Are there Christian groups out there that supported Trump, but are now saying the latter, at least?
Not as far as I know of, but I haven’t exactly been researching it either.
There are some Christians on Reddit who apparently may have gone from Trump supporting to Trump opposing, but they’re not exactly formal “groups.”
I think there are some on this message board, too.
I think this article is a very interesting take (that may be more on-point for the OP):
A cohort is defined (ie, “Independent Network Charismatic”) that is quite likely over-represented in the coup, and ridiculously unlikely to have been dissuaded from their positions.
So … as the US used to say about radical Islamists: where are the more moderate segments in denouncing their own fringe ?
I didn’t see any evidence of any meaningful repudiation at an institutional level … in a quick Google search.
Moderating
That’s enough threadshitting. If you want to discuss atheist backlash, start your own thread. Stay out of this one.
The Capitol insurrection was largely Christian. There was a prayer ceremony held by some participants. Qanon follows the Christian messianic pattern. The horned hat guy conducted a ceremony.
I don’t see any significant Christian backlash or even objection to the insurrection.
I think many Christians viewed Trump as a supporter of religious rights and so were pro-Trump even though they disagreed with most of his behaviors.
Every Christian I’ve spoken to about the insurrection was horrified and condemned it. I’m not sure they believe Trump is completely responsible but their affection for him has certainly cooled.
Frankly, the ‘horror and condemnation’ is only being expressed because it failed. If they had managed to overturn the election, those same Christians would be praising the actions.
No. The Christians were horrified at the violence. Christianity is not the same thing as The Right.
When has Christianity ever been horrified by or even opposed to violence?
Pretty much always.
There was certainly support for violence from the Catholic Church, whose slaughter made the holocaust pale in comparison. And for awhile the official Protestant church of England made sure to take violent revenge against the Catholics. But the tenants of Christianity do not change to match the churches’ actions when they violate them.
You’re no-true-scotsmanning Catholicism and Protestantism?
There was an interesting column in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune (paywalled, I think; I have a subscription, so I’m not sure)
Mary Schmich wrote about a pastor who’s sermon, the weekend of the 9th/10th was along the lines of
“The events of the 6th were abhorant. Now, we’re into a lot of finger-pointing, and I’d like to point at myself. I should have come out against Trump’s behavior earlier, when he mocked a disabled reporter or talked about grabbing women or dissing John McCain.”
From the article,
Unfortunately, he had a few dozen parishioners walk out over the course of 4 masses. He has also heard from numerous people congratulating him and saying he was courageous.
It’s a shame that it took this level of insanity before this pastor said “enough is enough”. Yeah, the membership of the Catholic Church tends to be older, especially those who actively attend church. And I know that you really don’t want to piss off your flock, but I agree that the anti-Christian actions of Trump really should have been denounced the entire time of his candidacy / presidency. Most priests want to keep politics out of their sermons, and I can see that. Certainly, there is no perfect “Catholic” candidate - every single one espouses some things that are church teachings and some that are against church teachings. Every one. But by staying silent, you are giving tacit approval to his actions.
Pretty much never
This insurrection is a Christian uprising. Their battle cry is Family, Faith, Flag and Firearms.
Christian individuals and some sects have taken non-violent positions but it’s rare. There was no general outcry against our Christian nation firebombing the non-combatants of Tokyo and Dresden. Christianity is a mainstay of our military.
As to the OP’s question: Not in my geographic community, which went 77% for Trump, and is heavily Calvinist Christian, with a very high rate of church attendance. The Trump signs are still out, Facebook and community message boards are full of support for him, many of my own relatives still consider him to be a gift from God his own self. But this area is also enamored with Christian Dominionism and looks favorably on rule by Biblical Law, as interpreted by those whom God has placed in power.
Whee.
The Armor of God is a spiritual concept:
It’s about prayer, not attacking “flesh and blood.” It’s about changing hearts and minds.
And it doesn’t apply at all to Trump, as he lacks truth, peace, righteousness, faith in God, or knowledge of His word or gospel. His spiritual warfare has been very prominently for the other side, using conservative/reactionary grievance politics to bring Christians over to his beliefs, rather than the other way around.
That said, there is a difference in pointing out the concepts in our handbook and talking about Christians in general. And Christians, in this case particularly the American Evangelical variety, have very much supported violence. That said, they also do push “rule of law,” which has a lot more to do with the negative reaction here.
To answer the OP: It seems to me that there is backlash, but they don’t necessarily connect it to Trump. Many want to excuse him. But they still consider the sedition a bad thing. Hence why some will try to say it was Antifa or something.
Among my Facebook friends, at least, I have noticed a much lower amount of enthusiasm for Trump than 2016, but that was true even before the election, let alone the sedition. I saw maybe one post trying to connect Trump with Christianity, and that was a post containing content originally by one of the Duggars, pushing the “he’s fighting against religious persecution” angle, and this was pre-pandemic (but still pushing people to vote Trump, so part of election season).
Since the sedition, I have seen one person push Trump’s “call for unity” nonsense that he cried after being caught, and one person comparing the coup to BLM with a stupid meme, but that’s about it. On the other hand, I did actually see some “let’s move on” posts post election, but before the sedition.
I wouldn’t say there’s some huge backlash, but I would bet that a lot of that decreasing approval rate is coming from Christians.
And there is a move among Republicans in general in the South. There were much more defections from the Republican Party in North Carolina than from the Democratic side. And, given the South’s culture, I would expect that most of those consider themselves Christians.
Oh, and pretty much all my friends or popular people I knew in high school (again, most of them claiming to be Christians) seem to be against the riots and Trump. But I notice that in my generation or younger in general around here.
I think the demographic which is both ultra-right wing and Christian is going to double down like the other white supremacists. That is not the majority of Christians in this country.
Here are some statistics from Pew:
Evangelical Protestant: 55% conservative
Catholic: 35%
Black Protestant: 36%
Mainline Protestant: 37%
Mormon: 66%
There are many liberal and progressive Christians, and they are often a big presence for left-wing causes. You just aren’t seeing what is there.
Maybe so but like the atomic bombings, these horrible acts occurred in the moral crucible of Total War. Do I simply shrug and say, “Hey you gotta do what you gotta do.”
No. I don’t. Neither do I judge the people who decided to launch these attacks as obviously evil.
The insurrection was also white; do we tar all white people because of it? There are a lot of Christians who oppose Trump, just as there are a lot of white people who oppose him. They just don’t get the same press.