I don’t have high hopes that many conservative white evangelicals will take the time to read this, partly because 80% of them haven’t listened to any criticism of their support for Trump over the last 8 years, but also because I grew up a conservative white evangelical and I know how insulated and effective the evangelical bubble can be, particularly when paired with the belief that any and all criticism is actually persecution and therefore a sign that you’re doing something right.
I've had this tab open in my browser since last week, and my first thought is in response to how conservative evangelicals don't comprehend OR CARE what they've done, irreparably, either to the church or to their own relationships. I've already seen that, just among mutuals on Facebook.
And I think it boils down to a very simple fact: they're not good people.
They're people who have been taught all their lives that they are good people, but the entire time they were being trained to be bad people, and are acting as such.
Are any of them redeemable, in the actual human sense of word? We know some are, but damn, haven't we learned by now not to waste our time trying to reach them?
Lotta Holocaust survivors could have told you the futility of that nonsense.
I'm one of the ones that was anti Trump maga from the beginning; I plainly did not think he was qualified or would be good at the job. 7 years later I learned a million more reasons. For example, I did not know that he stole money from kids with cancer. He had to shut down that sham "charity." That alone should have been disqualifying in 2016. We are in the minority of evangelicals...but we are here on the inside, dealing with the civic and legal and political and philosophical discourse that has invaded our demographic. And I know, obviously some of it was born out of our demographic. But it sure seems like maga and qanon and a few other bad actors have stoked something horrible, and from the inside of Christianity, including Catholics as well as Protestants, some of us are doing the work day in day out to reveal what we are really about, rather than being hidden by a tragedy. I have to have hope. I can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don't know what it will take, but the cult power that he has usurped can be overcome. Just like Bill Gates on that Netflix documentary, when conspiracy theories started about him, he thought that with the internet people would learn the truth and it would die off. But he believed in people's better angels. And he said that is not the way that played out. We have to change from within and not expect the lies from maga and Russia to stop; rather we have to regroup and fight for the truth.
“I don’t think the conservative white evangelicals who have thrown their support behind Trump comprehend or even care about the irreparable damage they have done both to the Church and the relationships in their own lives with people who are not MAGA.” 💯💯💯
They are blinded by their belief in being righteous, and that harm is fine when done in the name of “truth”.
“ I know how insulated and effective the evangelical bubble can be, particularly when paired with the belief that any and all criticism is actually persecution and therefore a sign that you’re doing something right.”
I feel a little bit like I’m butting in here but I hope you’ll tolerate a few words. I’m in my 70s and I have long left the church for some of the very reasons I’ve read here. I’m sorry for those lost relationships. These days I travel alone. I am devastated. And to be honest and a little bit selfish, I don’t want to die in a fascist country. That breaks my heart. Just a little more rambling. You can take the comment out if you want. I just to say that Emily Dickinson the Belle of Amherst was a recluse. Try as they might they could not get her to make a confession of faith. But it didn’t mean she was faithless. She wrote a very short poem called Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church. If you want to read it just google that title. You’ll find it. It’s in the public domain. I’ll wrap it up with a question that puzzles me. How do these so called Christians know that what plagues us now isn’t God’s judgement on them? Thanks for listening. If I have overstepped here, just delete. I wish everyone peace in these very troubled times.
One last thing. When it was announced that Kennedy was to be named the chair of Health and Human Services in the Trump regime, I felt compelled to write a story. Kennedy , as you may have heard, believes that people drinking water that has a certain chemical in it can be “turned gay.” I’d love feedback if anyone is interested. Thanks. https://substack.com/@brentabrahamson1/note/c-77407428?r=3tcdr4&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Seems Appointment of the most ridiculous & unqualified is intentional for shock value bkz no position will actually have any real power, just a placeholder for Project 2025.
My 27 year old daughter and I went no contact with my evangelical MAGA cult member parents in MAY and they absolutely do not care & have not even attempted to reach out once since then.
Thank you Zach - I have been SMH for years now, seeking understanding to this fracture In Our society and culture. My Catholic school girl guilt surfacing daily, 10 commandment’s screaming thur my brain on a reel. Love Thy neighbor, turn the other cheek. All the while filled with rage about my neighbor, friends and family. You have provided me some clarity, a relief of my guilt this morning. Be well, be safe🙏The resistant begins now! I am in this fight with all of my being, as a retired 67 yo white, queer women, nurse , friend, wife, and AMERICAN! Peace. Nancy K.
I could not agree more. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in a way I never could. I’ll have to get your book on End Times Theology. That has been one of the most insidious ideas ever spawned by hell. And I have no doubt that’s its origin. It can’t be separated from Christian Nationalism or Christian support for Trump. It’s done more harm to our faith and our nation than almost any other concept. Setting up super humans who are being persecuted now but will win out in the end. It will be grand for them and hell for everyone else. So why bother doing anything to advance God’s kingdom on Earth when in the end it won’t matter. In fact, let’s give God a hand and speed things up a bit. He’s a bit sleepy on the switch. They’ve bought the devil’s temptations hook line and sinker and have wrapped a new theology around it to make them seem wise and discerning. It sickens me.
