Dear Evangelical: If you support Donald Trump, please don't tell anyone else

If you haven't heard by now, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with a group of prominent evangelical leaders on Tuesday. The meeting was not billed as a wholesale endorsement from those attending, but more of a question and answer session concerning the issues about which conservative Christians care most.

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.

The Obituary of Religious Right

Religious Right, 36, died suddenly Tuesday night, March 1. Mrs. Right, known for her standing with republican politicians on issues of life and morality, succumbed to heart failure due to ongoing issues from injuries initially sustained November 2008 and again in November 2012.

Born to the late Dr. Jerry Falwell in 1979, Mrs. Right was initially known as Moral Majority. She was credited with helping secure both of President Reagan’s terms in '80 and '84. She also assisted in George H.W. Bush’s election win in '88.

After eight years of condemning nearly every decision President Bill Clinton made, Mrs. Right came through in a pinch for George W. Bush in 2000. She, along with 9/11 memories helped to secure Bush’s win in 2004 as well.

When 2008 rolled around, however, her influence in the Republican Party began to dwindle. But she pressed on and backed moderate candidate Senator John McCain despite many misgivings. McCain’s ill-fated decision of adding conservative Alaska governor Sarah Palin to the ticket clinched the deal for Mrs. Right. Their loss to Senator Barack Obama caused Mrs. Right to experience episodes of paranoia resulting in numerous conspiracy theories that nearly decimated her credibility.

In 2012, Mrs. Right grasped onto Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a daring move that nearly cost her everything. Still, she was able to justify voting for the then recent convert to the pro-life, pro-family stance because of fear over the impending doom of a second Obama term. Her near complete forfeiture of the values she held dear, coupled with another loss to President Obama left her on life support for weeks.

She recovered, thanks to President Obama’s assault on life, religion, and the family from 2012-2015. Things were finally looking up as President Obama’s term was coming to a close. There were at least 10 candidates she could support without sacrificing multiple convictions. However, she decided to sacrifice nearly all of those convictions, casting her lot with a strip club owning, Planned Parenthood supporting, Democratic Party donor.

Her candidate, Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump, swept nearly every state in the Bible Belt on Super Tuesday with her help.  The presumptive nominee’s wins in the south started a ripple effect, culminating in Mrs. Right's death shortly after Mr. Trump, in his victory press conference, extolled the virtues of Planned Parenthood mere months after undercover cameras caught the organization illegally selling organs from aborted babies. 

Services will be held this July in Cleveland, Ohio with her nominee, Mr. Trump, likely presiding.

Flowers and condolences may be delivered to the offices of her brother Dr. Jerry Falwell Jr., and her spokesman Pastor Robert Jeffress.

There will be no visitation as per family’s request.