Donald Trump and the Evangelical Political Schism

During the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, several high-profile evangelical leaders quietly expressed their support for Donald Trump, adding to the more fervent and public endorsement of other evangelicals such as Jerry Falwell, Jr., the president of Liberty University. Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, activist Gary Bauer, and Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America each gave versions of the same argument in interviews: Despite his personal impieties and previous reticence to embrace conservative social causes, Trump stood as the only viable alternative to Hillary Clinton. Trump was no evangelical, they admitted, but he at least listened to them and offered the possibility of conservative Supreme Court appointments and a revision of IRS codes that prohibited churches from political advocacy. It was, as political endorsements go, modest. Trump’s selection of Mike Pence, a vocal conservative evangelical, as his running mate did not appear to raise these leaders’ attitude toward Trump to genuine excitement. It amounted to mere toleration for the GOP nominee coupled with disdain for Clinton.