The church in the United States is experiencing a crisis. Forces within the church and outside of it are dividing it on the basis of politics, with some saying, “I am for Biden,” and many more saying, “I am for Trump.” Christians have a duty to participate in politics, but to the degree that they identify with their political parties at the expense of their obedience to Christ, they are bringing dishonor on Christ’s name before the world and failing to live as members of the kingdom of God.

This crisis is bringing shame on the church and on the church’s Lord, Jesus Christ. Shame is what happens when the world despises, mocks, and persecutes the church. We should expect to be shamed by the world since Christ was, but the clear command of Scripture is that we must strive to be shamed in the same way Christ was, which brings us honor before God (1 Peter 4:13; Acts 5:41; Romans 5:3–5; 8:18–21; 2 Corinthians 4:17). We should not expect honor from the world, but Scripture says that if the world shames us, it should be for doing good and not for doing evil (1 Peter 2:20). “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler” but “as a Christian”—that is, a “little Christ” (1 Peter 4:15–16, NIV). Christians who do not look like Christ deserve the shame the world heaps on them.

In other words, if we do right and are shamed for it, we have honor before God. It is unwarranted shame, and we should rejoice in it. But if we are shamed for doing evil, our shame is before God as well as before men—and indeed, we bring shame to God because we bear the name of his Son. This is warranted shame, and there is no honor in it whatsoever.

My contention in this essay is that Christians who identify themselves as pro-Trump (by which I mean embracing Trump, defending him, and celebrating him, not merely voting for him) bring warranted shame upon the church. Many Christians who identify themselves with Trump have good intentions. Many of them have thought and prayed about their decision to do so. We owe each other grace as we think and talk about this issue, just as we’ve received grace from God. But well-intentioned and scrupulous decisions can still be shameful ones, and we must repent of them when the consequences of our actions become clear.

With regard to this contention, I have three things to argue. First, Donald Trump has said and done things that should make it impossible for Christians to embrace him. Second, Christians in any context should not associate themselves with him as his defenders and allies. Third, Christians in my context (California) should therefore not vote for him.

What Trump Has Said and Done

The “mainstream media,” generally speaking, does not like Donald Trump. Reporters and editors, some in good faith and some in bad, often exaggerate his words and deeds to portray him as a kind of supervillain to their audiences. This exaggeration is bad. But the facts are also bad. Trump may not be a supervillain, but an honest assessment of his words and actions shows that he is nonetheless a villain.

Christians often argue that President Trump’s opposition to abortion, one of our nation’s great evils, is enough to merit Christian identification with him whatever else he does. Our legalized abortion system is the single most awful thing about our nation in our time, and it is terrible that it finds such wide public and political support. We should not doubt that, like the sacrifice of children to Molech that the prophets of Israel condemned, this is hateful to God.

But the prophets were by no means exclusive to Molech in their condemnation of Israel and Judah, and the end of child sacrifice alone would not have made those nations righteous. Similarly, abortion is not our one national sin, and Christians should be as attentive to the others as they are to this one. Any Christian who will not support a democratic candidate because of their pro-abortion stance ought to consider that President Trump is an advocate of and a perpetrator of a number of other evils that Christians should reject wholeheartedly and univocally.

I’ve chosen six to enumerate here. I’ve done this not because there are only six, and not because these are the worst, but because these six are particularly apparent and demonstrated by Trump’s own words. I don’t mean to say that the sum of these incidents should turn Christians off to Trump. In fact, any one of them should, even without the others. That there are many only makes the problem more apparent and the church’s defense of President Trump all the more shameful.

Trump’s insistence that the election will be fraudulent is likely to incite violence in November, should he lose. In fact, he has explicitly rejected calls to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

In light of some of President Trump’s other comments (see no. 6 below), it’s reasonable to assume that he intends to use violence to his benefit if he needs to. His words demonstrate a disdain for the rule of law that governs fair elections in our country and a self-interest that outweighs his interest in the good of the country and its people. If there is violence in support of President Trump after the election, Christians—even if they do not defame the name of Christ by participating in it—will have yoked themselves to it by embracing President Trump.
President Trump has insisted that the United States should use torture as an interrogation tool, specifically saying that we should go beyond waterboarding and not quibbling at all with the word “torture.” He has also said that the United States should kill the families of terrorists.

