Recent Christian Pushback Against MAGA
- David Beckmann
- 25 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Many churches and church-supported organizations routinely take progressive positions on social issues and advocate with Congress on behalf of poor and vulnerable people. But during the second Trump administration, congressional Republicans have been submissive to the President, and faith-based advocacy has had limited impact.
The nation’s slide toward authoritarianism, the violence of mass deportation, and now the attack on Iran have stirred Christian leaders to be outspokenly critical of MAGA, especially its hard-heartedness toward vulnerable people.
At the beginning of Lent, some 400 Christian leaders released A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy. Its critique of MAGA is severe: “We are facing a cruel and oppressive government; citizens and immigrants being demonized, disappeared, and even killed; the erosion of hard-won rights and freedoms; and a calculated effort to reverse America’s growing racial and ethnic diversity—all of which are pushing us toward authoritarian and imperial rule.”
Some white Evangelicals were among the original signers, and 7,500 people across the country have now signed the document, committing themselves to action.
Pope Leo XIV has made a series of critical remarks about the second Trump administration since it began—about its treatment of migrants, attacks on Venezuelan vessels, the exclusion of Europe from negotiations for peace in Ukraine, and President Trump’s “Board of Peace.”
Catholic bishops in this country have recently begun to follow Pope Leo’s lead. In November, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops made a strong statement about immigration policy. Since then, a number of cardinals and bishops have presided at masses that focused on God’s care for immigrants. One of these masses was in an immigrant detention center.
In January, Archbishop Paul J. Coakley, president of the USCCB, invited each bishop and priest to organize a holy hour of prayer about “the current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded.” Also in January, three cardinals issued a critique of our nation’s militaristic foreign policy.
When the US and Israel attacked Iran, the World Council of Churches and the leadership of a handful of Protestant denominations in the US spoke out immediately against the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Pope Leo appealed to both sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” Weapons, he said, only sow “destruction, pain, and death.”
These recent statements from Christian teachers will meet with considerable opposition among the membership of their churches. More than half of white Christians, including many mainline Protestants and Catholics, voted for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and again in 2024. In general, Christians are less likely to be progressive on poverty issues than Jews, Muslims, or religiously unaffiliated people.
The Bible, especially the New Testament, teaches that God is more forgiving than judgmental. But studies from Baylor University have shown that about half of the Americans who believe in God think that God is more judgmental than forgiving, and that people who believe that God is judgmental tend to oppose policies that provide opportunity to people in need.
President Trump’s approval rating continues to drop. 65 percent of Americans say that “ICE has gone too far.” 78 percent of Americans now think there is a serious threat to democracy. Most Americans oppose the US strikes against Iran.
Many Christians stepping up activism along the lines that Christian leaders are now encouraging. And just maybe, the hard-heartedness of MAGA will nudge some Christians who have supported Donald Trump toward religious and political views that are more aligned with the message and example of Jesus.