{"id":28730,"date":"2025-08-28T11:34:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=28730"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:42:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:42:59","slug":"good-christians-can-disagree-on-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/08\/good-christians-can-disagree-on-donald-trump","title":{"rendered":"Good Christians Can Disagree on Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Left: @johnpavlovitzofficial5565 \/ YouTube | Right: The White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Pavlovitz\u2019s recent essay,\u00a0\u201c<\/em>No, Good People Don\u2019t Still Support Him<\/em><\/a>,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0paints a stark moral picture: any Christian who still supports Donald Trump does so out of hatred, bigotry, misogyny and supremacy. It is a sweeping charge that leaves no room for good-faith disagreement among believers.<\/p>\n

I understand the passions behind Pavlovitz\u2019s words. Christians should oppose racism, cruelty and injustice wherever they exist. But when moral accusations are stretched to cover every policy disagreement, Christian unity suffers and honest conversation dies.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, Pavlovitz\u2019s criticism that Trump\u2019s Justice Department failed to release sealed records concerning Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe Trump should never have promised such a release in the first place. But the DOJ\u2019s decision to keep those files sealed reflects long-standing Department policy and American legal norms<\/a>, protecting the privacy of those not charged with crimes\u2014not some partisan cover-up. Christians committed to truth should be wary of framing such legal realities as moral failures.<\/p>\n

Pavlovitz also condemns changes to welfare eligibility, suggesting such policies betray Christian concern for the poor. But the affected group consisted largely of able-bodied adults without young children<\/a>. Scripture values the dignity of work\u2014 \u201cIf anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat\u201d (2 Thess. 3:10) \u2014while also commanding care for the truly vulnerable. Christians may differ over where to draw policy lines, but it is not \u201cunchristian\u201d to expect work from those capable of it.<\/p>\n

The same principle applies to Pavlovitz\u2019s objection to reducing government jobs<\/a>. There is far too much bureaucracy at every level of government. Reforming or eliminating unnecessary positions is not an attack on human dignity; it is stewardship. The biblical call to wise management of resources includes government budgets. Here again, Christians can disagree on policy without condemning each other\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n

For my part, I oppose a number of Trump\u2019s policies\u2014tariffs, industrial policy and his failure to support Ukraine. But I have supported him in other areas: protecting religious liberty, resisting irreversible medical procedures on minors with gender dysphoria, granting parents greater authority over their children\u2019s education and eliminating government waste. None of these positions arise from hatred or prejudice. They flow from convictions about human dignity, family and the role of the state\u2014convictions I believe are consistent with a Christian worldview.<\/p>\n

Pavlovitz claims that the \u201conly reason\u201d to support Trump is that he \u201creflects your hateful heart\u201d and \u201churts the people you want to hurt.\u201d This is a profound misunderstanding of many Christians\u2019 motives. Support for a political leader is rarely total or uncritical. In a fallen world, Christians often must weigh flawed options and imperfect candidates, choosing where policy alignment outweighs personal shortcomings\u2014and where it does not.<\/p>\n

To insist that any support for Trump is incompatible with being a \u201cgood person\u201d is to collapse complex moral and political judgments into a single litmus test. Such absolutism runs counter to the spirit of Romans 14, which calls believers to avoid passing judgment on disputable matters and to \u201cpursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christians should be the first to call out wrong, even in leaders and policies we might otherwise support. But to condemn fellow believers over political alignment on certain issues is to mistake the kingdom of God for the kingdoms of this world.<\/p>\n

Pavlovitz and I share a commitment to justice, compassion and truth. But we differ on how best to secure these goods in public life. That difference does not make either of us less Christian. As our nation barrels toward another polarizing election, Christians must resist the pull of partisan absolutism. We can stand firm in our convictions without branding all who disagree as moral enemies. In an age of division, the church\u2019s witness depends on it.<\/p>\n

Greg Schaller<\/em><\/strong> serves as the director of the Centennial Institute, the conservative think tank of <\/em>Colorado Christian University<\/em><\/a>. He has taught politics at CCU, Villanova University and St. Joseph\u2019s University. He holds a B.A. in political science and history from Eastern University and an M.A. in political science from Villanova University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Pavlovitz\u2019s recent essay,\u00a0\u201cNo, Good People Don\u2019t Still Support Him,\u201d\u00a0paints a stark moral picture: any Christian who still supports Donald Trump does so out of hatred, bigotry, misogyny and supremacy. It is a sweeping charge that leaves no room for good-faith disagreement among believers. I understand the passions behind Pavlovitz\u2019s words. Christians should oppose racism,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":28745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGood Christians Can Disagree on Donald Trump<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Debate over Trump shouldn\u2019t divide the church\u2014Christians can disagree on politics while staying united in faith and compassion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/08\/good-christians-can-disagree-on-donald-trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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