Besides being war crimes and anathema to America’s most fundamental principles, these are offenses against the image of God in human beings and entirely indefensible. Even if President Trump has not followed through on these policies, simply using his platform to voice his support for them is evil.
During his first election campaign, President Trump outlined a religious test for entry into the United States, which was widely called the “Muslim ban.” Trump not only said this; he followed through with it, changing the proposal in such a way as to carry out a de facto ban without the unconstitutional test. In doing so, he set a precedent that our government can make a law intending to discriminate on the basis of faith so long as it does so incidentally and not explicitly.

The “Muslim ban” is a deep violation of the principle of religious liberty in our country, and its existence and acceptance endangers one of the things Christians value most about this country. Every Christian who claims to care about religious liberty should be outraged by it.
Trump has shown disdain for real heroism. His comments about John McCain are proof enough of this: “He’s not a war hero. He was a ‘war hero’ because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

These comments aren’t just about John McCain. They are about every service member. A president who can’t put respect for the personal sacrifices of our military personnel above a political rivalry is not a president who judges rightly. A president who explicitly rejects the principle of self-sacrifice is a president that Christians should not embrace.
President Trump has implicitly supported and failed to condemn the dangerous and blasphemous Q Anon conspiracy theory. This conspiracy alleges that Trump is fighting a battle against a ring of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who pull the strings of the government. It is an absurd lie that has radicalized many Americans and drawn Christians into serious error and even apostacy, with some preachers incorporating “Q” prophecies into their preaching. It is a false doctrine.

President Trump said in response to a question about proponents of the theory, “I heard that these are people who love our country.” When a reported explained the theory to him, he said, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” He even affirmed it in part: “We are saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country, and when this country is gone, the rest of the world would follow.”

If Trump has retracted this opinion or clarified his stance on Q Anon, I would welcome that, but I’m not aware of him having done so. Trump’s implicit support is either willful ignorance, negligence, or a willingness to leverage a dangerous falsehood for his own benefit. In any case, it is evil and indefensible.
Trump has explicitly condemned white nationalism and racism, but he has done so in ways that have encouraged white nationalists and far-right groups. In the most recent case, in what can generously be described as an enormous gaff, President Trump denied the existence of right-wing extremism and offered explicit support for a violent far-right group, the Proud Boys, during the first presidential debate: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left.”

The Proud Boys themselves have reasonably taken this as an endorsement of them and of their mission to oppose their political opponents by violent means. Far right violence and the white-supremacist motives that very often lie behind it are not only a personal danger to me, my family, and many others in the church, they are also anti-gospel—opposing the nations-embracing inclusivity of Christ that Paul called “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:5–6). The encouragement that these groups get from Donald Trump, even if he does not intend it, is an evil that the church cannot tolerate.

Although the last two of these cases involve some possible ambiguity in President Trump’s statements that give him some deniability, the first four are clear and precise. They catch President Trump in a kind of upside-down Lewisian trilemma. If he isn’t a fool or a dangerous liar, then he really means what he says. Whether he is a fool, is a liar, or really means what he says, Christians must not embrace him. Doing so will yoke the church to President Trumps evil words and actions, and it will bring warranted shame upon it.

What It Means to Embrace President Trump

What do I mean when I say that Christians must not embrace President Trump? I do not mean that they must not vote for him (but see under the next heading). The realities of our current national politics mean that, practically speaking, we have two options to choose from when electing a president. When both options are anathema, Christians might reasonably conclude that it is their duty to choose between the lesser of two evils. It may be reasonable to conclude that Trump is the lesser.

I also do not mean that Christians should constantly criticize President Trump or find fault with everything that he does. Despite his faults, President Trump has clearly done some good things that Christians should approve of, as well as some things that all Americans ought to approve of. Christians should not fall victim to “Trump derangement syndrome,” as some call the obsession with hating the president that has become the pastime and the full-time occupation of so many in our country.

A Christian refusal to embrace President Trump is not a rejection of nuance. It is an acknowledgment of sin. Christians must see Trump for what he is: not simply a flawed man, but a dangerously flawed one, and one who expresses principles that are anathema to them. When President Trump does something that is unacceptable, they must not accept it, and they certainly must not defend it. To the degree that any Christian is distressed by political events and realities in our nation, they must feel distress at the evils perpetrated by President Trump.

