Progressive evangelical pastor Doug Pagitt is touring the nation contrasting Trump campaign slogans against quotes from the Bible.
“You have heard it said, ‘America First,’ but we are here to be reminded to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God,’ on behalf of all those everywhere in the world,” Pagitt said at one stop, quoting Jesus from the Bible book of Matthew, NPR reports.
{mosads}Pagitt’s organization, Vote Common Good, is urging Christians to vote Democratic in the upcoming midterms.
“You’ve heard it said that to be a true Christian, you must vote like a Republican,” Pagitt told a Texas group, according to NPR. “But we are here to be reminded that just ain’t so.”
Vote Common Good is informally advised by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who is the current vice chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Lieu told NPR that he hopes the group will “help Americans understand that if they want to vote their conscience, there is a place in the Democratic Party for them.”
One evangelical Christian told NPR she has been drifting away from the GOP after voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016, despite considering herself “pro-life.”
However, she said many of her friends supported Trump after initially opposing him when it became clear he was the Republican nominee.
“Literally all of a sudden, Donald Trump — we couldn’t see anything wrong with Donald Trump. It was: Now we’re blind to everything. But it was all on the abortion issue,” she said.
Pew reported that slightly more Christians supported Trump in 2016 than GOP nominees Mitt Romney in 2012 or John McCain in 2008. This was particularly true for evangelicals, 81 percent of whom backed Trump.
A former evangelical who converted to Catholicism named Kristan Hawkins told NPR she believes Pagitt’s arguments will do little to sway Christian voters, particularly because of the issue of abortion.
“At the end of the day, [Christinas] know there is a human rights atrocity happening inside of our country — and that atrocity is abortion,” said Hawkins, who runs the anti-abortion-rights group Students for Life.