I recently ran across the above meme on Facebook and thought it deserved a response. The meme is tagged by a Reddit by a user called u/RagebeakSpinebreaker. For simplicities sake, I will credit u/RagebeakSpinebreaker as the creator of this meme for the remainder of the post.
The first point of contention I have with the meme is that it commits a logical fallacy. It suggests a false choice. The meme ignores that every voter had to evaluate President Biden and candidate Clinton’s policies when deciding who to support. Of course, both Biden and Clinton advocate for untenable policies to many/most Christians. For example, both support the expansion of abortion “rights” and policies that would have the government supersede the rights of parents for the education and medical care of their children. From a Christian worldview, the choice not to vote for the democratic candidate in either election is consistent with Christian beliefs.
So, the choice for Christians was never a choice between good and evil. Instead, it was between politicians who are fallen people that support policies that do not always line up with a biblical worldview. In other words, the foundational claim that voting for Trump makes a Christian a hypocrite is false. The meme is intellectually dishonest.
But what about the specific claims of the meme? Is there any merit in u/RagebeakSpinebreaker’s accusations? Let’s find out.
Are only White Christians who voted for Trump immoral hypocrites?
Before I respond to the meme’s racial undertones, I want to point out that I can’t ascertain u/RagebeakSpinebreaker’s intended target. Is u/RagebeakSpinebreaker aiming at those who follow QAnon style conspiracy theories involving Trump? Maybe the target of this meme is Christian nationalists? It is tough to say. The most likely scenario is that u/RagebeakSpinebreaker has taken aim at White evangelical Christians who voted for Trump.
With that said, the implied message contained in the meme is that only White evangelicals are hypocritical for voting for Mr. Trump. u/RagebeakSpinebreaker is correct that most white evangelicals, especially Protestants, voted for Mr. Trump in both 2016 and 2020. A complete 77% of White evangelical Christians favored Trump in 2016, increasing to 84% in 2020.[1] However, as the above graphic shows, 10% of Black evangelical Christians who attended Christian services at least monthly voted for Trump. Another 5% of nominal Black Christians voted for Trump. Additionally, 15% of Latino evangelical Christian voters cast their ballot for the former President in 2016, which increased a whopping 15% to a full 30% in 2020.
So, while White evangelical Christians voted in greater mass than Black or Latino Christians, u/RagebeakSpinebreaker implies that all three groups are hypocrites. Hypocrites who are not generous, hospitable, and are somehow inherently disrespectful. Hypocrites who want people to live with sickness (apparently). And who are liars that commit adultery at higher rates than people who did not vote for Trump.
Is he right?
In a way, yes. All men and women who walk the earth are hypocrites somehow or another. Most people become Christians because they realize the nature of their hypocrisy. They conclude that the only way to flee from living a dualistic life is to follow Jesus. Yet, what u/RagebeakSpinebreaker implies is that Christian hypocrites are more hypocritical than other hypocrites based on how they voted in an election.
The only way to test u/RagebeakSpinebreaker’s theory is to look at how Christians fare in the categories of hypocrisy proposed by the meme. Since there is no way for me to break out the forthcoming data by political affiliation, we will assume it applies to all Christians—even those who voted for Mr. Trump.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/30/most-white-americans-who-regularly-attend-worship-services-voted-for-trump-in-2020/
Do Christians help the poor?
The answer is a resounding yes. Christians who frequently attend church give around 75% more than their non-religious peers.[1] They give more regularly and in more significant amounts. Christians also volunteer to civic causes nearly twice as often.
[1] https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/philanthropy-magazine/less-god-less-giving
Do Christians welcome the foreigner?
Presumably, u/RagebeakSpinebreaker is referring to Trump’s immigration policies. This one is more nuanced than u/RagebeakSpinebreaker would have us believe. First, White evangelical Christians generally support more restrictive immigration policies. Second, they tend to repeat immigration tropes like those President Trump was fond of, like immigrants were rapists and murderers. Here I think u/RagebeakSpinebreaker has a valid point. I hope in the future White evangelical Christians will support immigration policies that allow many more immigrants to make the United States their home. After all, we are all sojourners in this life, and the biblical mandate to welcome foreigners still stands.
However, Christians are twice as likely to adopt than their non-religious peers.[1] A huge percentage of American adoptions are overseas adoptions. They are usually facilitated by a Christian organization. According to a study by the Barna Group, “Most adoptive parents (73 percent) are non-Hispanic white adults. However, they are less likely to adopt a Caucasian child. Only 37 percent of children adopted are Caucasian.” [2] So, the issue of welcoming the foreigner isn’t as cut and dry as u/RagebeakSpinebreaker’s meme implies.
[1] https://www.barna.com/research/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-adoption/
[2] https://adoption.org/who-adopts-the-most
Do Christians heal the sick?
I am not sure what is meant by this assertion. Perhaps u/RagebeakSpinebreaker refers to some Christians who have religious convictions that prevent them from taking the COVID vaccine. Surely, he/she cannot be referring to Christians in general. Christians send missionaries worldwide to start hospitals and provide medical care at rates non-Christians will never approach. Check out Samaritan’s Purse as an example of this.[1]
Moreover, there are hundreds of hospitals and healthcare facilities owned and operated by faith-based organizations in the U.S.[2]
[1] https://www.samaritanspurse.org/
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/800827/number-of-us-faith-based-hospitals/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20data%2C%20in%201995%20there%20were,United%20States%20from%201995%20to%202016%20Additional%20Information
Do Christians respect others?
I seriously do not know how to answer this one. It is way too vague. The closest thing I could come up with was how well Christians forgive people who hurt them. Harvard researchers report that those who regularly participate in religious services are 87% more likely than their non-religious peers to “have high levels of forgiveness.” [1] It would not be too much of a reach to suggest that those who forgive quickly probably ask for forgiveness when necessary. And asking for forgiveness is a sign of respect.
[1] https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/religious-upbringing
Do Christians lie more than other people?
Unfortunately, I could not find any relevant data supporting or refuting the memes claim. All people lie. My guess is that if there is such research, there is not much difference between any demographic. We have all had the experience of being lied to, and we have all lied to someone. If any of you readers has data regarding this question, leave it as a comment.
Do Christians commit adultery at higher rates than non-Christians?
Yes, but probably not in the way the meme suggests. Pew Research published a study in August of 2020 that reported, “Half of U.S. Christians say casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable.” [1]
Unquestionably, sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman is defined by the Bible as adultery. An alarming 46% of Christian respondents thought it was sometimes okay to have sex on the first date. Indeed, those who responded with such an open mind to sex outside of marriage suggests they may be participating in sex outside the bonds of biblically defined marriage. Therefore, because Christianity employs a broader definition of adultery, Christians commit adultery at a higher rate than non-Christians.
I think the Pew study is a startling indictment of the corporate Church in America for not teaching the goodness of biblical marriage. u/RagebeakSpinebreaker is right to call this out as a failing of Christians. However, Christians fail equally across the political spectrum. Not just those who voted for Mr. Trump.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/31/half-of-u-s-christians-say-casual-sex-between-consenting-adults-is-sometimes-or-always-acceptable/
In conclusion, it seems to me that memes like this one are more about one upsmanship than making a saliant point. It is doubtful that u/RagebeakSpinebreaker gave more than five seconds of thought to the structure of the argument made by the meme. I seriously doubt he or she did much research into vetting the challenges the meme presented of Christians who supported Trump.
Hopefully, u/RagebeakSpinebreaker might see a post like mine and come to the conclusion that public discourse is always better when it is done charitably.
