PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

One of the issues I wonder about most these days is how those who profess themselves to be Christians – sometimes they are called “evangelicals” – can reconcile their continuing support for President Donald Trump with their faith.

Trump’s conduct, before he became president and while in office, does not illustrate high moral conduct or, I could contend, even a belief in a higher being, God. To Trump, everything revolves around himself, a trait he continues to prove almost every day.

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson – one of my favorite writers these days – makes the same point in a recent piece.

“With their reactions to the Roy Moore candidacy and the Stormy Daniels scandal, the Trump evangelicals have scaled the heights of hypocrisy to the summit. Family-values conservatives who dismiss credible accusations of sexual abuse and wink at hush money for a porn star have ceased to represent family values in any meaningful sense. They have made a national joke of moral standards that were once, presumably, deeply held. At least when a Democrat violated them.

“… this barely scratches the surface of the moral compromises being made. The problem with Trumpism is not only the transparent excuses it offers (and requires others to accept) for shoddy and offensive behavior. The deeper issue is the distinctly non-Christian substance of Donald Trump’s values. His unapologetic materialism. His tribalism and hatred for ‘the other.’ His strength-worship and contempt for ‘losers,’ which smack more of Nietzsche than of Christ.

“Trump evangelicals defend their support for the president in the pose of political realists. A president, they argue, is not a pastor. A certain amount of compromise is necessary to get conservative judges and more favorable treatment of Christian institutions. This is the way of the world.”

Gerson goes on to write that, obviously, there are conflicted choices in a fallen world. He also says that many conservatives, who might call themselves Christians, “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground who is willing to punch the bully.” In this explanation, Trump’s approach to public discourse is actually the main selling point. His bullying — his cruelty, crudity and personal insults — is admired because it is directed at other bullies.”

And Gerson adds another key point. “This is, perhaps, politically and psychologically understandable. But it has absolutely nothing to do with the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing to do with any recognizable version of Christian ethics. The very thing that should repel evangelicals — Trump’s dehumanization of others — is what seems to fascinate and attract some conservative Christians. It is yet another example of discrediting hypocrisy.”

Gerson explains my view very well.

Though not exactly on point with Gerson’s trenchant analysis, I choose here to add a few general principles from me about the role of politics and “the church” in an attempt to advocate separation of the two:

• Christians should not act as some kind of collegial whole nor believe they need to do so. They are individuals and must make individual decisions about political issues, including whom to support in various local, regional and national races.
• Further, no one has the right to tell Christians how to vote. As individuals, they should make individual decisions.
• It is best to keep politics out of the church. Advocate that those who attend pay attention to politics, understand government and make individual choices about how to respond.
• An exception to this – one that I underlined when I served as moderator of the Salem Alliance Church Elder Board for 12 years – was that discussing a political issue from the pulpit was acceptable IF the lead pastor felt led of God to discuss a particular subject. But, before doing so, he or she should consult with other leaders to make sure the comments to be made would reflect understanding of the full context of all
• And, finally, those who call themselves Christians – I include myself – should, as individuals, expect those they support to espouse genuine ethics and deportment. Those seeking office do not need to wear their Christianity on their sleeves as if they are appealing for support on that basis. Rather, they should come across as mature, reasoned individuals with personal ethical convictions that will mark their tenure if they win election.

The column by Gerson was thought-provoking. I encourage you to read it by checking the Washington Post website or getting access on the Internet by clicking on the name Michael Gerson.

His words are good ones to be taken to heart.