Believe Me-The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump by John Fea

Book after book will be written about Trump and his ascent to the office of President. It is not my position to pick out the one that is truer than any other. All must be taken in context and all must be processed through your thinking process.

This is not the book for that. This book tries to explain the evangelical mindset.  In my opinion, this  is a book for discussion groups.

There seems to be somewhat of an interest in the right-wing evangelical support that has gone Trumps’ way. But historically , it has always been this way. Irrespective of  where you personally stand in that issue, to be fair to people, you should know your facts before you form a lasting opinion on the issue.

Fea attempts to explain the phenomenon.  This is not another book explaining Donald Trump. This is a historical look at evangelism and how it has affected American politics.

Trying to put politics and religion together will never bring about peace. As introduced into politics it has brought about a fear factor. It has even directed preachers to think they can influence politics. Something like that was thought could be so even our founding fathers have placed restrictions on the possible movement to blend the two into the system of government established through the constitution.

It is interesting to trace evangelism as a factor in politics from its’ birth to the present day. Fea does this in chapter three.  He starts with the Puritans who feared the immigration of the French Catholics to show there has always been the mindset.

Rhetoric is important also. The term Make America great divides. For the white American the tendency is to remember days of wealth, nuclear family, The Beaver. There is a lot to celebrate.

For the black American it would tend to make them remember slavery and the civil rights movement and discrimination. They are not prone to a mindset of the past was good. If they are honest, today is the greatest time.

Also, the feeling that we started as a Christian nation historically can’t be sustained. Our founding fathers were religious people as they saw some divine being ruling over men. They even went so far as to state I the Constitution that we have inalienable rights given  by a creator. Our rights come from God.  But they have divergent views of Christianity and the nation they were founding. They even put in the first amendment the freedom  to freely exercise religion and  rejection of a state-sponsored church.

In America at the time of the founding history seems to say we were highly influenced by the Bible. They saw a  God who presided over nature, was the author of human rights would someday judge dead, and  govern the world by His providence, the author points out. Religion was important to them Early state constitutions required officeholders to affirm the inspiration of both the Old and the New Testaments.

Today, not so much.  Chapter five discusses this.

Today  we are a Christian nation as  most American identify with some form of the Christian faith. But the influence has diminished in the last fifty years, Fea points out.it can be said that Article six of the US constitution forbids religious tests for office. We don’t know.

The first amendment does not allow a religious establishment but at the same time secures religious freedom for all Americans. Go figure.

There is so much in this book that people need to read and discuss. I highly recommend this.

William B. Eerdmans’s publishes this. You should be able to find this in your local library, so you won’t to run out and get a copy.