Of all the endorsements U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump has received, the most puzzling have come from the Religious Right.
On Jan. 26, Trump received support from Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world.
Falwell, a key voice in the Religious Right, could have given his support to any of the 11 contenders.
Why Trump?
The New York billionaire had not come across as a supporter of Religious Right values. He wasn’t an anti-abortion voice and he hadn’t weighed in on same-sex rights.
He didn’t have strong connections to any church.
The endorsement is a sign of a shift within the Religious Right. Instead of raising social and moral issues at the political level, the movement today recommends candidates for Christian voters.
The line separating church and state has been blurred.
The modern Religious Right in the United States had its start in 1979 when Falwell’s father, Jerry Falwell, Sr., established the Moral Majority.
The Moral Majority was dissolved in 1989, but other organizations, such as the Family Research Council, founded by James Dobson in 1981, remain active within the American political landscape.
Before founding the Family Research Council, Dobson was the head of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the traditional family. Dobson has also spoken out in opposition to pornography.
Trump is on his third marriage and at least one of his casinos, the Trump Taj Mahal, included a strip club.
How could Dobson support Trump?
Falwell and Dobson could have chosen from plenty of other candidates. For instance, Ted Cruz, initially a strong force in the Republican nomination process, is a Southern Baptist. He also seemed more closely aligned with the values of the Religious Right than Trump.
Dobson and Falwell have both maintained their support even when the Republican candidate has come under fire for inflammatory or offensive statements.
They have issued dire warnings about the dangers they see for the U.S. if Trump is not elected.
I’ve been puzzled and more than a little concerned by endorsements Falwell, Dobson and others have given to Trump. I find it unsettling when my Christian faith is used as a way of promoting any candidate or political party.
And I’m not the only one who is uneasy with the Religious Right’s endorsements of Trump.
Some American evangelical leaders have raised concerns after derogatory comments Trump has made about minorities, Muslims, people with disabilities and others.
Some white evangelical women have also spoken out against Trump, following earlier comments made by the Republican nominee when he bragged about his poor treatment of women.
Even in Lynchburg Virginia, at Liberty University, some students have recently voiced their disagreement with Falwell’s endorsement.
These concerns are not about who should win the Nov. 8 presidential election. That is something for the American voters to decide when they go to the polls.
The concerns instead have to do with a blending of religion and politics, two components which should never be merged.
John Arendt is the editor of the Summerland Review.
