For a candidate that has spent much of the past year demeaning opponents, making fun of crippled reporters, cursing, and flaunting his greed, one would think Trump's candidacy would be a hard sell to the evangelical voting bloc formerly known as the "moral majority." However, since Trump has become the inevitable Republican nominee, many evangelicals have latched onto Trump's lone redeeming quality–he's not Hillary Clinton.
There are still some "Never Trump" holdouts. Trump's campaign demeanor and his track record as a greedy, strip-club/casino-owning, foul-mouthed reality television star deem him unelectable in the eyes of many.
Never has the uncomfortable juxtaposition of Trump and the "religious right" been so captured as in the photo taken on Tuesday featuring Trump's biggest evangelical supporter, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. giving Trump a thumbs-up with a framed Playboy magazine featuring Trump and a porn star on the cover on the wall behind them.
A leader of the same group that raked adulterous President Bill Clinton over the coals for his many indiscretions and that has repeatedly attacked President Obama over his myriad immoral policies posing for a photo-op with a Playboy magazine in the background. Talk about an embarrassing moment for us "values voters."
Trump's mindless rhetoric of the last year and his increasingly repugnant policy proposals should have been enough to expose him as a fraud. But it was Falwell's photo gaffe that has exposed the fraudulence of the "moral majority."
There is nothing morally upstanding about Donald Trump. And before you shoot that comment or email my way calling me judgmental or a Pharisee, you would waste no time calling President Obama and/or Hillary Clinton immoral. In fact, I've seen you post much more egregious words about both of them on your Facebook statuses, so don't even go there.
Given his track record, it's hypocritical for us to issue Trump a free pass while lambasting every immoral liberal that has ever undermined the Judeo-Christian values we say we hold dear.
With all of that said, in the interest of not making all evangelical Christians look hypocritical, please don't tell anyone else if you plan to vote for Trump. Please don't publicly defend him against evil Hillary's attacks in the coming months. After all, he has given her more than enough ammunition to use in the fight.
Resist the urge to put that bumper sticker on the car that your unsaved friends see you driving to church every Sunday. Don't post that clever tweet or Facebook status revealing Trump as the man who'll bring America back to God.
Pastor, please don't even think about comparing Donald Trump to King Cyrus in your Election Sunday sermon. As difficult as it may be to resist, please don't purchase that Trump yard sign.
Go ahead and vote Trump. But please, for the sake of your own testimony, and that of the Church as a whole, don't tell another soul that you did.
Mr. or Mrs. Evangelical, your vote is between you and God. Considering the choice we have before us, it has never been more important that you keep it that way.
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