A religious reckoning may be looming for White evangelicals who support Trump

“What profit is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”

It is one of the most haunting questions posed by Jesus in the New Testament. Why, he asks his followers, should a person chase riches or power if it means losing their most precious possession when the day of reckoning comes?

As the midterm elections approach and a post-Trump America looms, some evangelicals and religious scholars are now considering a similar question: What will White evangelicals’ allegiance to President Trump cost them now that their day of reckoning is at hand?

Trump’s rise to power was the culmination of a religious movement that began in the early 1970s. White evangelical Christians have since become his most steadfast supporters. The vast majority of them voted three times for a man one White evangelical commentator recently called “arguably the most vulgar, most corrupt president in American history.”

What they received in return is now clear: unprecedented access to political power, the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices who are dismantling the separation of church and state.

But what’s less clear is what kind of price they may pay for their allegiance once Trump is gone. As the President nears lame duck territory, that question becomes more urgent. Young Americans are already saying they’re less inclined to attend church because of Christian leaders’ support for Trump.

Other unintended consequences may soon follow. Moral reform movements often boomerang on their followers. Prohibition triggered an explosion of organized crime and a public health crisis . The sexual revolution of the 1960s fed the rise of the Religious Right. Black Lives Matter protests led to the War on Wokeness .

Reform movements trigger furious counterattacks because America is a deeply divided nation, says James A. Morone, a professor at Brown University and author of “ Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History .”

“If one side wins, it’s never permanent. If history is a guide, it’s very likely you’ll see some backlash to this,” Morone tells CNN, referring to the “religious right” movement that helped put Trump in the White House. “There are some indications that we are already seeing it.”

Morone is one of a handful of evangelicals and scholars who recently spoke to CNN about White evangelicals’ support of Trump. They identified four challenges that evangelicals will likely face in the final years of the Trump era and beyond.

It’s an image that distills the unbreakable bond between Trump and many White evangelicals. The president is sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, eyes closed and head bowed, as a prayer circle of evangelical leaders surround him, beseeching God to watch over their holy warrior.

Molly Riley/White House

The photo illustrates the political power White evangelicals amassed under Trump. For over 40 years, evangelical pastors like Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell sought to reshape the culture and the courts to sway public opinion and change the legal system. Their goal: persuading Americans to “turn back to God.”

But some critics would say the image captures something else: hypocrisy. White evangelicals who support Trump have been accused of setting aside their faith to support a president whose rhetoric and personal conduct often contradict the teachings of Jesus.

To be clear, millions of White evangelicals lead lives of faith and service, and do not support Trump. But those who have stood by Trump won’t have the moral credibility to persuade people or shape public opinion, says John Fea , an evangelical and author of “In God We Trust: Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? ”

“Evangelicals are going to see post-Trump that they’re not going to have any prophetic voice — they’re not going to be able to speak morally to the culture,” says Fea, a historian at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

“How do you critique the next president if something goes wrong ethically when you’ve been in bed with Trump for 12 years?” he adds. “The evangelical movement … is now going to be associated with Trump’s politics. It’s going to take a generation or more to shake that stigma.”

But some White evangelicals reject the notion that their alliance with Trump has undermined their moral credibility.

The Rev. Lucas Miles, senior director of Turning Point USA Faith , has been one of the most vocal evangelical supporters of Trump.

“We elected presidents, not a savior,” he said in a statement shared with CNN. “Every man is fallen by nature, but that reality does not suspend our duty to seek the welfare of the country in which God has placed us.”

Miles said Trump has “advanced religious liberty protections, appointed the most pro-life Supreme Court majority in 50 years, and resisted efforts to impose gender ideology on children and institutions.” He also cited a recent dramatic rise in Bible sales as well as increasing church attendance by young people (a revival that has been disputed by some scholars).

“Looking ahead, the future of the evangelical community does not rest on any single political figure,” he said.

White evangelicals’ alliance with Trump could damage them in another way: They could be displaced by a competing brand of Christianity.

