Pastor turns to Christian right for losing moral core to Trump



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The white evangelical Christian community has followed its inflexible opposition to abortion on a path of immorality, wrote a religious leader in Minneapolis in a passionate opinion article published Sunday.

Evangelical pastor Doug Pagitt denounced the loss of the moral core of the religious right in a United States today editorial. Pagitt pointed out that abortion was the main problem that kept evangelicals away from religious teachings.

"Many of us learn from an early age that abortion is the issue on which our vote should always be focused." The wish of many evangelicals is to make abortion illegal, "he said. he writes. "However, the evidence suggests that criminalization does not reduce abortion.In fact, studies show that the criminalization of abortion does not protect babies, but endangers mothers."

Pagitt lamented the biggest loss of morality among white evangelicals, which he wrote was sacrificed to the detriment of "the advance of the Republican party". He lamented the support of the community to Republicans and Trump, despite the president's policy on separation of immigrant families and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He wrote that the Conservatives' unwavering support had led white evangelicals to adopt values ​​"antithetical to those preached by Jesus".

The preacher questioned the idea that faith should lead to a specific political alignment, saying, "My faith does not call me to be Republican or Democrat, My faith calls me to love God and to love my God. next as I love myself, I am called to vote for the common good, for justice and humanity. "

GettyImages-580951580 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence answer questions from the public at the Roanoke Hotel & Conference Center on July 25, 2016. Sara D. Davis / Getty Images

According to the Pew Research Center, President Trump obtained 81% of the white evangelical vote in the 2016 elections. At least 74% of white evangelicals voted for the Republican candidate in the last four presidential elections.

A poll conducted by Barna in 2015 revealed a marked disparity between the number of evangelical voters who care about abortion compared to the general population.

Thirty percent of the entire American population said that a politician's position on abortion had heavily influenced the selection of candidates. But 64% of all evangelicals said they were strongly considering abortion to decide which politician to support.

Jerry Falwell Jr. even described Trump as "dream president for evangelicals," according to The Washington Post.

The evangelical community continued to marry Trump despite policies apparently opposed to their faith.

The perceived contradiction catalyzed a series of reflections analyzing the evangelical support of whites to Trump.

"White evangelicals are more conservative on a range of issues," said Janelle Wong, author of Immigrants, Evangelicals and Politics in the Age of Demographic Change written in The Washington Post. "More than 25% of white evangelicals oppose an increase in federal spending for the poor, while this is true for about 14% of all non-evangelical whites. And about 50% of white evangelicals think that immigration harms the economy, compared to about 33% of other non-evangelical whites. "

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