Two brutal statistics should give Australian Christians who consider Pauline Hanson’s One Nation a viable option for their vote.
As reported by Ryan Burge for the Religion News Service, and David French in the New York Times aBilly Graham Centre survey of young adults- Gen Z between 18 to 28, found that almost half said that Christians’ support for Trump made them less likely to want to attend church, at least to some extent.
The survey of 2,365 Gen Z adults, which occurred in late 2024, was carried out by NORC AmeriSpeak, based at the University of Chicago.
Asked whether they agreed with the statement: “Christians’ support of Trump has made me less likely to go to church.”
• 19% strongly agreed
• 14% agreed
• 15% slightly agreed
• 15% slightly disagreed
• 16% disagreed
• 21% strongly disagreed
By party affiliation, 67% of Democrats, 42% of independents and 25% of Republicans strongly agreed, agreed, or slightly agreed.
French makes the other pertinent stat hit home. “A single statistic tells the tale: In 2024, Trump received 82 percent of the white evangelical/born-again vote. He lost the rest of the vote by a whopping 18-point margin, 58 percent to 40 percent.”
No white evangelical vote. No Trump.
If a political party is identified as THE Christian party (and for the moment, seeing white evangelicals as THE Christian base, ignoring the way Catholic, and Black / Brown Christians vote), then its stated policies will come to be identified with Christians.
To take a local example, if One Nation becomes seen as the party evangelical Christians vote for, then people will be turned off from the church in this nation too.
French writes: “This is a finding that should trigger soul-searching among American evangelicals. If Jesus instructed his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations,” then it’s worth pondering whether the decision to so loyally support a man like Trump is worth actively repelling millions upon millions of Americans from church.
The same applies in the Great South Land.
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