Trump win: gospel triumph or tragedy?

Evangelicals across the United States and beyond are reacting to Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election, with some believing he will protect religious freedoms. Others fear he will promote radical nationalism.

Trump has always portrayed himself as the candidate who would best protect Christians, and according to an NBC News exit poll, evangelicals in America played a crucial role in Trump’s victory; about 80% of white evangelicals voted for him, along with 67% of Latino evangelicals and 14% of black evangelicals.

Trump’s evangelical support: a crucial factor in his win

Some statistics suggest that Christians generally voted for Trump at a rate of two to one. It has also been reported that dozens of his supporters celebrated his victory by singing ‘How great Thou art’ in a lobby at Palm Beach Convention Centre.

While the President-elect performed well among evangelicals generally during the election, there has been a mixed reaction to the result from evangelicals across America and the world.

World-renowned theologian John Piper remained vague about where his loyalties lay. He posted on X: ‘Presidential election results: having delivered us from one evil, God now tests us with another,’ with a quotation from Deuteronomy 13:3.

Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told en: ‘This is a big win for Christians and all people of faith. I am grateful that America once again has a President who is not afraid to take a stand for Christians, both here in this country and around the world.’

Among the many evangelicals who voted for Kamala Harris, perhaps her most prominent group of supporters was Evangelicals for Harris, which posted on X following her concession speech: ‘For those of us that feel like we are entering a dark time, let us cling to our faith in God. Let us stand alongside each other and let us move forward knowing that the same God who has carried us and provided in every season, will carry us into the next.’

Revd Dr William J. Barber II, an American minister and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, told the Yale Daily News: ‘We don’t believe God is a Democrat or Republican. We have to look at it through the lens of our deepest moral values. Our deepest moral values which are outlined in the Scriptures are justice and love and truth and mercy, and regardless of how our nation votes, from a moral and theological standpoint, a majority vote does not mean right.’

Christian nationalism debate

Christian writer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove told the Yale Daily News that the President’s re-election was a ‘triumph’ for Christian nationalism and that Christianity has been ‘weaponised’ by a political movement in this election.

‘I am a disciple of Jesus in the church that learned to pursue beloved community for all people under the rule of Jim Crowe authoritarianism,’ Wilson-Hartgrove said via X. ‘We’re not headed into the future I hoped for, but we are not without witnesses who’ve shown us how to live in times like these.’

In the UK, Gavin Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, told Christianity Today: ‘We will once again have to respond to accusations from those who assume that British evangelicals marry politics and faith in the same way as those who carry the label of evangelical in the US.

‘Politics and faith will always be connected to a degree, but the symbiotic relationship between one’s faith and one’s political persuasion, with evangelical often being perceived as a synonym for MAGA (Make America Great Again), has been hugely problematic for us in the UK.

Moss Ntlha, general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa, told Christianity Today: ‘We worry that having Trump in the White House will make it difficult to proclaim the gospel that "God so loved the world" that He sent Jesus to die for all, especially our Muslim neighbours.'

Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College, told Christianity Today: ‘Trump’s support for policies favouring Israeli expansion and his disregard for the rights of Palestinians raise concerns. This could mean further marginalisation for Palestinians and an even more challenging environment for Christians striving to live out their faith in this volatile context.’

Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, wrote on X: ‘President Trump … will lead us forward as a nation and it is an opportunity for the church to speak Truth with boldness.’

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, an evangelical Christian ministry that provides resources for families, told the Christian Post: ‘Focus on the Family is encouraged by Tuesday’s election results – a decisive electoral and popular vote triumph for President-elect Trump – but not because of any partisan cheerleading on our part,’ he said. ‘Instead, the outcome confirms that American families are hungry to live in a nation where they can raise their children in an environment that is physically safe, and economically viable, and where moms and dads and kids can unapologetically worship God.’