Evangelicals disheartened by the emergence of Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee need not feel despondent since there is a silver lining to this.
This point was raised by Dr. Bruce Ashford, the provost and dean of faculty at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, in an op-ed piece that appeared on FoxNews.com on Wednesday.
According to Ashford, although the evangelicals have lost the nomination contest following Trump's victory in the Indiana primary on Tuesday, that prompted the evangelicals' candidate Sen. Ted Cruz to drop out of the race, "we surely have won an opportunity to regain our evangelical witness."
Ashford says evangelicals who are against Trump can consider what happened as presenting them with the opportunity to "redefine their brand" and "regain their witness" in three ways:
First, evangelicals can now criticise both the Democratic and Republican front-runners to show that biblical wisdom transcends political parties. "This type of Gospel-centred Christianity will diminish our culture's ability to classify and dismiss the church as the religious special interest wing of any one political party," he says.
Second, evangelical leaders can now speak on a broader range of policy issues, including immigration, refugees, and poverty. "Instead of applying our moral exhortations to the Clintons alone, we can apply them also to a GOP nominee whose words and actions cause us a great deal of moral concern. Instead of applying Jesus' command of neighbor love exclusively to the unborn, we can demonstrate our love for other persons—immigrants, refugees, those who are financially destitute—by making and stating our policies in ways that are both convictional and compassionate," Ashford says.
Third, evangelicals can now help heal the "unhealthy and even toxic nature of American politics and public life."
"Evangelicals can show the world what it looks like to speak and act with conviction while at the same time doing so civilly. We can take tough stances on issues while refusing to misrepresent, demean, or demonize those who oppose us. We can treat our political opponents as people with whom we disagree rather than as people who should be demeaned and degraded," he says.
Ashford says evangelicals must distinguish themselves from being merely a special interest of the Republican Party and put their faith first.
"I am a registered Republican. I've voted Republican in every election. But first and foremost, I am a Christian," he points out.
"My allegiance to Christ and the gospel transcends my allegiance to the Republican Party; if and when the GOP's platform or politicians are at odds with my Christian convictions, I will leverage my Christianity to criticize the party," he says.