This may already be happening. It’s evident in the candidacy of one of the most talked-about Democrats in the midterms: James Talarico, the Texan running for the US Senate.

Talarico often cites Jesus to argue that health care is a human right and that the wealthy and corporations should pay more taxes. But he is also part of a Christian backlash that is poised to take advantage of labeling White evangelicals as hypocrites.

Tamir Kalifa/Politco

Democrats are having a “come to Jesus” moment. At least a dozen pastors, seminarians and former clergy are running as Democrats for federal and state offices, including Rob Sands, a Democrat running for governor of Iowa, and the Rev. Adam Hamilton , a Methodist pastor running for a US Senate seat in Kansas.

The brand of Christianity that Talarico and other Democrats are invoking is called the “Social Gospel,” and it has clashed with evangelical Christianity for more than a century.

The Social Gospel is a Christian movement that emerged in late 19th-century America. It was a response to the obscene levels of inequality in the Gilded Age . It turned Christianity into a weapon for economic and political reform. Its message: saving people from poverty was just as important as saving them from hell.

The Social Gospel shaped public policy during the Great Depression. It drove the dramatic expansion of the welfare state under the New Deal. It saturated the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons. It’s become more popular in recent years. When Talarico says, “the real fight in this country is not left versus right. It’s top versus bottom,” he’s singing from the Social Gospel hymnbook.

Many White evangelicals, though, sing a different tune. Evangelicals are loosely defined as Christians who often share a “born again” personal conversion, take the Bible literally or seriously, and believe they’re supposed to spread their faith to others.

Some of them care about social justice. White evangelical Christians fought for the abolition of slavery as well as women’s rights. But when it comes to fighting poverty, many have traditionally preached a trickle-down Christianity. People who are saved, they argue, will help the poor and transform society.

Both Christian perspectives — one shaped by the Social Gospel, and another by a focus on individual sin and salvation — have competed for public dominance throughout American history.

The Social Gospel’s message of economic justice resonated with many Americans when the Great Depression hammered the country in the 1930s. By that time, it had displaced the more fundamentalist strain of White evangelism and later served as the “implicit assumption in American policy making” of the 1970s, Morone wrote in “Hellfire.”

Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images

That displacement may happen again. The erosion of moral credibility among some White evangelical leaders has created a theological vacuum. Democratic politicians like Talarico are stepping into that public void. White evangelical Christian leaders haven’t traditionally offered any sustained critique of concentrations of wealth and corporate power. But the Social Gospel’s message of “top vs. bottom” resonates with many Americans.

“We’re in a period now where lot of the population is very upset about the economic inequality, and the most powerful answer to that is the Social Gospel movement,” Morone says. “It’s been a long dry spell for the Social Gospel, but the conditions are in place for its revival, and we’re really seeing it.

“If Talarico wins, everybody is going to be talking about it.”

It was one of the greatest victories of any moral reform movement in American history. Cheers erupted across the country. People staged rallies and praised God during church services.

“The reign of tears is over,” the Rev. Billy Sunday, a popular evangelist, told a crowd of 10,000 in Norfolk, Virginia. “The slums will soon be only a memory.”

Americans were celebrating a political victory that day in 1920 that once seemed unattainable. They amended the Constitution with the passage of the 18th Amendment , which banned the making, selling, and moving of alcohol and created Prohibition.

Evangelical Christians were some of the temperance movement’s most active supporters. They thought their crusade was inspired by God and predicted it would lead to a moral revival.

And then they discovered something that happens to many moral reform movements:

Once reformers achieve their goal, they never recover. They often lose intensity and followers.

Like some White evangelicals today, proponents of Prohibition were also accused of being hypocrites. Many of the same politicians who voted for Prohibition were known to be persistent drinkers. Even President Warren G. Harding was rumored to keep bootleg liquor in the White House.

The moral revival they promised never arrived. Prohibition eventually collapsed in 1933 during the Great Depression, when the federal government needed the tax revenue that alcohol sales provided.

