81%

81%

That’s how many Evangelical Christians voted for Trump. Both times.

“Not all Christians”, sure, but most of them. 8 out of 10.

I was a Progressive Christian for a long time after walking away from most of what the American church had to offer. But eventually I realized the parts I had to leave behind to maintain my authenticity and morality far outnumbered the parts I could carry with me. I had to admit it made more sense to drop the label and toxic associations all together.

There was grief that came with that. Discovering the church’s true colors felt like a betrayal from my culture and community of origin that I had poured so much of myself into.

And then came years of vulnerably sharing my story to be met with “you just had a bad experience”, “not all Christians”, “God didn’t hurt you, people did”, “Christians aren’t perfect”.

Most survivors are well acquainted with the experience of being invalidated and disbelieved, over and over and over again.

But as horrific as the recent election results are for religious trauma survivors, people with disabilities, minorities, the working class, immigrants, and truly the entire nation and world, it also served to validate survivors. It proves our stories correct. We weren’t overreacting or exaggerating. Statistics show that Trump won because of white evangelical votes. Plain and simple, if it weren’t for Christians, a man who ran his entire platform on hate and prejudice would not be president. American Christianity really is that terrible.

“But, but…” You can say all you want to about the minority of Christians and my response will be the same:

81%!

THIS is what most Christians stand for. THIS is what survivors lived through. THIS is why we left. THIS is what we’ve been talking about for years. The election results prove what American Christianity has become, or maybe what it was all along.

Trump says the quiet part out loud; and doesn’t know how to stop saying it. We have video evidence of Trump and his followers openly degrading people because they aren’t male, or they aren’t white, or they aren’t wealthy. These same values are what Christians heard and thought “Yep, that’s my leader!”

Statistics prove that 81% of American Christians support Trump’s hatred toward people of color, his sexual abuse of women and his disregard for their health, his greed and oppression of low-income families, his prejudice against the sick and disabled and his, his sexualization of children, his active harm toward immigrants…

Right now the nation is getting a public snapshot of the inside of the church walls, a sneak peak at what’s behind closed doors. But survivors have been lifting the curtain for decades, telling the horrors of sexual abuse, oppressive gender roles, financial misconduct, corporal punishment, shame, high control, fear-mongering, the list goes on.

Until recent years, it has been easy for Christians to hide their character under the mask of “patriotism” and “family values”, but now it’s all out there, thanks to Trump and his campaign.

Thanks to the election, we have cold hard proof that 81% of Christians support someone whose followers have been recorded saying women shouldn’t be able to vote. 81% of Christians welcome the leadership of someone who publicly sexualizes children. 81% of Christians celebrate a convicted criminal rising to power as long as he maintains and protects their agendas. 81% of Christians stand with a man who promises to tear apart families because of where they were born, and declares a need for military and police violence on anyone who believes differently. In today’s media-centric digital world, ignorance is not a valid excuse.

This election has proven that Christians care more about enforcing prayer rituals in school than they do about feeding hungry school children. They care more about the hemline of a woman’s skirt than they do about those shivering without a winter coat. They care more about stockpiling deadly weapons than they do about preventing the murder of children. And above all, they want to be the ones to decide who is worthy – to live in a decent neighborhood or make a living wage or receive quality healthcare or live in their country. Somehow Christians themselves always make the cut, but I guess that’s easy when designing your own morals.

Christians preach not to worry because God is in control and he has a plan – “give it all to God” they say and in the next breath spread fear and cling to control; “We must stop this attack on traditional values!” they cry. “Get ready for battle! We must win this war against our way of life!” The Christian agenda has always been different than their declared beliefs. It’s about control first, and punishment second, for anyone they can’t control.

Christians say this world isn’t their home, they are just passing through, and yet they are desperate to customize the entire world to their exact specifications.

Christians say salvation must come from freewill and a genuine confession of faith and yet they try to force everyone to live religiously by legislating Christian law.

Christians say it is God’s place to judge, and yet their entire platform is based on identifying and beating the “bad guys” and punishing anyone who dares disagree.

Christians say they must defend their faith even to the point of death, and yet they sign their lives away to a candidate identical to the antichrist.

Christian theology teaches that the world will inevitably become less and less Christian as time goes on, and yet they still fight tooth and nail against losing their place as the majority. What about God having a plan?

Appealing to Christians’ empathy for human suffering is a lost cause. They applaud suffering as long as it affects those who are different, because they believe we deserve eternal damnation and we have it coming to us. Why should they care about our quality of life when they believe we are about to be thrown into a well-deserved lake of fire? Why should they work hard or make sacrifices so nonbelievers can be temporarily happy before their impending doom? “It’s all gonna burn anyway, so who cares?”

If any Christians reading this feel defensive or misrepresented, remember – 81% of you voted for Trump. We have statistics to prove what your religion stands for. You can’t argue numbers. If you don’t like being represented by the majority of the community you pledge allegiance to, maybe it’s time to leave.