Thank you for writing this. I've tried to tell my parents so many times in so many ways but in the last 8 years they and their church have lost rather than gained in ability to think outside the bubble. Their cruelty has increased at the same time. The things that they support and defend are .... Which is why I gave myself permission to move on. But your article helps cut through the continual gaslighting and I appreciate it.
Zack, I am a white male Christian and I abhor everything about these evangelicals who have embraced Trump. In my view they are not Christians. They have damaged Christianity, maybe beyond repair, here in America. I so appreciate your post.
Thank you for this. I also don’t think anyone who this is intended for is listening, but it is healing for me to know I’m not alone in feeling this way towards the evangelical community that raised me.
This is an extremely non-serious suggestion, but I am very tempted to print thousands of Bible tracts that have this message inside, and distribute them to churches across America. I know most of them will end up in the trash, but maybe evangelicals will see the irony of finally being on the receiving end of an outreach mission that is trying to save their souls.
I agree with everything you posted except for 2 points.
1) Your statement that few if any of us, Christian or otherwise, mean to do harm. There are a lot of people who go out of their way to do harm. They harass lgbtq people just for being who they are, they commit sexual harassment. They support draconian abortion bans that endanger women’s lives and future fertility, they are police who racially profile black and brown people, they withhold medicaid from poor people (eg.Alabama). I could go on.
2) You stated that straight, white evangelicals had little to fear from Trump’s policies. They may think so, but Trump’s policies on tariffs and mass deportation and the 2025 dream of cutting Social Security and Medicare will hurt them while it hurts everyone else except the uber-rich.
While I am very angry and disappointed in family members who voted for this travesty, I will try to maintain relationships as long as they don’t start gloating or reveling in the results. For anyone but my mother I would in that case be willing to pull back to a very superficial level of relationship.
I have personal experience with white evangelical non-denominational churches (some mega, some of more modest size). My experience began with some of my siblings in the mid-seventies as they were swept up. I have wondered more than once if these congregations all around the U.S. are developing into the U.S. version of Nazis. They and their Opus Dei comrades are spreading intolerance all over our country and have been at it for 50+ years now, and their members are gaining strength and influence.
I've had this tab open in my browser since last week, and my first thought is in response to how conservative evangelicals don't comprehend OR CARE what they've done, irreparably, either to the church or to their own relationships. I've already seen that, just among mutuals on Facebook.
And I think it boils down to a very simple fact: they're not good people.
They're people who have been taught all their lives that they are good people, but the entire time they were being trained to be bad people, and are acting as such.
Are any of them redeemable, in the actual human sense of word? We know some are, but damn, haven't we learned by now not to waste our time trying to reach them?
Lotta Holocaust survivors could have told you the futility of that nonsense.
I'm one of the ones that was anti Trump maga from the beginning; I plainly did not think he was qualified or would be good at the job. 7 years later I learned a million more reasons. For example, I did not know that he stole money from kids with cancer. He had to shut down that sham "charity." That alone should have been disqualifying in 2016. We are in the minority of evangelicals...but we are here on the inside, dealing with the civic and legal and political and philosophical discourse that has invaded our demographic. And I know, obviously some of it was born out of our demographic. But it sure seems like maga and qanon and a few other bad actors have stoked something horrible, and from the inside of Christianity, including Catholics as well as Protestants, some of us are doing the work day in day out to reveal what we are really about, rather than being hidden by a tragedy. I have to have hope. I can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don't know what it will take, but the cult power that he has usurped can be overcome. Just like Bill Gates on that Netflix documentary, when conspiracy theories started about him, he thought that with the internet people would learn the truth and it would die off. But he believed in people's better angels. And he said that is not the way that played out. We have to change from within and not expect the lies from maga and Russia to stop; rather we have to regroup and fight for the truth.
They’ve been taught that going to church in and of itself makes them good people. That’s not true.
“I don’t think the conservative white evangelicals who have thrown their support behind Trump comprehend or even care about the irreparable damage they have done both to the Church and the relationships in their own lives with people who are not MAGA.” 💯💯💯
They are blinded by their belief in being righteous, and that harm is fine when done in the name of “truth”.
Exactly
“ I know how insulated and effective the evangelical bubble can be, particularly when paired with the belief that any and all criticism is actually persecution and therefore a sign that you’re doing something right.”
