{"id":4537,"date":"2017-03-22T01:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=4537"},"modified":"2017-03-22T12:26:57","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T16:26:57","slug":"evangelical-christians-the-ten-commandments-and-2016-presidential-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2017\/03\/evangelical-christians-the-ten-commandments-and-2016-presidential-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Christians, the Ten Commandments, and 2016 Presidential Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a0 The results<\/a> of the recently completed presidential election in the U.S. showed that it was an extremely close election won by Donald Trump over Hilary Clinton.\u00a0 Trump won the electoral vote by 306 versus 232, but Clinton won the popular vote 48.5% versus 46.4%, or 65,853,516 votes versus 62,984,825.\u00a0 In the exit polls<\/a>, there was one statistic that stood out:\u00a0 The white evangelical Christians voted 81% vs 16% in favor of Trump over Clinton. [1]\u00a0 Ideally we would like to know the exit polls for various sub-segments of the evangelical Christians, but there were no sub-segment breakdowns.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 we do know from pre-election polls<\/a> that evangelicals of color (about 2 out 5 of all evangelicals) have just the opposite preference, i.e., significantly more in favor of Clinton.<\/p>\n

Since Christians should believe in the Bible, including the Ten Commandments<\/a>, assessing Trump and Clinton as a person (expressed position and behavior) relative to the Ten Commandments should give some guidance on how Christians should vote.\u00a0 This essay discusses such an assessment and addresses the question whether white evangelical Christians should have voted so overwhelmingly for Trump.
\n<\/p>\n

Summary of Assessment of Trump and Clinton With Respect to the Ten Commandments<\/span>:\u00a0 <\/strong>To provide an assessment with respect to each of the Ten Commandments, we take into consideration Trump’s or Clinton’s expressed opinion and his\/her behavior (as elaborated in the next section).\u00a0\u00a0For certain Commandments, in particular, for Commandments 1, 2, 3, and 5, there is “not enough information” (NEI) to make a decision on whether Trump or Clinton follows that Commandment more closely.\u00a0 In those situations, in the table below we designate in the second column (Assessment of Trump) and the third column (Assessment of Clinton) with NEI, and in the fourth column (Who Follows the Commandment More Closely) with ND (no decision).\u00a0 Our assessment with respect to Trump and Clinton is summarized in the table below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Commandment<\/td>\nAssessment of Trump<\/td>\nAssessment of Clinton<\/td>\nWho Follows the Commandment More Closely<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall have no other gods before me<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not make idols<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remember the Sabbath<\/td>\nLess regular church attendance than Clinton<\/td>\nMore regular church attendance than Trump<\/td>\nClinton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Honor your father and your mother<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nNEI<\/td>\nND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not murder<\/td>\nNo, in the sense of abortion<\/td>\nYes, in the sense of abortion<\/td>\nTrump<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not commit adultery<\/td>\nYes, and many more using definition of Matthew 5:28<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\nClinton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not steal<\/td>\nMore (including cheating)<\/td>\nLess<\/td>\nClinton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall not bear false witness against your neighbor<\/td>\nMore, in terms of lying<\/td>\nLess, in terms of lying<\/td>\nClinton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Shall not covet<\/td>\nOften<\/td>\nMuch less often<\/td>\nClinton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LGBTQ Rights<\/td>\nFor<\/td>\nFor<\/td>\nND<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NEI=Not Enough Information<\/td>\nND=No Decision<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Besides the Ten Commandments, in the above table we also included the category “LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer) Rights” because it is usually an important issue for Christians and often may be lumped\u00a0 as part of Commandment 7 “Shall not commit adultery.”<\/p>\n

Sometimes, Trump or Clinton’s position might have changed over time.\u00a0 In that situation, we use their position in the few months before the election from the time of the Republican or Democratic National Convention to just before election day.\u00a0 In the next section, we provide more details on Trump or Clinton’s expressed position.\u00a0 When a person says one thing and does another thing, i.e., when there is an inconsistency between what a person says and what a person does over time, we use the person’s behavior over time to be the determining factor, because it is easy for an election candidate to say something just to get the voters’ votes even if he\/she doesn’t really believe in it.\u00a0 In the next section, we also provide more details on Trump or Clinton’s behavior to help us make our assessment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More Detailed Assessment<\/span>:\u00a0 <\/strong>As already mentioned, there is not enough information on the expressed opinion and behavior over time of Trump or Clinton on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Commandments, and therefore we conclude that it is “No Decision” on “Who Follows the Commandment More Closely.”\u00a0 We now discuss each of the other six Commandments.<\/p>\n

4th Commandment “Remember the Sabbath”<\/span>:\u00a0 Both Trump and Clinton claim that they are Christians, and indeed both of them were brought up in Christian families and attended church on a more-or-less regular basis when they were growing up.\u00a0 However, as adults and especially in the last few years, relatively speaking, Clinton has observed the Sabbath significantly more than Trump.\u00a0 In summer 2015, Trump told reporters that he attended services at the Marble Collegiate College Church in Manhattan, a famous church where Dr. Norman Vincent Peals was the pastor from 1932 to 1984 and the author of the best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em><\/span>.\u00a0 Shortly after Trump’s remark, that church released a statement<\/a> to CNN saying that Trump was not an active member of the church.\u00a0 Furthermore, also in summer 2015 at an event organized by socially conservative Christian organizations, Trump said<\/a> that he had never asked God for forgiveness.\u00a0 Later he also said that “he does not have much to apologize for, …, I like to be good.\u00a0 I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness.\u00a0 And I am good.\u00a0 I don’t do a lot of things that are bad.\u00a0 I try to do nothing that is bad.”\u00a0 Therefore, for the 4th Commandment, we put down Clinton in the column “Who Follows the Commandment More Closely.”<\/p>\n

6th Commandment “Shall not murder”<\/span>:\u00a0 Neither Trump or Clinton has actually murdered anyone.\u00a0 But on the issue of abortion, they do express different opinions, with Trump saying no<\/a>, and Clinton saying yes<\/a>.\u00a0 Trump, however, in 1999 told NBC that he was “very pro-choice.”\u00a0 He might have held this position to as late as 2011, when he announced that he was “pro-life.”\u00a0 Furthermore, as in many other issues, it is often not clear that Trump really knew what his position was and would offer conflicting positions within days of each other.\u00a0 This happened on the abortion issue and he\/his team expressed five positions, often inconsistent with each other, within the three days between March 30, 2016 and April 1, 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n