Over the past decade, a clear political divide has emerged within American evangelical Christianity. Institutional leaders have increasingly aligned their organizations with the leftist ruling class, while many in the pews maintain more conservative views and resist these shifts. Trump’s recent victory has intensified this balancing act for leaders and further deepened the divide within the movement.

Signaling approval for the left’s cultural dominance while maintaining Religious Right credentials has never been easy. In the 2010s, the strategy was to expand the definition of pro-life to include issues such as racial justice and left-leaning immigration policies. To pick one example among many: McLean Bible Church Pastor David Platt wrote positively, in his 2020 book Before You Vote, about a Christian who cared about the life issue but would not vote for a Republican pro-life candidate. This is the same D.C. beltway pastor who shut down his church for Covid-19 and marched and spoke at a Black Lives Matter-style protest that same year. Platt, along with many evangelical leaders, gave the impression that Christians were expected to push the needle left on a range of issues while pushing right was, at the very least, optional.

Platt’s signaling against Trump — when he essentially apologized to his congregation for the “hurt” he may have caused related to issues like “racial division and injustice” after praying for Trump — was only possible as long as theoretical lip service was paid to pro-life and pro-family issues. This allowed evangelical elites to project an image of transcending the political divide, when they were in fact choosing a side.

Luke-Warm Christian Intellectuals

In 2024, white evangelicals once again voted for the president-elect in large numbers. Yet many individuals who see themselves as the evangelical intellectual vanguard are unable to see why evangelicals would vote for Trump and are reviving the narrative that he poses a threat to Christian values.

Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, chalked Trump’s victory up to an infatuation Americans have with entertainment. Evangelical New York Times columnist David French encouraged Christians to stand courageous in the face of MAGA’s cruelty. Like he had in 2020, Pastor John Piper of Desiring God once again insinuated a moral equivalency existed between Trump and his Democrat opponent when he tweeted that the results showed God had “delivered us from one evil” but “now tests us with another.”

In a recent Gospel Coalition article shared by former Vice President Mike Pence, McLean Bible Church Associate Pastor Joe Carter makes the case that Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signals “that the GOP has fully shifted from the pro-life party to one that’s unapologetically pro-choice.” Carter went on to chastise the pro-life establishment for its lack of principle and encourage them to “reject any temptation to trade moral clarity for political favor.”

Yet, two years ago when President Joe Biden issued an executive order to protect abortion through the HHS, Carter told Christians that the order would not “have much effect on the [abortion]” since the Dobb’s decision had kicked the issue back to legislatures. Carter also said that on abortion, “aside from nominating Supreme Court justices, most of what [presidents] can do is purely symbolic.”

Apparently, the pro-life movement has more to fear from a Trump HHS than they did from a Biden HHS. And this despite the fact that RFK Jr. is open to appointing an “anti-abortion stalwart to a senior position in HHS” and restoring “anti-abortion policies from the first Trump administration.”    

This is how many evangelical elites operate — some have referred to it as “punch right, nuance left.”

Evangelical Publications Mislead their Flock

In the world of the evangelical elite, people such as Carter are able to pour cold water on Trump’s core demographic from the inside. Organizations such as The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and the Southern Baptist’s public policy arm — the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) — must retain some pro-life and pro-family positions, but they subversively bend public opinion toward the left in every other available avenue, whether on red flag laws or comprehensive immigration reform. According to the Gospel Coalition, an evangelical opinion-shaping outlet, the religious right joined the Republican Party because of their “self-centered framework” and the Biden administration’s transgender normalization push in schools is “flawed” but Trump’s policies will lead to the “same place.”

Southern Baptist Leaders Moderating

Yet it is important to note there may be a few leaders adjusting their political approach as they realize Christian public opinion has not supported their positions. This is especially visible in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

J.D. Greear, who served as the president of the SBC from 2018 to 2021, insinuated numerous times that Trump was somehow racist and his policies incompatible with Christianity. For him, central elements of the black lives matter movement, including taking “a deep look at our police systems and structures,” was a “gospel issue,” and promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in the church was “an essential part of discipleship and the responsibility of every follower of Jesus.” Yet, he was able to say there was “much to be hopeful for” in the wake of Trump’s win.

Pastor Dean Inserra of City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, who some SBC insiders say will likely run for president of the denomination, opposed supporting Trump in 2016 on the basis that he had marriage issues and made “derogatory statements toward women and toward ethnic minority groups.” Yet, he surprisingly expressed that Christians in America should line up more with the Republican Party after 2024 election.          

One of the most telling post-election Southern Baptist statements came from Nathan Finn, a professor at North Greenville University and ERLC fellow. During Trump’s first term, Finn had put his name on left-leaning statements related to Trump and the Charlottesville rally. Yet in the aftermath of Trump’s 2024 victory, he maintained a positivity about Trump’s more racially diverse coalition. Finn said that “demographics [were] not destiny,” socioeconomic factors determined outcomes more, and churches needed to be welcoming to members of different economic and, by implication, political groups. The interesting part of this strategy is that the goal of making congregations politically diverse, and thus appealing to Democrats, is still present. What’s missing is the diversity language that used to accompany such calls. It is possible that Southern Baptists may be backing off some of their more overt racialized language.

A Lasting Solution

Evangelical leaders, denominations, and organizations will have to navigate the next four years with the understanding that their base of support is a central part of Trump’s coalition. My advice to rank-and-file evangelicals is to consider who attempted to steer their futures toward disaster and respond accordingly. Some leaders will remain steadfast in their leftward direction, others will moderate just enough to placate their base, while some may genuinely return to their Religious Right roots.

Unfortunately, it takes time to discern whether good changes are sincere. Pew sitters should think twice before allowing leaders who compromised on government Covid-related overreach, Critical Race Theory, and other left-leaning movements to continue leading their organizations. Jesus himself said, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.”

Christians should also consider raising new leaders from uncompromised up-and-coming organizations such as the Center for Baptist Leadership, Truthscript, and American Reformer. Fresh faces who are loyal both to God and their congregations will close the growing political divide within evangelicalism faster than any attempt to reform the current leadership class. This will also strengthen communities in red areas dominated by Christian conservatives, since a healthy church has historically held the state accountable. More than just the future of evangelical Christianity hangs in the balance.