Life & Faith

81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Will that be the case this November?

In the second of our two episodes on the upcoming US election, we explore the statistic that 81% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. According to a Pew Research report released in July, as many as 80% of white evangelicals indicated that they would still vote for him in 2020.

We ask what ‘evangelical’ even means, and consider the possibility that Donald Trump acts as a kind of representative - even a strongman - for evangelicals who feel increasingly out of step with the secular mainstream.

We explore how race factors into the mix as well, and questions of power and influence.

Again, we’re joined by experts from the US to weigh in on the discussion: Amy Black, Professor of Political Science at Wheaton College in Illinois; Lisa Sharon Harper, author, activist, and the founder and president of Freedom Road; Andy Crouch, author, speaker, and the former editor of Christianity Today, America’s flagship evangelical magazine. 

In this episode, we also hear from Kristin Kobes du Mez, Professor of History at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of Jesus and John Wayne: How white evangelicals corrupted a faith and fractured a nation.

—

Explore

Kristin Kobes du Mez’s book Jesus and John Wayne: How white evangelicals corrupted a faith and fractured a nation

Lisa Sharon Harper’s book The Very Good Gospel: How everything wrong can be made right 

Amy Black’s book Honoring God in Red or Blue: Approaching politics with humility, grace, and reason

Andy Crouch’s book Playing God: Redeeming the gift of power

Elisabeth Dias’ New York Times article ‘Christianity will have power’ 

Pew Research’s report indicating as many as 80% of white evangelicals would still vote for Donald Trump

A polarised country, a politicised faith - and how both are playing out in the US election.

The bitter divides between Republicans and Democrats this US election season reflect a much bigger story. 

In this first of two episodes on the election, we explore the white evangelical embrace of the Republican Party and why Black voters - including Black Protestants - tend to vote Democrat. We also cover the way the breakdown of social trust, as well trust in institutions, makes this the most unpredictable election ever.

We talk to Amy Black, Professor of Political Science at Wheaton College, Illinois; Andy Crouch, author speaker, and former editor of Christianity Today, North America’s flagship evangelical magazine; and Lisa Sharon Harper, author, speaker, and founder and president of Freedom Road, a consultancy training churches and other organisations in racial justice.

—

Explore

Andy Crouch’s book Playing God: Redeeming the gift of power

Our full interview with David Smith, Senior Lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy, at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney

Robert Putnam’s book American Grace: How religion divides and unites us 

The full audio of Tim Dixon’s 2019 Richard Johnson Lecture: Crossing the Great Divide - Building bridges in an age of tribalism. Audio of the Q&A session is also available. 

On the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Olympic Games, we look back at what made those games so special. Simon Smart and Mark Stephens ask what these kinds of events can tell us about who we are as human beings. Former Olympics Minister Bruce Baird talks us through the hair-raising bid process and the joy of seeing the whole thing come together so well. Veteran sportswriter Greg Baum outlines what he found so special about Sydney 2000. And seven-time Paralympian Liesl Tesch recalls the buzz of playing in front of packed houses cheering the home team on, and what this event did for Paralympians generally. And Simon Smart gets all nostalgic remembering his experiences going to anything he could get tickets for.   

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s 1992 “Redfern speech” laid out a challenge to extend opportunity and care, dignity and hope to the indigenous people of Australia. Nearly 30 years on that challenge remains. We have not yet succeeded in finding justice, wellbeing and a clear path for reconciliation and full inclusion of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people in the life of the nation.

Keating called for building blocks of change. The story of Gawura school might well be one of the better examples of what he meant.

Born out of a visit to South Africa by then Headmaster of St Andrews Cathedral School, Phillip Heath, Gawura is a school for indigenous children within a larger school in the heart of Sydney. It’s focus on indigenous culture, language and community provides a home for inner-city indigenous kids to thrive in an environment where they feel at home.

What started as a risky venture full of obstacles and challenge has proven to be a haven for learning and the flourishing of indigenous students. And the school itself has become a gift to the wider school community. This is a good news story worth hearing.   

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s 1992 “Redfern speech” laid out a challenge to extend opportunity and care, dignity and hope to the indigenous people of Australia. Nearly 30 years on that challenge remains. We have not yet succeeded in finding justice, wellbeing and a clear path for reconciliation and full inclusion of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people in the life of the nation.

Keating called for building blocks of change. The story of Gawura school might well be one of the better examples of what he meant.

Born out of a visit to South Africa by then Headmaster of St Andrews Cathedral School, Phillip Heath, Gawura is a school for indigenous children within a larger school in the heart of Sydney. It’s focus on indigenous culture, language and community provides a home for inner-city indigenous kids to thrive in an environment where they feel at home.

What started as a risky venture full of obstacles and challenge has proven to be a haven for learning and the flourishing of indigenous students. And the school itself has become a gift to the wider school community. This is a good news story worth hearing.   

Are people essentially good or flawed? We review Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History.

In 1965, six Tongan teenage boys were marooned on a desert island for more than a year. But they didn’t descend into savagery, Lord of the Flies-style, once civilisation had been stripped away. Instead, they worked together, grew their own food, and sang and prayed together each day.

In Humankind: A Hopeful History, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman draws on the story of those boys to argue that humans are essentially good. We are more cooperative than unrelentingly selfish and cruel, Bregman says.

It’s a case he builds by drawing extensively on the human sciences: psychology, social psychology and evolutionary biology. 

But not theology. In this episode of Life & Faith, we interview Beth Felker Jones, Professor of Theology at Wheaton College in Illinois. We ask her to explain the Christian take on the essential nature of human beings, and how Christianity holds in tension the better (and worse) angels of our nature.

—

Read:

Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History