Trumpism has always been deeply and darkly spiritual. It has animated a segment of people prone to religious belief—their Christianity is an open question to me—to become their worst selves. Why?

(1) years of ground work by less shocking and more palatable religious leaders intentionally and unintentionally misleading their congregations in a few key areas (there are others):

(A) America’s “special place” in Christian history - a mythical retelling of the American Revolution, the Civil War, and Civil Rights that has moderate white Protestants on the right side every time.

(B) The importance of individual faith and personal responsibility - in this paradigm systems and structures are reduced to the individuals who comprise them; ignoring both biblical and psychological knowledge to the contrary.

(C) A partisan political preference - since the post-Carter era white Protestant leaders have openly and eagerly supporter Republican politics as the natural outgrowth of orthodox belief and practice.

(2) The slow and subtle ways these themes have been transformed from mainline conservative evangelical signposts into extremism takes some unpacking.

(3) There was a time when Dinesh D’Zousa, Eric Metaxes, and Franklin Graham weren’t religious shock-troops, believe it or not. [they were never open to “progressivism” either].

(4) A decade ago the aforementioned could be resonantly grouped alongside Rick Warren, Beth Moore, Andy Stanley and the like. Today they’re entirely different species — all calling themselves “Evangelical Christians” (tho that seems to be changing).

(5) Why the split and why did one cohort loose all sense of self respect?

(6) Three theories: (i) Church growth & the evangelical-industrial complex. (ii) deeply held, eventually revealed theological problems (iii) personal and structural corruption.

(7) (i) The evangelical industrial complex is born from “church growth” strategies—if you’re not in this world forgive me, but I can unpack this later—and as this business grew so did the incentives to “respond to the market.”

(8) For a variety of reasons conservative Christians and conservative churches are much more financially invested in this economy (again, another thread). There was money to be made by appeasing this crowd, and plenty have.

(9) (ii) what I’d generically call bad theology: e.g. personal responsibility tropes about the poor, denial of racists/slaveholding past, Lost Cause adherence, latent Christian nationalism/militarism — all this stuff can be attributed to specific dogmas.

(10) (iii) corruption has come to the evangelical world in the form of fame+political power.

(11) Fame has more often lead to moral failure of high profile Xn leaders (e.g.’s too many to list). While political power has lead to embrace of ever increasing extremist positions; which have been washed in biblical justifications (see: Mohler)

(12) All three of these have and continue to feed each other. Because of this, the American evangelical ecosystem is now indistinguishable from this more extreme cohort; they’ve redefined the vocabulary and character of the community.

(13) To be clear: this didn’t happen without internal objection, but it needs to be said the objections were too little, too late (think of the CT editorial, or McArthur piece). For too long places like TGC tried to play both sides. (Just 1 e.g.)

(14) Where this needed to be fought, and wasn’t, was in the local pulpit. Too many pastors either bought into the con, or weren’t in a place to challenge it - I have sympathy for the intense pressure, but the right thing to do has been clear from the start.

(15) By slow playing or looking the other way on their Trump(ism) concerns pastors have allowed things like Q support, Antivaxxing, and Stop the Steal to live and spread in their pews.

(16) For many, calling it out *by name* now means the end of the pastorate, if not their pastoral career. I don’t envy these folks, but I don’t pity them either.

(17) It has been a long, slow, mostly gradual creep in this direction within the white evangelical community. These are my people, many of whom are indistinguishable from who they were 15 years ago.

(18) Churchgoers didn’t set out to be authoritarian conspiracy theorists and pastors didn’t set out to be co-opted, but here we are.

(19) As Lewis writes, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”

(20) I currently lack the imagination to see anything but even darker days ahead, but I’m genuinely praying for God to give me one.