Burke E. Holland: How can evangelicals vote for Trump?

I am an evangelical, or I thought I was. Now I’m trying to figure out who the evangelicals are.

When I was a young fellow (I’m now 84), a movie opened named “Gone With The Wind.” During the movie, Clark Gable had a line that said, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” The evangelical community was so shocked by the use of the word in a movie it begged for public boycott.

Fast forward to 2016 and the election of a president for our country. One of the candidates has, on national TV, said “they can go (blank) themselves,” “they can kiss my (blank),” “I will bomb the (blank) out of them” and “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose any voters.

I recently saw a picture on the front page of The N&O of a red cap on a baby that said, “Babies for Trump.” How in the world can evangelicals and parents line up behind such a candidate?

If this is where evangelicals are today, I guess I’m not an evangelical after all. Am I this much out of touch with where the church is today as representatives of Jesus Christ?

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Burke E. Holland: How can evangelicals vote for Trump?."