The term “evangelical” has become political shorthand for white political conservatives who profess to be evangelicals and vote overwhelmingly for Republican political candidates, based almost solely on their opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
This characterization erases the voices of tens of millions of Americans who fit the theological definition of evangelical, but who do not support such a narrow definition of “moral issues” and clearly do not support Trump or his bigotry. These evangelicals are African-American, Latino, Asian-American, Native-American and white. They are younger and older, and they are women and men. They are Christians who believe in the centrality of Christ as savior of humanity and the world, the importance of both conversion and discipleship, the authority of the Scriptures and the “good news” of the Gospel, especially for the poor and oppressed as Jesus himself defined it in his opening sermon at Nazareth.
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