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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

You know what bugs me?  Or, perhaps more accurately, do you care?

Well, I’ll assume, for the moment, that you do care.

It irritates me no end to see how the term “evangelical” has been so perverted these days that it appears only to connote a religious group that supports Donald Trump.

So, to buttress my peeve, I am opening the Department of Pet Peeves, one of three departments I run with full and complete authority to manage them as I see fit.

So, about the word evangelical.

Here is the dictionary definition of the word:

“The term evangelical derives from the Greek word eangelion meaning ‘gospel’ or ‘good news.’  Technically speaking, evangelical refers to a person, church, or organization that is committed to the Christian gospel message that Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity.”

These days, however, the term has been perverted to refer to a group of people who support all of lies, distortions and character flaws that have marked Trump’s nearly four years as president.

Here is how columnist Michael Gerson summarized the issue in a piece in the Washington Post that appeared under this headline:

This is a massive failure of character among Republicans — with evangelicals out in front

The reference is to the kowtowing Republicans are doing as Trump continues to refuse to accept reality – he lost the election.

Gerson writes on:  “One of the better speeches I helped produce for George W. Bush was never given.  On election night 2000 — standing outside in the rain, at an Austin victory rally that never happened — I had the copy of a concession speech in my pocket.  As I remember it, the first lines were:  ‘I have just talked to my opponent, who is no longer my opponent.  He is the president-elect of the United States.’

“What America is now experiencing is a massive failure of character — a nationwide blackout of integrity — among elected Republicans.  From the president, a graceless and deceptive insistence on victory after a loss that was not even close.  From congressional Republicans, a broad willingness to conspire in Trump’s lies and to slander the electoral system without consideration of the public good.  Only a few have stood up against Republican peer pressure of contempt for the constitutional order.”

Gerson wonders how this could happen to the GOP?

He answers:  “It is not an aberration.  It is the culmination of Trump’s influence among Republicans, and among White evangelical Christians in particular.  Their main justification for supporting Trump — that the president’s character should be ignored in favor of his policies — has become a serious danger to the Republic.

“Trump never even presented the pretense of good character.  His revolt against the establishment was always a revolt against the ethical ground rules by which the establishment played.  When he mocked a reporter with a disability, or urged violence at his rallies, or attacked a Gold Star family, Republicans accepted it as part of the Trump package.  And some of his most fervent defenses came from White evangelicals.”

Following Trump’s leadership – if that word can be used to describe Trump’s reign – some “evangelicals” went from believing personal morality matters in a politician to ignoring that same morality.

Not all evangelicals, I contend.  But a significant proportion of them.

Certain evangelicals believed they were hiring Trump to do a job — to defend their institutions, implement pro-life policies and appoint conservative judges.  The character of the president was irrelevant so long as he kept his part of the bargain.

Gerson says he believes two lessons can be drawn from “the Republican failure of moral judgment.”

• First, democracy is an inherently moral enterprise.  Yes, politics has a transactional element.  But those transactions take place within a system of rules that depend on voluntary obedience.  Our electoral system and our presidential transition process have flaws and holes that an unprincipled leader can exploit.  Which is a good reason to prefer principled leaders.
• Second, U.S. politics would be better off if White evangelicals consistently applied their moral tradition to public life.  Consider what would happen if White evangelicals insisted on supporting honest, compassionate, decent, civil, self-controlled men and women for office.  The alternative is our current reality, in which evangelicals have often been a malicious and malignant influence in U.S. politics.

For my part, I eschew using the term evangelical to describe myself, though I am one based on the definition above. 

I remained peeved by how the term has been used and abused in public life.