The following is the first part of a four-part series to be released on consecutive Sundays. This series is exclusive to members of The Western Journal.
It happens every four years: The Democratic Party makes a valiant pitch for faith voters, arguing that the liberal vision for the country is more Christian than the conservative one.
This has intensified over the last three cycles since the Republican nominee has been Donald Trump.
There is, of course, no getting around a very obvious fact that both sides acknowledge: Trump, as a human being, has flaws. We all do, as fallen humanity, but his are especially public.
In 2020, we heard talk of how “devout Catholic” Joe Biden carried a rosary around with him and was a diligent churchgoer — something the media and the Democrats contrasted with Trump’s personal life as often as possible, even as the then-president was a professing Christian who had made strides in publicly demonstrating his belief in the Almighty.
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Biden will not be atop the ballot this time, which presents problems for the “Democratic values”-voter push.
This time, however, the campaign seems to be coming from, in large part, evangelical Christians who are either liberals, moderates, or simply NeverTrumpers.
The best-known example of this is arguably the establishment media’s most visible evangelical pundit, The New York Times’s David French, a nominal conservative who penned an Aug. 11 piece titled “To Save Conservatism From Itself, I Am Voting for Harris.”
If the piece was widely mocked (satire site The Babylon Bee: “David French Says To Save Masculinity, He Will Now Transition To Female”), it was also widely read, and it contained most of the common arguments Democrats are using to persuade values voters: the candidates are mostly equivalent in terms of the protection of unborn life (which is to say, one is ineffective, the other deliberately ignores it); populist attacks on government elites have led to strife and social inequity; Trump is singlehandedly responsible for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well an uptick in political violence in general; and current Democrat policies — particularly social harmony and support for Ukraine — more broadly align with Christian values.
Should Christians vote for Kamala Harris?
French is just one voice in the wilderness, though, and certainly not one willing to organize for Kamala.
That’s where Evangelicals for Harris — a group you’ve probably seen and heard a lot more of, particularly on social media — comes in.
For the most part, Evangelicals for Harris focuses on practical issues that it attempts to imbue with the spirit of Christianity.
That said, it does attempt to cast Harris as a more faithful Christian than her opponent through unsubtle comparison on a page dedicated to the candidate’s “faith story,” which the group says “shaped her into the leader she is today.”
“[We had] family who loved us…They instilled in us the values they personified, community, faith, and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated, with kindness, respect, and compassion”
– Kamala Harris at the 2024 DNC pic.twitter.com/Prs9c1Uw1B
— Evangelicals For Harris (@Evangels4Harris) August 23, 2024
For Kamala, her calling is to public service: “I can trace my belief in the importance of public service back to learning the parable of the good Samaritan and other biblical teachings about looking out for our neighbors — and understanding that our neighbors aren’t just those who live in our ZIP code, but include the stranger, too. Over the course of my career, I’ve always tried to be an advocate for the voiceless and vulnerable …”
Harris’ favorite Bible verse — “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7) — recognizes that we don’t have all the answers, but also that we do not face life’s challenges alone. Our loving God is with us. “The God I have always believed in is a loving God.” It is this God in whom Kamala puts her trust.
God is also with her through her church family. From them she draws strength and feels “grounded in a complex world.” Her church provides Kamala “a sense of community and belonging where we can build lasting relationships and be there for one another in times of need.” Her pastor, the Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, says Harris is there for others: “She is an encourager; she encourages all people regardless of their social station in life.”
But are these truly Christian issues? Does a leader’s character and personal failings automatically make them a worse choice for a Christian who bases their vote, in large part, on faith issues? And, most importantly, is the difference between the two candidates on the issue of unborn life irrelevant?
There are three major flaws in the arguments of Evangelicals for Harris, if we are to take them in good faith — and we will, for the purposes of this series.
They correspond, not unsurprisingly, to those three questions.
The three major flaws in the pro-Harris argument made by Evangelicals For Harris will be covered in the next three installments of this series. Look for part two on Sept. 15, at The Western Journal.
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