After President Donald Trump received approximately 80% of the white, evangelical Christian vote, his administration is challenging the idea of separation of church and state in unprecedented ways, according to the Center for the Study of Evangelicalism.
The CSE is a research center at UCCS that seeks to achieve a fuller understanding of evangelicalism with no ideological bent, according to previous reporting by the Scribe. A research goal of the center is analyzing evangelical voting patterns.
Jeffrey Scholes, head of the philosophy department and the director for CSE, and Paul Harvey, the associate director of CSE and history professor, foresee a minimization of separation of church and state at the federal level.
According to Scholes, the executive branch’s current ability to pass unchecked policies appealing to conservative Christians reflects a major threat to the government’s checks-and-balances system.
“You have to couple some of the Christian nationalistic desires with, what some would say, Trump’s sort of authoritarian tendencies in general, and [evangelicalism] has provided him a lot of votes and the hope, I think, that a kind of authoritarian America that is utterly undemocratic is the way to institute a quasi-theocracy in the United States,” Scholes said.
A quasi-theocracy is type of governance that is inherently non-religious, but is exhibiting religious behaviors and ideologies, according to Crisis Magazine.
Scholes said that the overturning of Roe v. Wade by three Trump appointed judges is an example of these evangelical-appealing policies. The potential overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges, the decision that established national same-sex marriage rights, appeals to evangelical voters as well, according to Harvey.
Harvey said that the modern idea of the separation of church and state came about during World War II when a letter written by Thomas Jefferson was discovered. Before that, religion was more intertwined with government institutions.
In Harvey’s opinion, the current administration’s actions reflect a hope to return America to being a Protestant country.
According to Harvey, a sub theme for the “Make America Great Again” movement is nostalgia. Supporters want to recover the establishment in which white protestant males dictate the rules that everyone else gets to live.
According to a study conducted by the Public Religion Research Institution (PRRI) in 2024, “unaffiliated” is the “only major religious category experiencing growth.” Harvey said that he thinks Christians, including white evangelicalists, are having a moment of voting power that will pass.
Despite facing uncertain funding due to the severe budget cuts humanities are facing nationwide, the center is hosting NPR National Political Correspondent and author of “The Evangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church,” Sarah McCammon, on April 10 at 6 p.m.
Students can learn more about the event on the centers website.
Graphic courtesy of The Daily Citizen.