I grew up in an evangelical church in the 1950's and early 1960's. It was a strict religion that looked down on and condemned adultery, lying, cheating, grifting, mistreating others, and any kind of "loose morality".
So, like many others, I was surprised when evangelicals went all in to support a man guilty of all those things - and continue to support him knowing all of his faults. Why do the evangelicals overwhelmingly support Donald Trump?
You must understand that the evangelical movement liked the world of the 1950's. Their religion was king in the country, and they controlled the laws that were passed. There was forced praying in public schools. Women were second-class citizens, who could not get a legal abortion or even a credit card (without a man's signature). Most minority citizens either could not vote or lived in areas where whites could easily outvote them. Poor people were stuck in poverty, and the little help they could get usually came from a church. And the culture was rather mundane, with both images and thoughts rigidly controlled.
It was the world as they liked it - and they wanted it to stay that way. But change happens - especially in a country with a Constitution and a vibrant democracy. And the United States changed - a lot!
Women were established as to have rights - even the right to have an abortion if they chose to do so. Male dominance began to recede. And with the sexual revolution, sex was recognized as being Ok outside of the institution of marriage.
Rights were also established for racial minorities, including the right to vote. Congress (and eventually even the presidency) were no longer the sole right of whites. And the demographics of the population was changing. Soon, the United States would become a nonwhite majority nation.
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals were recognized to have rights - and they came out of the closet (even gaining the right to marry the person of their choice).
And with the advent of the internet, atheists and agnostics also came out of the closet and finally were able to proclaim their lack of religion. This started a decline in church membership.
All of these changes upset evangelicals - and it scared them. They saw their power begin to decline. Other Americans no longer had to live by evangelical rules. They tried to re-establish the old order through movements like the Moral Majority, but it didn't work. The genie was out of the bottle.
And then Donald Trump comes along. He was the antithesis of their beliefs, but he promised to restore their power. He was their hope to recreate the old white, christian, patriarchy. They eagerly jumped on board (ignoring the fact that it labeled them as racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and hypocritical).
It's sad, but given the choice of the teachings of Jesus and the hate agenda of Trump, they chose hate.