But the temperance movement fell apart for reasons apart from money and hypocrisy. Many of its supporters lost their fervor, while their opponents mobilized.

Michael McCoy/Reuters

The same dynamic could afflict White evangelicals in the post-Trump era, Morone tells CNN.

“The moralists always promise that there will be a new era of love and justice in this world that never happens,” Morone says. “When they win their prize, it’s never as good as they promised it was going to be. You finally overturn Roe v. Wade, and abortions don’t even go down. People who want abortions are still getting them.”

Some of that reaction is already evident. The overturning of Roe in 2022 didn’t settle the abortion issue. Abortions increased in the US during the first two years after the Supreme Court reversed Roe and made abortion a state issue (although they decreased in 2025). In recent years, anti-abortion groups have lost most state ballot measures. Most Americans continue to say that abortion should be legal in most cases.

“It’s like the dog finally caught the bus — evangelicals don’t know what to do,” says Fea, the evangelical historian. “Coming out of the Trump administration, they’re going to have to come to grips with the fact that overturning Roe v. Wade was not the answer. Maybe they’re going to realize that if you really want to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, you may have to support candidates that have social programs that help the poor, who are having the significant number of abortions.”

Robert P. Jones isn’t easily surprised when it comes to White evangelicals.

He grew up in the Deep South attending White churches. He joined evangelical youth groups, Bible studies and prayer services. He graduated from an evangelical seminary before becoming the founder and CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) , an organization that studies religion and politics.

For years, he’s parsed White evangelical attitudes through PRRI’s widely distributed polls. But Jones says he was puzzled by responses to recent surveys that found most White evangelicals favored militarized encampments for undocumented immigrants and agreed with Trump’s charge that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

Scott Olson/Getty Images

“It was stunning, especially for me — I still have plenty of friends in that world,” says Jones, author of “ Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy.”

He sighs before adding, “I’ve come to the conclusion that it is nearly impossible for me to … (cite) a policy that was too cruel for White evangelicals to support.”

A PRRI survey this month found that White evangelicals are the only major religious group in America that rejects the belief that empathy “is a foundational moral value for a healthy society.”

Jones compares many White evangelicals who support Trump to the Christians in Germany who rationalized their support for the Nazi Party. In his new book, Jones writes that most German Christians “redrew their moral bearings to align more comfortable with Nazi ideology.”

“Today we are seeing a similar degradation of our moral faculties,” Jones writes. “Like the Germans, Trump’s white Christian supporters have relieved themselves of moral discomfort not by demanding a more ethical politics but by continually tailoring their theological convictions to fit Trump’s demands.”

Jones believes many evangelicals who support Trump are now facing their own “moment of reckoning.” He describes this dynamic as a form of spiritual debasement — adding that White evangelicals’ moral faculties are “essentially broken.”

“That’s going to be the ultimate cost of white evangelicals who followed Trump to the end of this authoritarian road,” Jones tells CNN. “They will not be able to tell the truth, even if they wanted to, after embracing the lies for so many years.”

There are signs that some White evangelicals are having second thoughts about Trump. Although evangelicals remain his strongest supporters, a Pew Research Center poll in January found they view Trump less favorably than in previous years.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

But one evangelical leader says he doesn’t believe a large number of White evangelicals will regret their support of Trump.

“It’s not about personality, it’s about policies,” says the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, citing Trump’s pro-life stance and his support of evangelicals’ religious liberty.

Most evangelicals know that the Bible employs morally flawed leaders like King David for a higher purpose, Rodriguez says.

White evangelicals, and their Latino counterparts, will continue to ask the same question in the future when considering supporting a political leader, says Rodriguez, author of “ Goliath Never Wins: 5 Rock-Solid Strategies for Slaying Your Giants .”

“Who do we support that will undergird our Judeo-Christian system?” he asks. “For evangelicals, it’s simple. The world is divided between your Christian value system and everything else: chaos, anarchy, socialism, Marxism — whatever it may be. Whatever policy will undergird a Judeo-Christian worldview, that’s the one you’re going to support. Whatever president, or whatever candidate.”

