The election of Donald Trump as president has brought relief to the minds of many evangelicals, but we cannot even slightly think the culture war in America has been won.
For the past couple of years, I daily visited with evangelical leaders around the country and members of their churches about current events and how those events relate to biblical prophecy. In those visits, I have witnessed an ever-growing air of concern. Often their inner stirring remained unarticulated, but when spoken clearly there was an uneasiness about the future of religious liberty. There was an expectation that church and Christian expression in the United States was on the verge of changing.
Concerns came from the redefining of marriage and headlines of lawsuits against Christian bakers, florists, photographers, ministers and others who would not provide services for same-sex unions. Christian companies having to fight in court to protect their right to provide health insurance in terms of their religious conscience was also on their minds. And then there were expressed concerns over the issue of subpoenaing sermons from Houston pastors and firings like that of the Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran. The concern of those evangelicals was rightly justified.
The lighting of the White House in support of the Supreme Court's same-sex ruling was the icing on the cake for many. Scales of the culture war had tipped in favor of secular society. The certain election of a Democrat president ensured the Supreme Court would be locked in perpetual liberalism. Continually, I saw true fear in conservative evangelical leaders.
Conversations centered on the legal protection of churches and pastors who refused to host same-sex marriages, along with brainstorming how a loss of tax exemption would affect congregations, seminaries and mission agencies.
The consensus was that change was inevitable.
Then, on the morning of this past Nov. 9, the tune changed.
The urgency and fear I witnessed has now diminished.
Swords and shields used in the culture war have been laid down with the hope that American conservative Christians had done their part in electing a president that would protect religious liberty. And I hope that is truly the case. Yet, even if Donald Trump keeps his promises, the culture has not changed.
Obama did not intervene to protect traditional marriage, but the call for change did not originate in the Oval Office. The demand for change came from the prevailing culture in America. President Obama let the long-standing religious freedoms of Christians be trampled upon by not stepping in, but it was the populace of this country that triggered the attacks on those freedoms.
We are still where we were as a country on the morning of Nov. 8, 2016. The culture war is still raging, and evangelical Christians and their values are still losing. Maybe there will not be attacks against Christianity from the executive branch these next four years. Just maybe conservative justices will be appointed to the bench. There may even be a miracle: a Republican controlled legislative branch upholding religious liberties – but the attacks will keep coming. The attacks will even become stronger.
As conservatives, we have hope for the moment, and that hope causes us to dial back the intensity, but liberals have lost the hope that kept them at bay. Liberals, and those opposed to free and equal expression for evangelical Christians, once had hope the executive, legislative and judicial branches could grant their wishes for America's future. That is no longer the case. Trump's election may have caused liberals pause, but we can expect liberals to bring their next attacks on individual levels and through nonpolitical means. We should also expect liberals to come with even greater fierceness as they see their control of culture slipping.
As a church sign I recently saw read, "Keep praying, our nation is not healed." Evangelicals and conservatives alike cannot stop their diligence, because the election of Trump has not changed the trajectory of America. His election did not win the culture war. So, watchful conservative evangelicals, keep watching. Stay the course, for there are still bumps in the road ahead.