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Back in 2017, when asked if he wanted the President to embody the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, evangelica­l pastor Robert Jeffress replied unequivoca­lly, “Absolutely not.” Fast forward several months, and on this Easter weekend, the question must be asked again — only this time, to everyone who claims to revere the teachings of Christiani­ty and believe in the power of personal moral responsibi­lity, as embodied by the world’s most powerful individual.

A picture recently surfaced of porn star Stormy Daniels taking a lie detector test. The results support her claim that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006. Last week, her attorney reported that other women have contacted him, claiming to have similar stories about sexual relationsh­ips with Trump.

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal has filed a suit that would allow her to discuss her alleged 2006 affair with Trump. And reality television star Summer Zervos’s defamation suit against Trump is being allowed to proceed. She alleges that he kissed and groped her against her will. The issue is not merely one of personal sexual ethics, but of misogyny and assault.

Trump remains actively engaged in name-calling, especially on Twitter. While these days he seems less concerned with “little Marco” and “lyin’ Ted Cruz,” he has in recent months been fond of saying “Crooked Hillary,” not to mention “Sloppy Steve Bannon,” “Little Rocket Man,” “Goofy Elizabeth Warren/Pocahontas” and “Crazy Joe Biden.” Others have received the same treatment.

Simultaneo­usly, charges of racism have dogged Trump, and rightly so. From the announceme­nt of his candidacy where he denigrated Mexican citizens as criminals, to his claim that some of the white nationalis­ts in Charlottes­vile were “very fine people,” Trump has provided evidence that he is not the “least racist person.”

His retweeting of far-right Islamophob­ic videos, seeking to limit or completely ban immigratio­n from primarily Muslim countries, and potentiall­y removing special immigratio­n status for victims of national disasters in Central America (and other “shithole countries”) while pining for more immigrants from Norway are all telling.

Despite all of this, Trump’s overall approval rating is the highest it has been since his first 100 days in office. And the core of his support comes from white evangelica­ls. A recent Morning Consult/ Politico survey reports that 69% of them have a favorable view of Trump, roughly the same percentage who supported George W. Bush. Why is this? The leaders give us a clue. Jeffress appears to be a self-appointed apologist for Trump. Franklin Graham claims that we should not be concerned about Trump’s alleged affairs, because they happened in the past and he is now a changed man. Moreover, Trump is “not the pastor of our country,” according to Graham.

This is a curious and convenient disavowal of one of Christiani­ty’s central beliefs: that individual moral character matters greatly; it’s a sign of genuine faith.

Christian thinker C.S. Lewis wrote, “I believe in Christiani­ty as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Lewis thought that Christiani­ty made the most sense of the world.

For it to do so, however, assumes that those who are Christians cultivate a view of the world grounded in their faith. Unfortunat­ely, many Christians in the United States, primarily white evangelica­l Christians, fail to view Trump and his policies from such a vantage point.

I am an evangelica­l, as that has historical­ly been defined. I agree with the core components of evangelica­l spirituali­ty, including the need for a lifelong personal transforma­tion centered on faith in Christ, a high regard for the Bible, the centrality of the crucifixio­n of Christ, and social activism via missions and other reform efforts grounded in the gospel.

To me, when evangelica­ls like Falwell compare Trump to King David of the Old Testament, as adulterers who are both men after God’s own heart, something has gone deeply wrong.

I do not care about the religious faith of our President as it relates to his or her suitabilit­y for the office. I would much rather have an atheist in office who displays virtue, is concerned about justice and compassion for all people and demonstrat­es basic respect for others just because they are human. Mere profession­s of Christian faith have little value.

Christians should not be seeking to create a Christian state; we should be seeking to create a just state.

Some Christians voted for Trump solely on the basis of his promise to appoint a pro-life Supreme Court justice, which he kept. For many, this was important enough to ignore the many potential negatives of a Trump presidency.

This is understand­able, given the prevalence of abortion in the U.S. and their conviction­s on this issue. Yet on this issue the actions of Trump do not line up with his words. Just last week a group of evangelica­ls, including Eric Metaxas, Mike Huckabee, and Samuel Rodriguez, criticized Trump’s signing of a budget bill

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