The Immoral Majority – Ben Howe

Ben Howe is an evangelical Christian, a conservative writer and filmmaker. In the 2016 election he was one of a few “never Trump” Republicans who couldn’t bring themselves to support Trump’s candidacy but felt Clinton did not represent their values either. He says he voted for a third party candidate.

The central theme of his book is that the evangelical Christian community has essentially sold its collective soul to gain political power. He discusses how evangelical leaders rationalized Christian values in order to support electing Donald Trump. Their goal was not strengthening Christianity but gaining political influence. He revisits evangelical leaders’ expressed outrage over Clinton’s immoral behavior 20 years ago; at the time they said he must resign because “character matters”. In Trump’s case they applied relativism to excused his immorality on the grounds that he is achieving a greater good.

Though I do not share Howe’s faith I do have a wealth of experience with evangelical Christians’ attitudes and behavior. I agree with the author’s assessment that evangelicals tend to lack empathy and are relatively intolerant, judgmental, and hypocritical. The book is well worth reading. If you are not acquainted with evangelical Christian dogma you will be enlightened by one of their own. If you already think evangelicals represent the more un-Godly elements of the faith, the author provides ample factual evidence.