Jones also doesn’t envision widespread remorse from White evangelicals who supported Trump, but for a different reason.

“That kind of repentance often comes from a kind of brokenness,” he says. “Would White Christians had ever repented of slavery if the Confederates had won the Civil War? I doubt it.”

In the months and years ahead, White evangelical leaders will continue to speak out on the big issues of the day. They may continue to urge America to turn back to God. They may even cite scripture in demanding a politician resign over some sexual impropriety.

But many people will accuse them of being hypocrites and tune them out. Their greatest victories may be undone because political power is temporary, while moral credibility is more durable.

If they face that religious reckoning, those who went all in on Trump would have to decide if it was worth it. They may discover the hard wisdom of the New Testament scripture:

“You reap what you sow.”

“人若赚得全世界，却赔上自己的生命，有什么益处呢？”

这是耶稣在新约中提出的最令人深思的问题之一。他问他的追随者，如果追求财富或权力意味着在审判日到来时失去他们最宝贵的财富，那么人为什么要追求财富或权力呢？

随着中期选举临近，后特朗普时代的美国也即将到来，一些福音派人士和宗教学者现在正在思考一个类似的问题：白人福音派人士对特朗普总统的忠诚，在清算之日即将到来之际，将会让他们付出怎样的代价？

特朗普的崛起是始于20世纪70年代初的一场宗教运动的最终结果。此后，白人福音派基督徒成为了他最坚定的支持者。他们中的绝大多数人三次投票支持这位被一位白人福音派评论员最近称为“可以说是美国历史上最粗俗、最腐败的总统”的人。

他们得到的回报现在已经很清楚了：前所未有的政治权力，罗诉韦德案的推翻，以及保守派最高法院大法官的任命，这些大法官正在瓦解政教分离原则。

但尚不清楚的是，一旦特朗普卸任，他们可能会为自己的忠诚付出怎样的代价。随着总统即将进入跛脚鸭时期，这个问题变得更加紧迫。一些美国年轻人已经表示，由于基督教领袖支持特朗普，他们去教堂的意愿降低了。

其他意想不到的后果可能很快就会接踵而至。道德改革运动往往会反噬其追随者。禁酒令引发了有组织犯罪的激增和公共卫生危机。20世纪60年代的性革命助长了宗教右翼的崛起。“黑人的命也是命”运动引发了反觉醒运动。

布朗大学教授、著有《地狱之火之国：美国历史上的罪恶政治》一书的詹姆斯·A·莫罗内表示，改革运动会引发激烈的反击，因为美国是一个严重分裂的国家。

“如果一方获胜，那也绝非长久之计。历史可以借鉴，很可能会出现一些反弹，”莫罗内告诉CNN，他指的是帮助特朗普入主白宫的“宗教右翼”运动。“一些迹象表明，我们已经看到了这种反弹。”

莫罗内是少数几位近期接受CNN采访，谈及白人福音派基督徒对特朗普支持问题的福音派人士和学者之一。他们指出，在特朗普执政的最后几年以及之后，福音派基督徒可能会面临四大挑战。

这张照片生动地展现了特朗普与众多白人福音派信徒之间牢不可破的联系。总统坐在椭圆形办公室的办公桌前，双目紧闭，低头默祷，一群福音派领袖围在他身边，祈求上帝保佑他们的圣战勇士。

莫莉·莱利/白宫

这张照片展现了白人福音派在特朗普执政期间积累的政治权力。四十多年来，像帕特·罗伯逊和杰里·福尔韦尔这样的福音派牧师试图重塑文化和法院，以左右公众舆论并改变法律体系。他们的目标是：说服美国人“回归上帝”。

