A New Political Group Claims to Represent “Evangelicals.” On Closer Inspection, It’s Not Clear They’re Even Christians.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”? Well, a community of “Christian” political activists known as “Evangelicals for Harris” decided to open their mouths and remove all doubt in the very act of naming their organization.
On the Evangelicals for Harris website, their identity statement reads,
“No political party or leader can ever hold our full devotion. That belongs to Jesus alone. As we approach this election, our hearts are drawn to a path that reflects His teachings. We’re choosing the peace that comes from joy, the strength found in loving our neighbors, and the grace in showing compassion. This isn’t just a vote; it’s a reflection of our faith. In this election, the choice is clear: Kamala Harris.”
One doesn’t need to read much beyond that to learn that Evangelicals for Harris belong to a Jesus of their own invention—a “progressive” Jesus who apparently applauds and endorses a pro-baby-butchering communist for President of the United States. I wouldn’t believe it if I couldn’t see it with my own eyes. But I can. And every other Christian can, too.
As many have pointed out over the last few decades, the meaning of “evangelical” has become increasingly difficult to nail down. Some argue it has lost almost all of its meaning the more it becomes branded and re-translated for extrabiblical purposes and pagan power grabs.
However, for the sake of this article, let’s say the word still means something that can and should be associated with orthodox and biblically faithful Christianity. Historically, evangelicals are genuine believers who agree with the Christian gospel, affirm salvation by faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ our Lord, and a cheerful submit to obeying all that Christ has commanded through His Word.
Thus, through the co-opting of the term by Evangelicals for Harris, we bear witness to this label’s continued perversion in the service of Leftism. Those who want to use this term to mean anything and everything other than Christianity as defined by the Bible and our historic creeds and confessions continue to gain momentum in a deconstructionist age full of former “undisciplined” aisle walkers.
As a Southern Baptist pastor and theologian, I believe that the Evangelicals for Harris (EFH) movement is tragically mistaken both theologically and morally. Therefore, it’s crucial for Christians preparing to vote in the upcoming election to be aware of their faulty foundations and ultimately reject this group as unchristian.
From a theological perspective, their definition of what an evangelical is and what an evangelical should desire regarding righteousness and justice in the civil arena is entirely untethered from Scripture and sound Christian doctrine. From a moral perspective, they relentlessly downplay the severity of the Democratic Party’s sinful support for abortion and the radical LGBT agenda, as well as the threat that Kamala’s leftist and totalitarian views pose to our First Amendment religious liberty in the U.S., to name a few.
Regardless of the candidate, when one rationally compares the policy platforms of both major parties, it is inconceivable to consider that the two parties are morally equivalent, let alone walk away emphatically claiming that “The Democratic Agenda emphasizes the teachings of Jesus and His Word.”
For the remainder of this article, let’s consider how these three claims from EFH’s identity statement are anything but “evangelical”: 1) Choosing peace that comes from joy, 2) The strength found in loving our neighbors, and 3) The grace in showing compassion.
Evangelicals For Harris Confuse the Vibes of “Choosing Peace that Comes from Joy” with a Real Policy Agenda
From a Christian perspective, peace doesn’t come from “joy.” Peace comes from Christ alone. The “joy of the Lord” is a byproduct of the peace that resides in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 states: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
But EFH’s emphasis on “peace from joy” ultimately comes from little more than Kamala’s incoherent cackling. Inappropriate laughter is no substitute for tangible answers on economic policies and foreign diplomacy, which can actually bring political peace. Kamala’s “unrelenting optimism” is marked more by empty platitudes than an actual plan to arrive at her promised utopia.
Over the years, many evangelicals have been duped by what the American Gospel documentary series highlighted as “moralistic therapeutic deism” (a term first coined by J. Gresham Machen). Moralistic therapeutic deism wrongly substitutes personal moral behavior and belief in a non-interfering God for the true gospel. Examples include “the belief of being a ‘good person’ over religious participation and using religion for personal happiness and fulfillment.”
EFH grasps at silly straws attempting to paint Kamala Harris, previously the most disliked Vice President in modern times, as a beacon of peace and joy simply because she avoids “negative” language (unless directed at her opposition, then all bets are off).
