Evangelicals Don't Agree on Politics, But We Must Learn To Disagree Well

Evangelicals disagree on politics, but how we disagree is more important than building consensus.

BY NAPP NAZWORTH

There were at least five different types of evangelicals in the previous presidential election: Clinton supporters, enthusiastic Trump supporters, reluctant Trump supporters, protest voters who supported neither Clinton nor Trump (also called nevertrumpers), and non-voters. While most of the media attention has gone to the enthusiastic Trump supporters, they represented less than half of all evangelicals. In reality, evangelicals were quite divided on presidential vote choice, as they are on many political issues.Evangelicals, by and large, share a common theology and worldview, so why can't we agree on which political candidates to support?I've observed evangelicals from across the political spectrum make the case that the differences are due to some spiritual or theological deficiency among those who support the "wrong" candidate. "Once we all have the correct view of scripture, we'll agree on politics," many evangelicals have assumed. My younger self would've agreed with that statement. I now find it incredibly naive. I've criticized evangelicals who support our current president, and will continue to do so. But I don't think our political differences signal a spiritual deficiency. That would be akin to the sort of legalism Paul slams in Galatians. ...Napp Nazworth, Ph.D., is political analyst and politics editor for The Christian Post.Contact: napp.nazworth@christianpost.com, @NappNazworth (Twitter)

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Editor's Note: The above article is part of Together LA's "How Would Jesus Vote?" series that was kicked off this week with the TLA exclusive: Do Religion and Politics Mix? Franklin Graham Answers On Decision America TourFranklin Graham Takes Fight to 'Godless' Progressives in California With New Tour [Christian Post]