但一些批评人士认为，这张照片揭示了另一层含义：虚伪。支持特朗普的白人福音派教徒被指责为了支持一位言辞和个人行为常常与耶稣教义相悖的总统而抛弃了自己的信仰。

需要澄清的是，数百万白人福音派信徒过着虔诚的信仰和服务生活，他们并不支持特朗普。但福音派信徒、著有《我们信仰上帝：美国是基督教国家吗？》一书的约翰·费亚表示，那些支持特朗普的人缺乏说服他人或塑造公众舆论的道德信誉。

“福音派人士在特朗普时代之后将会意识到，他们将不再拥有任何先知般的声音——他们将无法在道德层面上对文化发声，”宾夕法尼亚州弥赛亚学院的历史学家费亚说道。

“如果你和特朗普沆瀣一气12年，那么如果下一任总统在道德层面出现问题，你该如何批评他呢？”他补充道，“福音派运动……现在将与特朗普的政治联系在一起。摆脱这种污名需要一代人甚至更长时间。”

但一些白人福音派人士并不认同他们与特朗普的联盟损害了他们的道德信誉。

美国“转折点信仰”组织高级主任卢卡斯·迈尔斯牧师一直是特朗普最直言不讳的福音派支持者之一。

他在一份发给CNN的声明中说：“我们选举的是总统，而不是救世主。每个人生来都有缺陷，但这并不意味着我们可以免除为上帝赐予我们的国家谋求福祉的责任。”

迈尔斯表示，特朗普“推进了宗教自由保护，任命了50年来最支持生命权的最高法院多数派，并抵制了将性别意识形态强加于儿童和机构的企图。”他还提到，圣经销量近期大幅增长，以及年轻人参加教堂礼拜的人数增加（一些学者对这种复兴现象提出质疑）。

“展望未来，福音派团体的未来并不取决于任何一位政治人物，”他说。

白人福音派与特朗普的联盟可能会以另一种方式损害他们：他们可能会被另一种基督教派别所取代。

这种情况可能已经发生了。这一点在中期选举中最受关注的民主党候选人之一——来自德克萨斯州的詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico）的竞选中就显而易见，他正在竞选美国参议员。

塔拉里科经常引用耶稣的话来论证医疗保健是一项人权，富人和企业应该缴纳更多税款。但他同时也是基督教反弹浪潮中的一员，这股浪潮正准备利用白人福音派基督徒被贴上伪君子的标签来攻击他们。

Tamir Kalifa/Politco

民主党人正在经历一场“幡然醒悟”的时刻。至少有十几位牧师、神学生和前神职人员以民主党人的身份竞选联邦和州级公职，其中包括竞选爱荷华州州长的民主党人罗布·桑兹，以及竞选堪萨斯州美国参议员席位的卫理公会牧师亚当·汉密尔顿。

塔拉里科和其他民主党人所援引的基督教派别被称为“社会福音”，它与福音派基督教已经冲突了一个多世纪。

社会福音运动是19世纪末美国兴起的一场基督教运动。它旨在回应镀金时代骇人听闻的贫富差距，并将基督教转化为经济和政治改革的武器。其核心信息是：拯救人们脱离贫困与拯救他们免于下地狱同等重要。

社会福音在大萧条时期影响了公共政策。它推动了罗斯福新政时期福利国家的迅速扩张。它渗透到马丁·路德·金牧师的布道中。近年来，它变得更加流行。当塔拉里科说“这个国家真正的斗争不是左派与右派之争，而是上层阶级与下层阶级之争”时，他唱的正是社会福音的精髓所在。

然而，许多白人福音派基督徒却持不同观点。福音派基督徒的定义比较宽泛，他们通常拥有“重生”的个人皈依经历，认真对待《圣经》的字面意义，并认为自己应该将信仰传播给他人。

他们当中有些人关心社会正义。白人福音派基督徒曾为废除奴隶制和争取妇女权利而奋斗。但在消除贫困方面，许多人历来宣扬一种涓滴式的基督教理念。他们认为，得救的人会帮助穷人，从而改变社会。

