Several years ago, I would routinely describe myself as an Evangelical Christian. Evangelical Christians thought I was one of them, so we lived together in harmonious ignorance. But there was a problem.
The problem was that I was reading the Bible from cover to cover every year. I lost count, but I estimate that I’ve read the Bible somewhere around 35–40 times now. Over the course of time, the differences between what I understood from the Bible, and what Evangelical Christians were understanding from their preachers, became glaringly contradictory. Finally, I stopped calling myself an Evangelical Christian and started saying, “I follow Jesus.”
I wrote — a lot. It surprised me, at first, that the things I wrote resonated with people outside the churches, and caused consternation for those inside the churches.
But that wasn’t the turning point. The turning point happened after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016.
I was appalled that Evangelical Christians could support him. I was appalled that prominent religious leaders could publicly endorse him.
At first I thought, “After the inauguration, Christians will change their minds as they see how Donald Trump behaves.” I was incredibly naive. I had no idea what was to come. No matter how great his…