Progressive leftism puts man at the center of its philosophies. But placing man at the “center” leads to chaos; where there is chaos, there can be no peace until the truth of Christ and His Word intervenes.
In short, EFH is asking Christians to vote based on the “vibes” of “joy” in a vain hope that such ephemeral feelings can somehow bring about true Christian or political “peace.”
Evangelicals for Harris Confuse Abortion with “Loving Our Neighbors”
In Mark 12, Jesus commands His followers to obey God’s law. He summarizes the Ten Commandments into the two-fold “greatest” commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This summary includes all of the Ten Commandments. What’s the Sixth Commandment? EFH apparently forgot that one: “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13).
Every abortion committed results in the taking of an innocent human life. Abortion—at any stage—is murder. How does providing unfettered access to abortion constitute love? The unborn are our neighbors, too.
Abortion is the opposite of loving your neighbor. Abortion is evidence that we aren’t loving our neighbors but rather dismembering them as if their lives do not matter. Instead of showing love, both to the mother and the baby, the option of abortion in our nation tempts our neighbors to choose violence by severing the mother-child relationship, one of the most fundamental human relationships on earth (something that Kamala, who has no biological children of her own, clearly does not understand).
Jesus also said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is love, being willing to sacrifice yourself for others, not sacrifice your child for your career aspirations. The loving thing to do would be to lay our own lives down in support of women as mothers, not point them in the direction of killing their children.
When it comes to Kamala’s position on abortion, she is indeed a “true believer.” She’s possibly the most radical pro-abortion candidate we’ve ever had run for president. Harris has said she would protect abortion “rights” by working with Congress to sign a law codifying the federal protections that existed under Roe v. Wade.
She’s even promised to support eliminating the Senate’s filibuster to achieve this bloody outcome. Under the standard set by Roe, states could restrict abortion only after “fetal viability,” an immoral standard that abortionists argue begins between 23 and 25 weeks. Harris is also likely to continue efforts made under President Joe Biden’s administration to challenge individual state abortion bans and to defend the legal availability of mifepristone, a medication used in most abortions.
Unlike Kamala and EFH, Jesus loved the little children. Behind their false claims of “love for neighbor,” what EFH supports is Kamala’s policies to make and keep it “legal” to kill tens of thousands of unborn babies during any stage of any pregnancy, up until the ninth month and even birth.
God have mercy.
Evangelicals for Harris Confuse Communism with Being “Marked by Compassion”
Kamala’s policies read like they were copied from the Communist Party and updated for modern America. And where there is communism, the result is never compassion.
As Ben Solis explained:
“Along with price controls – a central tenet of communist ideology – Harris has also proposed giving $25,000 to first-time homebuyers and allocating a total of 1.7 trillion in government handouts despite the country’s ballooning $35 trillion national debt.
Add to this Harris’s prior threat to ‘snatch’ patents from drug companies to lower prices and her support for banning private health insurance and forcing all Americans onto government healthcare, an image emerges of a political leader whose economic policy seems more in line with China, Cuba, and Venezuela than anything resembling the United States.”
Once again, we see that bad theology leads to bad definitions, this time on what counts as “compassion.” And bad definitions lead to bad decisions, like trying to argue for “evangelical” support for a communist platform. This is essentially what EFH has unveiled: A profound misunderstanding of Christian compassion.
In Acts 2 (the most misused “proof text” by Christians trying to make a case for communism or socialism), we find that the believers in the early church were giving to each other out of their goodwill to those in need. Here’s the catch: They freely gave without “government-imposed regulation” of how much they were to give or to whom.
Christians are commanded to give from a place of love and not obligation under the possibility of penalties. Excessive taxation does not lead to living for Christ and glorifying God. In a communist society, people are without a choice in the matter as the system forces them to give to whomever the government decides should be the recipients.
With communism, the glad, generous giver and the unrepentant cheapskate must give precisely the same amount. And according to Karl Marx, the amount is everything.
The law of God does not exist because we have a chance at keeping it perfectly, but rather, it gives us our moral standard in life. Our obedience to His laws serves as a measure of our love for Him. Genuine Christian compassion does not entail ignoring laws in place to protect U.S. citizens (border control) or taxing the working middle class into oblivion in the name of “feeding the poor.” A massive welfare state is neither a practical nor a moral solution for poverty in America; its one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. The effects of the interventionist welfare state have been disastrous to taxpayers, communities, and the poor.
