Americans face a stark choice this November between two very different political visions.
As I watched the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC), it struck me that it is also a choice between two very different kinds of Christianity.
Donald Trump has positioned himself as a defender of the Christian faith, and found somewhat unlikely bedfellows in American evangelicalism.
This seems a politically expedient choice for someone who has previously shown no interest in faith nor has a record of attending church.
Equating the “radical left” with communism, Trump has promised to protect the public symbols of Christianity such as crosses from those who would tear them down. Whether crosses are actually under threat is unclear.
If anyone tuned into the DNC expecting to see this “radical left” inciting crowds to tear down crosses, they would have been disappointed. Instead, biblical language permeated the speeches.
Michelle Obama appealed to a sense of community over individualism in political life, quoting the Bible’s golden rule “do unto others” and “love thy neighbour”. So familiar are these phrases to a Christianised America that she didn’t even need to quote the entire verses.
Pete Buttigieg drew on apocalyptic imagery to describe Trump’s worldview as “darkness”. Senator Raphael Warnock, a pastor, quoted Micah’s injunction to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”.
At........