基督教的两种观点——一种受社会福音的影响，另一种则侧重于个人的罪与救赎——在美国历史上一直争夺公众的主导地位。

20 世纪 30 年代大萧条重创美国时，社会福音所宣扬的经济正义信息引起了许多美国人的共鸣。莫罗内在《地狱之火》一书中写道，到那时，它已经取代了白人福音派中更为原教旨主义的倾向，并在 20 世纪 70 年代成为“美国政策制定中的隐含假设”。

Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images

这种权力更迭或许会再次发生。一些白人福音派领袖道德信誉的丧失造成了神学真空。像塔拉里科这样的民主党政客正在填补这一公共领域的空白。白人福音派基督教领袖历来很少对财富和企业权力的集中进行持续的批判。但社会福音所宣扬的“上层与下层”的理念却引起了许多美国人的共鸣。

莫罗内说：“我们现在正处于一个很多人对经济不平等感到非常不满的时期，而应对这种不平等最有力的办法就是社会福音运动。社会福音运动已经沉寂了很长时间，但复兴的条件已经具备，而且我们正在亲眼目睹这一点。”

“如果塔拉里科赢了，所有人都会谈论这件事。”

这是美国历史上最伟大的道德改革运动胜利之一。全国各地爆发出欢呼声。人们举行集会，并在教堂礼拜中赞美上帝。

“苦难的时代已经结束了，”颇受欢迎的福音传教士比利·桑迪牧师在弗吉尼亚州诺福克市对一万名听众说道，“贫民窟很快就会成为历史。”

1920 年的这一天，美国人庆祝了一场曾经看似遥不可及的政治胜利。他们通过了第 18 修正案，修改了宪法，禁止制造、销售和运输酒精饮料，从而确立了禁酒令。

福音派基督徒是禁酒运动最积极的支持者之一。他们认为自己的运动是受上帝启示的，并预言这将带来道德复兴。

然后他们发现，很多道德改革运动都会遇到同样的问题：

改革者一旦达成目标，便难以恢复原状。他们往往会失去热情和追随者。

就像今天的一些白人福音派教徒一样，禁酒令的支持者也被指责为伪君子。许多投票支持禁酒令的政客都是出了名的嗜酒如命。甚至有传言说，沃伦·G·哈丁总统在白宫藏有私酒。

他们承诺的道德复兴从未到来。禁酒令最终在1933年大萧条期间崩溃，当时联邦政府需要酒精销售带来的税收收入。

但禁酒运动的瓦解并非仅仅因为金钱和虚伪。许多支持者失去了热情，而反对者则积极动员起来。

迈克尔·麦考伊/路透社

莫罗内告诉 CNN，同样的动态也可能在后特朗普时代困扰白人福音派基督徒。

“道德家们总是承诺，这个世界将会迎来一个充满爱与正义的新时代，但这永远不会发生，”莫罗内说。“当他们最终赢得胜利时，情况也远不如他们承诺的那样美好。即使你最终推翻了罗诉韦德案，堕胎率也不会下降。想要堕胎的人仍然可以得到堕胎手术。”

部分反应已经显现。2022年罗诉韦德案被推翻并未解决堕胎问题。最高法院推翻罗诉韦德案并将堕胎问题交由各州自行决定后的头两年，美国的堕胎数量反而有所增加（尽管2025年有所下降）。近年来，反堕胎团体在大多数州级公投中都败北。大多数美国人仍然认为，在大多数情况下，堕胎应该合法。

“这就像狗终于赶上了公交车——福音派人士不知所措，”福音派历史学家菲亚说道。“特朗普政府下台后，他们不得不接受推翻罗诉韦德案并非解决之道的事实。或许他们会意识到，如果真的想减少美国的堕胎数量，就必须支持那些拥有帮助穷人的社会福利项目的候选人，因为穷人才是堕胎的主要群体。”

对于白人福音派教徒，罗伯特·P·琼斯并不容易感到惊讶。

他成长于美国南部腹地，经常去白人教堂。他参加福音派青年团体、圣经学习小组和祈祷会。从福音派神学院毕业后，他创立了公共宗教研究所（PRRI），并担任首席执行官。PRRI是一个研究宗教与政治的机构。

