Leaving Sundays: The plight of the White Working Classm, the disappearance of the Evangelical Church, and Donald Trump

I came across an interesting opinion piece  in the New York Times that talked about White Evangelicals, leaving church, and the support of Donald Trump. The author JD Vance talks about how faith is supposed to provide hope and yet during these times when White Working Class people are facing more issues such as: drug addiction, poverty, etc. they are leaving the pews. Why is this? Why aren't they clinging to their religion? Why do evangelicals who don't go to church supporting someone like Donald Trump?

I thought this fit right in with my research for Leaving Sundays.

Vance made this observation about where the White Evangelical church is when their community is going down the drain.

Despite these benefits, church attendance has fallen substantially among the members of the white working class in recent years, just when they need it most. Though working-class whites earn, on average, more than working-class people of other ethnicities, we are in a steep social decline. Incarceration rates for white women are on the rise, white youths are more likely than their peers from other groups to die from drug overdoses and rates of divorce and domestic chaos have skyrocketed. Taken together, these statistics reveal a social crisis of historic proportions. Yet the white church — especially the evangelical church that claims the most members — has seemingly disappeared.

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know that I’ve been exploring why people are leaving church. The research I’ve done hasn’t been specific to any ethnic group. The research I've read has been done by White people but they have not mentioned any specific ethnic groups in their books. I assumed they were talking about White evangelicals because in religious research they do mention race.

As a matter of fact, on Twitter someone asked one of the authors of Church Refugees if they planned to explore the exodus from the Black church and he said they didn’t plan to do that but they may look into it since religion is a  big part of Black people’s story and they wanted to see if Black people felt more comfortable about leaving.

I’m reading a book about that next because as a Black woman I’m curious if my people are also leaving in droves.  I suspect they are.  One of the next books on my list is about about Black women and their exodus from the church

Like our White counterparts, I think people have grown to see church as meaningless and irrelevant to the real life issues that were listed above.  Take the last line in Vance's paragraph for an example.

Yet the white church — especially the evangelical church that claims the most members — has seemingly disappeared.

Where are they?

Where are the churches when it comes to real life issues that are affecting people?  Sure they are loud about bathroom laws, marriage equality, etc.  But what about actual problems that are facing the community?  There’s only so much:  “It’s time for your breakthrough, name it and claim it, yoke it and choke it, blab it and grab it” rhetoric you can say before people start to realize this has nothing to do with real life.

All of my research so far has pointed to the most faithful leaving church.  It’s not the backsliders or people who have no faith.  The people who have stopped showing up to church are the people who are the doers, the heart and soul of the church, and the people who want to make an impact for their faith.

This could answer the question of WHY the White evangelical church has disappeared during these times of chaos.  The people most likely to make a difference are no longer IN the building.

Leaving Church doesn’t mean abandoning Faith

With all of the research I have done and in my own experience, just because one leaves church doesn’t mean that they have left the fact.  In my research people have said that they needed to leave church in order to save their faith.  They wouldn’t have any more faith if they stayed in church. Vance's opinion piece also touches upon this point.

Although many working-class whites have lost any ties to church, they haven’t necessarily abandoned their faith. More than one in three identify as evangelical, and well over 75 percent claim some Christian affiliation. But that faith has become deinstitutionalized. They may watch megachurch broadcasts or join prayer circles on Facebook, but they largely avoid the pews on Sunday. Consequently, many absorb the vernacular and teachings of modern Christianity, but miss out on the advantages of church itself.

Are you really missing out?  Many people want a deeper faith than coming to a building to sing songs, listen to a sermon, and eat refreshments.  They want more than shallow gatherings where you’re expected to say the right things and be with the right group.  They want a faith that is RELEVANT and can deal with REAL LIFE. They want a COMMUNITY that is attacking real life problems and providing people with SOLUTIONS.

Enter Donald Trump

I have said from the beginning that Donald Trump reminds me of the sleazy preachers I’ve seen throughout my religious journey. Somewhat charismatic and projecting success, Full of bombastic language, able to read the room and soothe their itching ears, and promising simple answers for complex problems.  (He even has the questionable hair of most smarmy evangelists!)

Here’s the thing though:  These types of people never provide any REAL solutions or SUBSTANCE.  They are just master manipulators in telling people what they want to hear. When people are desperate and have lost hope, a guy like Trump or Pastor Scam Artist can come in and give people some semblance of a solution when nobody else has anything except let's sing some more sappy songs and have another fellowship.

“It’s hardly surprising that into that vacuum has stepped Donald J. Trump. For many, he is the only thing left that offers camaraderie, community and a sense of purpose. Predictably, Mr. Trump fared best among evangelicals who rarely attended church. In Missouri, for instance, Ted Cruz beat Mr. Trump 56 percent to 30 percent among frequent churchgoers; among those attending church only “a few” times per year, Mr. Trump won handily.”

Donald Trump is providing angry, hopeless, and desperate people with answers.  These are answers that they have not heard from the pulpit or from their church.  Even if the answers aren’t true or feasible, he’s providing them with some sort of answers.

“Mr. Trump, like too much of the church, offers little more than an excuse to project complex problems onto simple villains. Yet the white working class needs neither more finger-pointing nor more fiery sermons. What it needs is the same thing I needed many years ago: a reassurance that God does indeed love us, and a church that demonstrates that love to a broken community.”

Isn’t this shameful?  The revolutionary spirit of Jesus Christ is all but lost.  Here was a leader who came and shook everybody up from the religion of old.  Here he was helping people get answers to their most hidden problems and yet the religion that bears his name looks to lies, deceit, and worst of all APATHY to the problems of their day.

I don't believe these people have Bad Faith at all but a Bad religion which has done a disservice to them. I hope that this marks a turning point for the evangelical movement and perhaps exposes them!

Link to the Full Article