White American Christianity and Racial Justice: Walking on the Wrong Side of Racial Justice

Seminary Room N310

A brief survey of American history reveals that the majority of white American Christians of whom White Evangelicals is a subset, have been on the wrong side of history especially in matters of racial justice and have supported leaders, like Donald Trump over the years. This latest example is only a continuation of that pattern. Although there were a few white Christians who favored the abolition of slavery, the vast majority supported slavery and twisted the scriptures to justify this terrible institution. After the Civil War, the majority of white Christians supported Jim Crow laws and racial segregation and fought against equal rights for Blacks. The majority also opposed the Civil Rights Movement, and were some of the leading voices against Martin Luther King Jr. Today the most ardent supporters of this new nationalist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, Make America Great Again movement, sweeping our country are white Evangelicals Christians. In the election of 2016, the majority of white Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump for President. Again, in the election of 2020, they voted by over 80% for Donald Trump. They formed his strongest and most enthusiastic supporters. Some have likened him to Cyrus, the legendary Persian king who returned the exiled Jews back to their home country after their Babylonian exile.