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The point is, other than abortion which has been in policy in the US for a while, candidates aren't really coming in with super pro-Christian policy ideas. They're not trying to legislate the religion, thus how one views a candidate from a religious standpoint is pretty irrelevant.
No one claimed evangelicals hope their candidate would legislate religion, except for the abortion ban. For many evangelicals abortion and gay marriage are the only concerns. In 2016 abortion was the ONLY issue, since both candidates embrace gay marriage. It is not irrelevant when those issues decide millions of votes.
I'd say Evangelicals are a subset of Protestant Christians, and there is much debate over who gets to define them and speak for them. Thomas Kidd, a history professor at Baylor University, for instance, has argued that the term “evangelical” has been watered down too much to be a useful term.
I grew up fundamentalist and currently live in the most conservative, evangelical area of the U.S. While there are exceptions to everything, what I said was for the most part truth.
Should I assume that you believe that a black conservative who grew up in a black neighborhood can tell us the motivations of most black people and what they believe?
If so, I'll be ready with some indisputable facts for you in other threads about what black people think. There are plenty of black conservatives I can quote.
No one claimed evangelicals hope their candidate would legislate religion, except for the abortion ban. For many evangelicals abortion and gay marriage are the only concerns. In 2016 abortion was the ONLY issue, since both candidates embrace gay marriage. It is not irrelevant when those issues decide millions of votes.
Agreed. For all that is still wrong with the "Values Voter" movement, it is nice to see gay marriage slowly but surely losing prominence as a wedge issue, at least at the national level.
Yes. For hard-core Catholics it was his stance on abortion and his promise to choose only supreme court appointees who would be pro-life conservatives. That was the only thing they cared about.
It may surprise some people here that Roman Catholics make up the largest percentage of any Christian denomination in this country. It isn't Evangelicals or Baptists. If King Henry VIII hadn't wanted a divorce, the founders of this country would have been Catholics from England.
Should I assume that you believe that a black conservative who grew up in a black neighborhood can tell us the motivations of most black people and what they believe?
If so, I'll be ready with some indisputable facts for you in other threads about what black people think. There are plenty of black conservatives I can quote.
When it comes to voting blocs and identity politics, there are always exceptions. Not all black people are Democrats just like not all evangelicals are Republicans. However, a majority are and that can be statistically shown. I believe it was something like 81% of professed born-again Christians voted for Trump, a higher level than even Bush received in the 2004 election. Not sure about the African-American vote for Hillary but for Obama it was over 90%.
A lot of religious people are only religious because they think they're supposed to be. Not to be an ass about it, but truthfully, they're really just not smart enough to ever bother to ask why. Point being though, many self described Christians know little to nothing about Christianity. Many who do often just think they do, subscribing to the parts they like, rather it's liberal Christians with love your neighbor, or conservative Christians with the story of Genesis. Bottom line, Jesus wasn't some hippie idiot and Genesis is clearly written symbolically, but to many, that doesn't matter. And that's where the problem lies.
Since we're on the subject of stupid people, it's worth noting that the GOP has convinced many people that they are the party of God. As such, any candidate running for the GOP is then better by default, according to those who are smart enough to speak but not smart enough to know what it is they're actually saying.
No, it doesn't need to stop. Why pick out one candidate and ask a group of people, condescendingly, why they voted for him? It IS relevant that the other option was equally as bad coming from some religious standpoint that the OP is trying to create. Because if one sucked and Christians shouldn't have voted for him for x reasons, then the logic following OP naturally goes on to include that pretty much every candidate including Hillary would also be impossible for a Christian to vote for. So why ask about just one? I know Christians who voted for Hillary, they exist.
The reality though is that most people don't vote with religion in mind because it's not very relevant. We are free to practice any religion we want here, and we are secular (as in we are not a religious state). Like I said, if OP expects Christians to not vote for "greedy" politicians who don't fall in line with the Bible's teachings, then I guess OP expects Christians to have very few friends (only those who have not sinned) and live very pure lives. Thing is, that's not what Christianity is about. OP doesn't understand the religion.
Christianty recognizes that people will sin because we are human, and is about forgiving that sin and finding forgiveness in others. Christians are not supposed to judge or hold grudges (now, plenty do but who isn't hypocritical in life? again - not perfect), and most don't vote with their religion in mind because in this country, we don't have to. Religion is often and should be kept very personal. While a candidate may be pro-abortion, while a Christian voter is anti-abortion, for example, there may be other issues that voter finds more pressing and important that the candidate agrees with them on that leads that voter to choose that candidate anyway.
Bottom line is, this is an uninformed question to ask, not to mention a very biased one. It's clear OP doesn't understand the religion. The very simple answer is, because religion really doesn't come into play when people vote. You're not voting for Pope, you're voting for president in a secular nation. Christians don't have to like and suppprt only those who fall totally in line with their own personal beliefs. Christianity is a very individual religion, you're concerned with your own transgressions and fixing them and bettering yourself, you're not concerned much with what others are doing "wrong." And if others are doing "wrong," Christians are supposed to forgive and not dwell on it. People may come up with their own versions of the religion to suit themselves and how they live but that doesn't mean that that's the religion at its basis.
It may surprise some people here that Roman Catholics make up the largest percentage of any Christian denomination in this country. It isn't Evangelicals or Baptists. If King Henry VIII hadn't wanted a divorce, the founders of this country would have been Catholics from England.
I'd say Evangelicals are a subset of Protestant Christians, and there is much debate over who gets to define them and speak for them. Thomas Kidd, a history professor at Baylor University, for instance, has argued that the term “evangelical” has been watered down too much to be a useful term.
It seems that during election years evangelical really means "church going protestant".
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