Is there room for Christians in a Harris presidency?
During an event at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse last week, presidential hopeful Kamala Harris was heckled by a couple of students shouting “Jesus is Lord!” as she began stumping for abortion.
“You guys are at the wrong rally,” the Vice President shouted disapprovingly at the lads, who have since relayed their story to several news outlets.
“I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street,” she added, to the delight of jeering crowds.
Harris’ remarks have been interpreted by her critics as a repudiation of Christians and even of Christian belief.
To be fair, it is equally possible that Harris only meant there is no room for pro-life Christians at her rallies — though I’m not sure this is a winning message either.
Certainly, Harris’ on-the-spot reaction stands in contrast to that of JD Vance, who has since responded to an almost identical shout of “Jesus is King!” at one of his events with a warm affirmation of the same.
Both Kamala Harris and JD Vance are professing Christians — the former with nostalgic ties to the Black Baptist tradition and the latter being an adult convert to Catholicism.
The parties they represent, however, are much further apart on the religious spectrum. While the GOP has long enjoyed strong support from evangelicals and tends to wear its (largely Christian) faith on its sleeve, the Democrats have in recent decades embraced a stridently secular outlook.
As Mercator editor Michael Cook remarked to me this week, “Kamala, Biden, and Walz are all post-Christian politicians appealing to post-Christians.” It’s hard to argue with this assessment.
The dismay Christians may feel at Kamala’s comments in Wisconsin, in other words, says less about Kamala’s Christianity or otherwise — and more about the fading importance of Christianity in the American body politic.
“I bet if she thought that votes were in the Christian camp, she would be singing ‘Hallelujah’ at every rally,” Michael further remarked to me.
In fact, as though to prove Michael right, that’s essentially what Harris did on Sunday, when she attended New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia as part of her “Souls to the Polls” campaign aimed at reaching out to black churches. She even spoke at the church service and gave a short reflection from the gospel of Luke about the Good Samaritan.
Call me a cynic, but I have questions.
Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? I could have sworn we’re supposed to keep religion out of politics. In fact, I’ve been sternly warned that when politicians promote Christian beliefs and values, they are committing Christian Nationalism.
So, just to get this straight, Christian Nationalism is okay when it’s done in furtherance of progressive causes? Politicians are allowed to quote the Bible in support of open borders, abortion and economic redistribution — but not to promote national sovereignty, individual liberties or family values?
That does seem to be the rather tortured message emanating from Kamala’s campaign. Jesus is Lord when it comes to Democratic-voting black churches, it seems, but not when Christian college students care to speak up for the rights of the unborn.
It’s a universal truth that politicians pander. As such, my deeper questions are directed not at the Kamala Harris campaign, but her fanboys over at Evangelicals for Harris (which includes none other than the board chair of Christianity Today, the magazine founded by evangelist Billy Graham) and the assortment of other Christian leaders singing her praise like popular pastor Ray Ortlund and New York Times “evangelical, pro-life conservative” columnist David French.
Granted, Donald Trump has given Christians enough reasons to doubt his profession of faith and fidelity to Christian values. By these parameters, it is understandable that some evangelicals cannot in good conscience vote for him.
But openly supporting Kamala Harris and encouraging Christians to vote for her?
It’s not just a pair of pro-life teenage trolls in Wisconsin to have felt her wrath.
While Attorney General of California, Harris famously persecuted pro-life, Christian journalist David Deleiden for exposing the trafficking of aborted baby body parts. She has called for Roe v Wade to be codified federally, and is the only sitting vice president to have toured an abortion mill. Indeed, the Biden-Harris administration has weaponised the Department of Justice to put pro-life protesters and other political opponents behind bars.
Meanwhile, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has presided over the most radical abortion laws in the United States, having made foeticide legal at all stages of pregnancy in his state.
Whether the “evangelicals for Harris” crowd has turned out at her events or are mostly making their case from the safety of a keyboard, her message couldn’t be clearer.
You guys are at the wrong rally.
Is Kurt being too harsh on Kamala Harris and her evangelical supporters?
AUTHOR
Kurt Mahlburg
Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and author, and an emerging Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He has a passion for both the philosophical and the personal, drawing on his background as a graduate architect, a primary school teacher, a missionary, and a young adult pastor.
EDITORS NOTE: This Mercator column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
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