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
I feel a little bit like I’m butting in here but I hope you’ll tolerate a few words. I’m in my 70s and I have long left the church for some of the very reasons I’ve read here. I’m sorry for those lost relationships. These days I travel alone. I am devastated. And to be honest and a little bit selfish, I don’t want to die in a fascist country. That breaks my heart. Just a little more rambling. You can take the comment out if you want. I just to say that Emily Dickinson the Belle of Amherst was a recluse. Try as they might they could not get her to make a confession of faith. But it didn’t mean she was faithless. She wrote a very short poem called Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church. If you want to read it just google that title. You’ll find it. It’s in the public domain. I’ll wrap it up with a question that puzzles me. How do these so called Christians know that what plagues us now isn’t God’s judgement on them? Thanks for listening. If I have overstepped here, just delete. I wish everyone peace in these very troubled times.
One last thing. When it was announced that Kennedy was to be named the chair of Health and Human Services in the Trump regime, I felt compelled to write a story. Kennedy , as you may have heard, believes that people drinking water that has a certain chemical in it can be “turned gay.” I’d love feedback if anyone is interested. Thanks. https://substack.com/@brentabrahamson1/note/c-77407428?r=3tcdr4&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Seems Appointment of the most ridiculous & unqualified is intentional for shock value bkz no position will actually have any real power, just a placeholder for Project 2025.
My 27 year old daughter and I went no contact with my evangelical MAGA cult member parents in MAY and they absolutely do not care & have not even attempted to reach out once since then.
Thank you Zach - I have been SMH for years now, seeking understanding to this fracture In Our society and culture. My Catholic school girl guilt surfacing daily, 10 commandment’s screaming thur my brain on a reel. Love Thy neighbor, turn the other cheek. All the while filled with rage about my neighbor, friends and family. You have provided me some clarity, a relief of my guilt this morning. Be well, be safe🙏The resistant begins now! I am in this fight with all of my being, as a retired 67 yo white, queer women, nurse , friend, wife, and AMERICAN! Peace. Nancy K.
I could not agree more. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in a way I never could. I’ll have to get your book on End Times Theology. That has been one of the most insidious ideas ever spawned by hell. And I have no doubt that’s its origin. It can’t be separated from Christian Nationalism or Christian support for Trump. It’s done more harm to our faith and our nation than almost any other concept. Setting up super humans who are being persecuted now but will win out in the end. It will be grand for them and hell for everyone else. So why bother doing anything to advance God’s kingdom on Earth when in the end it won’t matter. In fact, let’s give God a hand and speed things up a bit. He’s a bit sleepy on the switch. They’ve bought the devil’s temptations hook line and sinker and have wrapped a new theology around it to make them seem wise and discerning. It sickens me.
Thank you for proving my point about the absolute cluelessness and callousness of evangelicals right now.
Thank you for deleting an obvious comment from a troll. I am quite sure I didn’t need to read more garbage.
Thank you for writing this. I've tried to tell my parents so many times in so many ways but in the last 8 years they and their church have lost rather than gained in ability to think outside the bubble. Their cruelty has increased at the same time. The things that they support and defend are .... Which is why I gave myself permission to move on. But your article helps cut through the continual gaslighting and I appreciate it.
Zack, I am a white male Christian and I abhor everything about these evangelicals who have embraced Trump. In my view they are not Christians. They have damaged Christianity, maybe beyond repair, here in America. I so appreciate your post.
Thanks for your brilliant and thorough analysis of America’s version of “Satanic Verses”. Gain the world & lose your soul, right? Bless you!
Thank you for this. I also don’t think anyone who this is intended for is listening, but it is healing for me to know I’m not alone in feeling this way towards the evangelical community that raised me.
This is an extremely non-serious suggestion, but I am very tempted to print thousands of Bible tracts that have this message inside, and distribute them to churches across America. I know most of them will end up in the trash, but maybe evangelicals will see the irony of finally being on the receiving end of an outreach mission that is trying to save their souls.
Thank you for writing this. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this. You’ve captured my grief so well
I agree with everything you posted except for 2 points.
1) Your statement that few if any of us, Christian or otherwise, mean to do harm. There are a lot of people who go out of their way to do harm. They harass lgbtq people just for being who they are, they commit sexual harassment. They support draconian abortion bans that endanger women’s lives and future fertility, they are police who racially profile black and brown people, they withhold medicaid from poor people (eg.Alabama). I could go on.
2) You stated that straight, white evangelicals had little to fear from Trump’s policies. They may think so, but Trump’s policies on tariffs and mass deportation and the 2025 dream of cutting Social Security and Medicare will hurt them while it hurts everyone else except the uber-rich.
While I am very angry and disappointed in family members who voted for this travesty, I will try to maintain relationships as long as they don’t start gloating or reveling in the results. For anyone but my mother I would in that case be willing to pull back to a very superficial level of relationship.
I have personal experience with white evangelical non-denominational churches (some mega, some of more modest size). My experience began with some of my siblings in the mid-seventies as they were swept up. I have wondered more than once if these congregations all around the U.S. are developing into the U.S. version of Nazis. They and their Opus Dei comrades are spreading intolerance all over our country and have been at it for 50+ years now, and their members are gaining strength and influence.
So very true. It’s a tough reckoning for this exvangelical. There is no more point in giving any energy to them.