These misguided calls for increased state-sponsored “compassion” from EFH ignore the fact that it is still the true church in America (the one their preferred candidate threatens to censor and persecute) that is not only standing up for preborn life but consistently standing up for life at all ages and seasons outside any governmental coercion. In 2021, Americans gave $471 billion to charities and churches. This is more than many countries bring in as tax revenue each year!
Do not believe these lies about “compassion.” We can both encourage people to work hard and live within their means while helping those less fortunate out of our abundance.
Conclusion: Evangelicals for Harris Are Certainly “For Harris,” But They Are Not Evangelicals
For many decades, Christians in America have found themselves more at home with the Republican Party. This is not because it is the official party sanctioned by the global church but because the Republican platform is far more aligned with a biblical worldview. Evangelicals should not downplay Trump’s character issues, of which there are many (and to be fair, he has many virtues, including courage and evident love for the American people), but this article is not about how Trump “embodies the essence of Jesus.”
No, this is about EFH blatantly disobeying Isaiah 5:20-23: “Woe to those who call evil good & good evil, who put darkness for light & light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!…who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”
Rather than legitimately wrestling with our presidential choices, EFH jettisons the authority of the infallible Word of God as the standard for our Christian political decision-making. Christians can certainly agree that no perfect candidate is running in this year’s election. We must choose between two people who profess to be Christ-followers, but both live in such a way it creates a significant pause in our ability to affirm that proclamation. This is nothing new.
However, when Donald Trump softened his stance against abortion, how did the majority of conservative evangelicals respond? They made it clear that they disagreed. But when confronted with Kamala’s radical support for abortion, Evangelicals for Harris fall into a deafening silence.
Yes, it was demoralizing for many willing to vote for him, despite our misgivings, because we believe that the majority of his platform advances conservative and sound policies that Christians should desire to see enacted in America. With that said, what we have come to learn recently is that Trump can and does listen to the pro-life movement. He needs the pro-life movement, whereas Harris needs the pro-abortion movement.
It only took 24 hours for Trump to clarify that he does intend to vote “no” on Florida’s Amendment 4 (an amendment that aims to codify a state-level “constitutional right” to limitless abortions and, if passed, will lead to increased infanticide on the altar of Molech).
Yes, recently, both parties have made me long for the quickness of Jesus’ return. Yes, I hope and pray for a political party in America to rise up and embrace an agenda that is far more in line with Christ’s commands.
But whatever happens, as a Christian pastor, I am confident of this: Evangelicals for Harris is a dangerous oxymoron. They shame the name of Christ and evangelicals everywhere by weaponizing the faith once for all delivered to the saints in service of grabbing power to enact their anti-Christian, anti-human, progressive agenda.
As Dr. Andrew Walker, professor of Christian ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, put it, “You must view political progressivism as a force for spiritual darkness that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. It is a cancer in every way on all that is true, good, and beautiful. Whether targeting the unborn or targeting private Christian schools minding their own business, you must hate progressivism with a righteous fury. Please understand this.”
And understand this: Evangelicals for Harris are nothing if not “progressive.”
Their claim of “peace through joy” is an empty platitude, an effort to win your vote based on vibes, not policy. Their claim that supporting Harris is out of “love for neighbor” conveniently overlooks that true Christian love must be rooted in God’s law, including the clear command “thou shall not murder.” Since abortion is always murder, it’s hard to think of a more anti-love-for-neighbor platform than what Evangelicals for Harris endorse in Kamala. Finally, their claim of “compassion” for all is little more than repackaged communism, which is antithetical to a genuine Christian understanding of benevolence and freely-given—not governmentally-coerced—charity and assistance.
In short, Evangelicals for Harris is anything but “evangelical.” They have taken our cherished gospel term, hollowed it out, and now wear it as a skinsuit in a ruse to tempt Christians into voting for wickedness.
No doubt they “represent their faith.” It’s just not Christianity.
Evangelicals should avoid this new group at all costs—before it unavoidably costs us all.