During the past four years, I have been distressed to find that believers whom I know and love have become defenders and allies of Trump. Some have been perplexed by my assertions that he’s done wrong, minimizing his evil behavior as personal flaws and past sins. In fact, the reason I have chosen to write this essay is that I have often encountered incredulity when I suggest that Trump has done things that should completely rule him out as a viable candidate for their political support under normal circumstances.

The narrative that white evangelicals overwhelmingly support Donald Trump is not entirely true, but it has enough truth to it that it brings shame upon the church. More than half of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump, and while some of that disapproval is a result of political polarization, much of it has to do with actual, intolerable wrongdoing on the president’s part—wrongdoing that is at odds with the teachings of the Scriptures that we submit ourselves to. In other words, people disapprove of Trump because his words and behavior are worthy of disapproval.

When the world sees Christians defending Trump in this wrongdoing and even refusing to acknowledge it, they see Christians spurning their own fundamental principles to support a political candidate who does evil, and they unsurprisingly associate Christians with those evils. Evangelical support put Trump in office, so evangelicals bear some responsibility for the intolerable evils that have happened there. Moreover, the world sees Christians supporting an intolerable candidate who repays them by enacting some of their favored policies. In other words, they see Christians tolerating evil to get something in return—selling their birthright for a bowl of stew—and they reasonably disdain Christians for it.

When the worlds shames us for this, it is because what has happened is actually shameful. Christians should not support or defend an evil man in his evil, even if they think that he otherwise does some good. To do so is shameful, and it is warranted shame.

Obviously, not all evangelicals favor Donald Trump, but I would ask you to consider whether your support for him, if you are one of his supporters, is appropriate. Are you distressed at his wrongdoing? Do you long for the day when a person of integrity will hold the office of the executive and lead our country? If you speak publicly about the president, do you publicly mourn his wrongdoing? Or do you take pride in him as he is?

How Christians in California Should Vote

I have already said that Christians not embracing Donald Trump does not necessarily mean they shouldn’t vote for him. Nevertheless, I see absolutely no reason why most of the Christians I know, who are residents of and registered voters in California, should vote for him. It pains me that anyone should vote for Trump or Biden, though I understand why some think it is necessary to choose to vote for one or the other. My contention is that, in our case, we should definitely vote for neither.

In our system, there are only two likely outcomes in any given presidential election: a victory for the Democratic Party or a victory for the Republican Party. There may be cases where there is one clear choice, but this election doesn’t represent one of those cases. In a case like ours, in which our choice is between two evils, there are several things to consider.

First, what is the purpose of my vote? I’m assuming it has two: (1) it allows my voice to be represented in the national decision about whom we elect to office and (2) it is counted by election officials to help determine the outcome of the election. The first has to do with the power of my vote to express my principles, the second has to do with the power of my vote to affect the outcome of an election. The expression of my principles have real-life outcomes that are independent of my vote’s affect on the outcome of an election.

Second, even though my vote will be counted by election officials if it is submitted properly, it won’t necessarily make a difference in the outcome. My vote is more likely to make a difference in the outcome if I live in one state (e.g., Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan) than if I live in another (California, New York, Idaho).

So, when deciding to vote, I ask myself, is my vote likely to make a difference in the outcome? If it is, I should take both purposes into account when deciding how to vote. If it’s not, the second purpose has much less weight relative to the first one—that is, my vote is a protest vote. It expresses my principles without making any difference on the outcome of the election. However, the expression of my principles is not a neutral activity, and it does have outcomes in the real world unrelated to the outcome of the election.

As a conservative in California, my vote in the presidential race is a protest vote. The allocation of our state’s electors is all but assured, and voting for one candidate rather than the other is a matter of identifying with that candidate and that candidate’s platform. Thus, the expression of my principles is the most important consideration when deciding how to vote. The calculus will be different in a swing state, and there may be good reasons for voting with your nose plugged in that context, but in California, there is no cost (at least regarding the outcome of the election) to voting in line with your principles, so there is no reason not to.

