There are certain descriptions that fit the majority of President Trump’s voters and supporters: older, wealthy, Caucasian, and Christian. Although I’ve come to terms with the first three stereotypes, I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that, according to The Washington Post, 80% of white Evangelical Christians and 52% of Catholics voted for Trump in the 2016 election. 

This makes me wonder: why do so many Christians support Trump?

I am Christian, and I’m proud of my faith. However, in all the years I’ve attended church and youth group, I have never heard anybody say that hating people of other ethnicities and religions follows the teachings of the Bible. In fact, I’ve heard quite the opposite.

The Bible teaches, “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’… There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31) and “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8).

Does “loving your neighbor” really mean discriminating against Jews and Muslims, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans? Does that verse warrant the need for a concrete wall running down the southern border of the United States? What about the Muslim travel ban? I don’t believe that many of Trump’s actions or policies can be justified in the ideas of Christianity.

Furthermore, the Trump administration’s new economic policy that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor and its attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act conflict with the idea that we are all responsible for assisting our neighbors.

As written in Deuteronomy 15:11, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’”

Yes, help your brothers and sisters and those in need by taking healthcare away from them: sounds like a plan. And what other way is there to help them out besides creating new tax reforms that are advantageous to primarily America’s upper class?

How about guns and weapons? Surely the Bible says nothing about that, right? Wrong. “‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword'” (Matthew 26:52). Yet, the administration continues to deny the need for gun control, even with terrible mass shootings that happen more often in this nation than any other developed country, according to Vox.

I’m not trying to condemn your religion or beliefs; however, if you consider yourself a Christian, then I urge you to question whether or not Trump’s values and policies truly concur with the teachings of the Bible. Many conservative Christians say that they voted for the Republican policies, like prohibiting abortion and same-sex marriage, rather than Trump as a person, and I respect that. I accept that single-issue voters exist and that people’s ideas and values differ from mine.

But, I disagree with people who claim to be Christian yet support Trump and his actions personally. In my interpretation, he does not stand for graciousness, selflessness, honesty, humility, love, or anything else described by the Bible’s teachings. If you approve of what Trump says, does, and tweets, then you shouldn’t use Christianity as a shield because the majority of his actions do not reflect that.