多年来，他一直通过公共宗教研究所（PRRI）广泛发布的民意调查来分析白人福音派的态度。但琼斯表示，最近的调查结果让他感到困惑，调查发现大多数白人福音派支持为非法移民设立军事化营地，并且认同特朗普关于移民“毒害我们国家血液”的指责。

Scott Olson/Getty Images

“这太令人震惊了，尤其是对我来说——我在那个圈子里仍然有很多朋友，”琼斯说道，他是《倒退：在基督教转向反对民主之后重拾信仰和国家》一书的作者。

他叹了口气，然后补充道：“我得出的结论是，我几乎不可能……（举例说明）一项对白人福音派教徒来说过于残酷而无法支持的政策。”

PRRI 本月的一项调查发现，白人福音派是美国唯一一个不认同“同理心是健康社会的基本道德价值观”这一观点的主要宗教团体。

琼斯将许多支持特朗普的白人福音派基督徒比作那些为自己支持纳粹党的行为辩解的德国基督徒。在他的新书中，琼斯写道，大多数德国基督徒“重新调整了他们的道德准则，以更符合纳粹意识形态”。

琼斯写道：“今天，我们看到了道德能力的类似退化。与德国人一样，特朗普的白人基督教支持者们并没有通过要求更合乎道德的政治来消除道德上的不安，而是不断地调整他们的神学信仰以迎合特朗普的要求。”

琼斯认为，许多支持特朗普的福音派教徒现在正面临着他们自己的“清算时刻”。他将这种现象描述为一种精神上的堕落，并补充说，白人福音派教徒的道德能力“基本上已经崩溃”。

琼斯告诉CNN：“这将是那些追随特朗普走到这条威权道路尽头的白人福音派教徒最终要付出的代价。在拥抱谎言这么多年之后，即使他们想说真话，也无能为力了。”

有迹象表明，一些白人福音派教徒对特朗普的态度开始转变。尽管福音派教徒仍然是他最坚定的支持者，但皮尤研究中心1月份的一项民调显示，他们对特朗普的好感度不如往年。

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

但一位福音派领袖表示，他不认为很多白人福音派信徒会后悔支持特朗普。

“这与个人无关，而是与政策有关，”全国西班牙裔基督教领袖会议主席塞缪尔·罗德里格斯牧师说道，他列举了特朗普的反堕胎立场以及他对福音派宗教自由的支持。

罗德里格斯说，大多数福音派信徒都知道，《圣经》启用像大卫王这样道德上有缺陷的领袖是为了更高的目的。

《歌利亚永不获胜：击败巨人的 5 个坚实策略》一书的作者罗德里格斯表示，白人福音派教徒及其拉丁裔同胞在未来考虑支持一位政治领袖时，还会继续提出同样的问题。

他问道：“我们应该支持谁来巩固我们的犹太-基督教体系？对福音派信徒来说，这很简单。世界被划分为基督教价值观体系和其他一切：混乱、无政府状态、社会主义、马克思主义——无论是什么。无论哪项政策能够巩固犹太-基督教世界观，你都会支持它。无论是哪位总统，或者哪位候选人。”

琼斯也不认为支持特朗普的白人福音派教徒会普遍感到后悔，但他的理由有所不同。

他说：“那种悔改往往源于某种破碎感。如果南方邦联赢得了内战，白人基督徒还会悔改奴隶制吗？我对此表示怀疑。”

在未来的几个月甚至几年里，白人福音派领袖们将继续就当今重大议题发声。他们或许会继续敦促美国回归上帝。他们甚至可能引用圣经，要求某位政客因性丑闻辞职。

但许多人会指责他们是伪君子，并对他们置之不理。他们取得的最大胜利也可能付之东流，因为政治权力是暂时的，而道德信誉则更为持久。

如果他们面临宗教上的拷问，那些全力支持特朗普的人就必须决定这一切是否值得。他们或许会领悟到新约圣经中蕴含的深刻智慧：

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。