So, in a situation like the one we’re in—where both candidates are evil—to cast a protest vote for either candidate is to express that one’s principles are more or less represented by that candidate. In other words, it is to identify with evil. Moreover, this expression of our principles has real outcomes.

Hypothetically, if every Christian in a blue state refused to vote for Donald Trump, it would have no impact on the election, but it would undercut the dangerous narrative in our culture that Donald Trump is the church’s man and that we identify with him. This narrative was the real outcome of our votes in the last election, and that real outcome has led to the erosion of our public witness outside the church and the proliferation of blasphemy and apostasy within it. It is a source of warranted shame.

If I were writing this essay for Christians living in a swing state, I would have to make a different argument, and a more complex one. Fortunately, in our state, my argument is much simpler than that: Since your vote is primarily an expression of your principles, you must not cast it for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not reflective of the principles that are yours in Christ.

Whom should you vote for instead? Anyone else who does align with godly principles. Or, perhaps, no one. That a third-party or write-in candidate would win the election is so unlikely as to be impossible, but getting your preferred candidate into office is not your goal here. Your vote is a protest vote, so use it to express your principles.

But by all means, vote. The presidential election is not the only election, and the impossible choice presented by the two candidates is not duplicated in every race. Vote in these races because it is your civic duty and an expression of your Christian witness, and also because an engaged voter who abstains from voting for one of the two major-party candidates is a potential voter. Voter engagement (that is, getting out the vote, as opposed to persuading voters of a different stripe) is one of the most important things candidates consider when they look for votes. So, don’t engage with them, and pray that somewhere in all the data that comes out of this election, conservative presidential candidates will realize that they’ve done something wrong and change their course.

Addendum: Q&A

Why are you focusing on Trump and not on Biden? My concern is for the evangelical movement in my country, and I don’t perceive a risk of dangerous attachment to Biden or to the democratic party within the evangelical movement. It’s a presupposition of my arguments that Christians don’t think Biden is a good candidate. The problem is that they think Trump is.

Isn’t abstaining or a vote for a third party a vote for Biden? Because of the electoral college, in California, even a vote for Trump is a vote for Biden. Your vote will not determine the outcome of this election. It will express your principles, and that expression has real consequences.

Is not voting for Trump a vote for abortion? What about the supreme court seat? In California, your vote will not help determine the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor, and so it will have no standing on abortion policy. In any case, the argument that the presidency and its influence on the supreme court is the end-all-be-all of the fight for life has some significant flaws.

What if I am a registered voter in a state where my vote may help determine the outcome? In that case, I still urge you not to vote for Trump for many of the reasons I outlined above, though I have not made that more difficult case in this essay. I’d encourage you to read this article by evangelical political commentator David French, part of which I will quote (italics original):

We do not have to choose between evils. Our nation’s two political parties do not dictate to the church how it must use its vast cultural and political power. The church must instead communicate its standards to our parties.

If the world’s wealthiest and and [sic] most powerful collection of Christians are supine before their political masters in the United States, marching to the beat of secular drummers (even if allegedly “holding their noses” all the while) then I fear the message that sends is that we do not have faith that God’s providence governs the nations. We cannot and must not “put our trust in princes.” There is no such thing as a “binary choice.” We can choose not to yield to the spirit of the times.

Abortion is not all I’m concerned about. Shouldn’t I vote for Trump because of the left’s whole agenda, which is radical and dangerous? A friend shared this article by Jared Sichel with me, part of which I will quote:

It seems more likely than not that if the Democrats control the White House and Congress come January, they will feel emboldened and vengeful enough to transform the country in ways that would deeply frighten a large minority, or even a majority of Americans.

A radical move to the left is not a political certainty even if Democrats sweep the election, but I understand the fear and recognize its validity. However, reaffirming and/or reelecting Trump won’t stop this; it will only delay it, and ultimately it will validate it, since Trump is indeed doing things worthy of vengeance.

“The radical left” will be the radical left. The greater danger is that Christians will fail to act like Christians. What good is it to us if we have earned the world’s vengeance by yoking ourselves to evil? If they are going to persecute us, I pray that it is for our commitment to Christ and not for our commitment to a politician whose words and actions are nothing like Christ’s.