A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about why, as a feminist, I can’t vote for Hillary Clinton.
An old friend of mine suggested I do a follow-up post on Donald Trump. Well, I think it goes without saying why feminists won’t vote for Donald Trump. Instead, this post will explain my reasoning as a Christian not to vote for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is openly misogynistic
This is not just a feminist reason, but a Christian reason to oppose Donald Trump. While I certainly criticize the benevolent sexism commonplace among conservative Christians, outright misogyny thankfully occurs less often. At least benevolent sexism is coming from a genuine if misguided love for women. Misogyny stems from a truly ugly contempt of women.
In the New Testament, Jesus regularly interacts with women. He heals the woman with the issue of blood, going against Jewish law that treated menstruating women as unclean. His disciples include women. After His resurrection, Jesus first appears before women.
Jesus always treated women with love, dignity, and respect.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, treats women deplorably. Here are just a few of the comments he has said about women.
- “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
- “Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she’s a slob. How does she even get on television? If I were running The View, I’d fire Rosie. I’d look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, ‘Rosie, you’re fired.’ We’re all a little chubby but Rosie’s just worse than most of us. But it’s not the chubbiness — Rosie is a very unattractive person, both inside and out.”
- “26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
- “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?”
You can read all the terrible, sexist remarks at The Telegraph. Donald Trump sexism tracker: Every offensive comment in one place
Donald Trump is an adulterer
Donald Trump is currently on his third wife. He cheated on his first wife with his second wife.
I don’t have a Christian objection to divorce. If you want to argue about scripture and historical context, have fun. That’s not the point.
You don’t even have to be religious to hold a moral objection against cheating. But for Christians (and Jews), adultery is a clear-cut sin. “You shall not commit adultery” is one of the ten commandments.
Donald Trump is a liar
I am no Hillary Clinton supporter, but the whole “Crooked Hillary” is such hypocritical bullshit. Which is par for the course for most politicians, I guess.
According to Politifact, Donald Trump has lied more than any other 2016 presidential candidate.
Want to read a few of these lies?
The Daily Wire: Lyin’ Donald: 101 Of Trump’s Greatest Lies
Politico Magazine: Trump’s Week of Errors, Exaggerations and Flat-out Falsehoods
Vanity Fair: The 8 Biggest Lies in Trump’s Big Anti-Clinton Speech
You know what else is in the ten commandments? “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Psst, that means don’t tell a lie.
Donald Trump is unrepentant
I cannot fault Donald Trump for being a sinner. We are all sinners, saved only by the grace of God.
But as Christians, we are called to repent.
Repentance, simply explained, is the Christian process of confessing our sins, asking for forgiveness, and honestly striving to do better.
(If you really want to get into repentance, I enjoyed reading this article and this article and this article).
Donald Trump has publicly declared his lack of repentance.
In an interview last year with Anderson Cooper, Donald Trump declared, “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes? I work hard, I’m an honorable person.”
Earlier this year, Donald Trump repeated himself. “I like to be good. I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try and do nothing that’s bad.”
I’m not the only Christian who won’t be voting for Donald Trump. Quite a few other Christians have publicly spoken out against him.
Religious News Service: 7 conservative Christians who are not supporting Trump
The Huffington Post: Voting for Trump is Not a Morally Good Choice for Christians
A Christian Case Against Donald Trump
Before I conclude, I also want to answer again a comment from my previous post on Hillary Clinton. Someone asked if I would support Hillary Clinton under other circumstances, or if I would still support Gary Johnson because of his politics. It would be fair to ask the same question regarding Donald Trump.
The honest-to-goodness truth is that I wrote both my previous post and this one because people asked me to. Which only indirectly answers the question, I know.
I support Gary Johnson because our political opinions are most closely aligned. However, I can have both a reason to support one politician and a reason to oppose another politician. Since multiple people requested both of these blog posts, I had to articulate my reasons not to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
Anyway, I thought y’all might find a bit of the behind-the-scenes writing process interesting.
I know other people have their own reasons not to vote for Donald Trump. I could have written an entirely different post from a feminist perspective!
But as a Christian, I cannot in good conscience vote for a man who so clearly acts against Christian values.
Do your religious beliefs affect how you vote? How do you feel about Donald Trump? Share your thoughts below!
Anyone but Trump!
My religious beliefs used to dictate who I voted for but since growing up, I vote based on what the parties are going to say they want to do and how they align with my beliefs and values. Here in Canada the 4 major parties are the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democratic Party and Green. I have voted for 3 of the 4 since being allowed to vote.
Same here. My conservative parents aren’t stoked that I’ve flipflopped between Liberal and NDP several times, but I have to vote based on my beliefs and values, which are influenced by my Christian faith. Watching the political circus taking place in the US has been a very concerning experience for me.
Hey, at least you don’t live here! It’s quite terrifying in a way. And profoundly disappointing, in another. We have two candidates widely disliked by most of the population. Why? Because the vast majority of Americans didn’t bother to vote in the primaries.
But I’m the “bad feminist” for refusing to vote for Hillary. If people had spent half as much time trying to convince voters to vote in the primaries as they did criticizing their least-favorite presidential candidate, maybe more people would have voted.
I’m so jealous that Canada has four major parties. I’ve voted Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian over the years. It just depends on the individual candidate.
I think this election proves that Christians aren’t *actually* voting based on religious beliefs. Because there’s no way that Trump lines up with any semblance of Christian beliefs. Religious beliefs have just been a convenient excuse over the years.
Amen! I don’t understand how people are saying he’s the Christian choice and there are rediculious articles out there saying we Christians have a moral obligation to vote for him. Like, what? I think most politions are pretty far from Christian examples, like you mentioned in the lying sction, but I think Trump goes further than most. I think voting based on morals and values is important but I’m not so sure those values need to be specifically Christian. Nor should our laws be specifically Christian. We’re not a Christian country. We’re a religiously free country.
Yeah, Christians absolutely do not have a moral obligation to vote for anyone. It’s an inconvenient truth, but the Bible is VERY open to interpretation. That’s particularly true when trying to use the Bible to justify a political choice.
I’m certainly open to anyone giving an honest reason to vote for Trump, but any Christian validation is basically bullshit. As someone who genuinely believes in separation of Church and State (freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion), there’s no way I could vote for someone who would discriminate against an entire religious population. Which again just goes to show how hypocritical some Christians can be about the whole religious freedom thing. Dan keeps his mouth shut about his religious beliefs at work for a reason–legitimate fear of religious retaliation.
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Was that enough Yes’s??? I can’t vote for Clinton OR Trump morally and I’m pretty sick of Christians claiming that Trump is the “Christian” answer. Absolutely not!
Yup. Many of us cannot in good conscience vote for either major candidate. That leaves choosing a third-party candidate (vote Gary Johnson!!!) or abstaining from the presidential vote.
I just hope that voters who abstain will still show up in November. Many many political offices are up for grabs, not just the biggest one! Local elections are often very close since less people are eligible to vote.
I actually have an idea for a nonpartisan-ish blog post on how to vote for president.
Yep. No way, no how, never voting for Trump. I think there are plenty of reasons why no Christian could respect him enough to want him to be lead the country.
I could have listed sooooo many more reasons, but I decided to go with the ones that most obviously counter scripture. I certainly understand why a Christian might have non-religious reasons to vote for Trump (although none of them have come forward to my repeated invitation to explain those reasons), but the “Christian” reasons listed have all been so false and not at all based on scripture.
Love this and your post about Hillary. I’m not voting for either. If I have to do a write-in, I will.
Don’t rule out Gary Johnson! Or Jill Stein.