That's over 30 years. In that time I have heard him advocate for abortion, for gun control, for the forced taking of private property for private (not public sector) use. I have seen him brag about his money, his business, his prowess with women. I have seen him marry, divorce, marry again, divorce again, marry again. I have seen a child born out of wedlock. I have heard him say that he does not ask God for forgiveness. Prior to this campaign I have not noticed a hint of religious practice, either from what he says , or what I see him do. Since Mr. Trump is no shrinking violet, it stands to reason that evidence of religious practice would show up over 30 years of observation. I did not see any.

Mr. Trump is selling populism. Populism is toxic and, by definition, goes against fixed Constitutional principles. We ran a populist experiment in the 1930s with disastrous results.

I have been told by evangelicals in the past that their faith and their politics are linked. What I am seeing from some evangelicals is a dismissal of faith principles. And if their faith goes, can their politics be far behind?

So, when evangelicals, whom up to now I have taken to be sincere in their religious beliefs, tell me he is Christian, I ask for some evidence.

[x]

Wasn't JQA also Unitarian?

True. His father may have been as well -- depending on when the Congregational and Unitarian Churches separated -- but there weren't any primaries back then.

[jjotto]

Weren’t the original Unitarians explicitly Christian? I think today’s Universalist Unitarians are quite a bit different from the original.

[x]

Weren't the original Unitarians explicitly Christian? I think today's Universalist Unitarians are quite a bit different from the original.

They are definitely different, and you find people here proclaiming themselves "biblical Unitarians" in distinction from today's UUAA. In the Adams's day Unitarians retained a belief in the Bible and God, but rejected the divinity of Jesus. We might regard them as culturally Christian and Protestant, but doctrinal disputes mattered a lot more in the 19th century and there was a growing feeling that Unitarians weren't Christian. Nowadays, Unitarians separate themselves more explicitly from Christian culture.

Taft, got plenty of abuse for "not being a Christian." I guess "culturally" he was Protestant or Christian, but the man came out and said: "I am a Unitarian. I believe in God. I do not believe in the Divinity of Christ, and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe. I am not, however, a scoffer at religion but on the contrary recognize, in the fullest manner, the elevating influence that it has had and always will have in the history of mankind."