Letters to the Editor: Trump’s religious supporters aren’t evangelicals; they’re Christian nationalists

To the editor: We need to stop referring to President Trump’s religious supporters as evangelical Christians, because the term describes people who are committed to the belief that Jesus Christ is the savior of mankind, not to a set of conservative political beliefs. (“White evangelicals think Trump is divinely ordained. He’ll do almost anything to keep it that way,” Opinion, June 14)

Call these people what they really are: Christian nationalists, people who believe that religious freedom is the right to impose their beliefs on others. Theirs is a theology based on culture and political belief rather than the other way around, and they need to be tagged with a term that better describes the role they want to play in our country.

There are many Christian evangelicals who do not support Trump because he is the antithesis of their religious beliefs.

Tim House, Lancaster

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To the editor: Sarah Posner writes that “Trump’s evangelical loyalists ... believe he is a divinely anointed president, handpicked by God to rescue America.”

Where did she get that misinformation? Who, specifically, has said such a thing? When did they do so?

How terribly disingenuous for Posner to presume she is representing actual facts by making this statement.

Barbara Lewis, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I’m a white evangelical Christian, and Posner’s piece on conservative evangelicals supporting Trump is despairingly true. I want to emphasize, though, that there is also a strong contingent of left-leaning, anti-Trump evangelicals like me.

I worked at the multi-denominational Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena for 15 years, and the most wrenching day for everyone in my department was the day Trump was elected. We were stunned that so many evangelicals voted for him.

The second-worst day may have been when Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate onto the U.S. Supreme Court. At my Pasadena evangelical church, I would guess that well over 90% of the members dislike Trump intensely.

Please don’t judge all evangelicals based on the conservative ones.

Becky Still, Duarte