god should sue some of her supposed champions for defamation. some conservative evangelicals malign god by suggesting that christians should scorn adoring same-sex couples yet vote for a sexual predator. they seem to slip seamlessly from <u+201c>love thy neighbor<u+201d> to acquiescing in the gospel of donald: thou shalt <u+201c>grab them<u+201d> by the genitals. yet there<u+2019>s far more to the story, and liberals haven<u+2019>t given enough credit to the many conservative christians who have made the wrenching decision to condemn donald trump as the antithesis of the values they honor. <u+201c>how could <u+2018>family values voters<u+2019> support a man who had, among other things, stated openly that no man<u+2019>s wife was safe with him in the room?<u+201d> asked r. albert mohler jr., president of the southern baptist theological seminary, in an essay for the washington post. marvin olasky, the editor in chief of world, a conservative christian magazine, called trump <u+201c>unfit for power<u+201d> in an editorial. wayne grudem, an influential evangelical theologian, this month urged trump to step aside. a recent poll by lifeway research, which specializes in surveys of christians, found that white americans with evangelical beliefs overwhelmingly support trump over clinton, 65 percent to 10 percent. yet even these figures indicate some abandonment of trump: white evangelicals supported previous republican nominees by even more lopsided figures. the voting isn<u+2019>t just about theology, for nonwhite evangelicals (and there are many, plus some liberal white evangelicals ) favor clinton over trump by almost the same margin. much of the public focus has been on prominent evangelicals, including jerry falwell jr., ralph reed and james dobson , who are backing trump. yet it<u+2019>s striking how many others denounce him as utterly unacceptable. <u+201c>enthusiasm for a candidate like trump gives our neighbors ample reason to doubt that we believe jesus is lord,<u+201d> andy crouch, the executive editor of christianity today, wrote in an essay. the main reason many evangelicals still support trump, holding their noses, is abortion. but deborah fikes, a prominent texas evangelical, is among those wondering if christians should broaden their agenda. <u+201c>evangelicals are not living out the good news of the gospel as jesus modeled and commanded when we prioritize criminalizing abortion as our single most important issue politically while neglecting issues of poverty or refugees,<u+201d> she told me. more than 20,000 evangelicals have signed a petition on change.org calling this election <u+201c>a significant teachable moment for our churches,<u+201d> adding, <u+201c>trump<u+2019>s racial and religious bigotry and treatment of women is morally unacceptable to us as evangelical christians.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s easy for secular americans to dismiss all of this as too little too late <u+2014> but that would be exactly the wrong approach. yes, it has been infuriating to see blowhards who proclaimed themselves <u+201c>pro-life<u+201d> when their compassion for human beings seemed to end at birth. the grossest immorality of the 1980s did not unfold in gay bathhouses but among those who portrayed aids as god<u+2019>s punishment for gays <u+2014> <u+201c>human garbage,<u+201d> in the words of anita bryant <u+2014> in ways that slowed the health response and led vast numbers to die unnecessarily. yet too many secular liberals have moved from denouncing religious intolerance to embracing an irreligious intolerance of their own. too often, liberals mock conservative christians in ways that would outrage them if jews, muslims or others were the target. it is too often acceptable on liberal campuses to create a climate hostile and contemptuous of evangelicals <u+2014> and that, too, is bigotry. it also misunderstands faith. in my reporting around the world, i<u+2019>ve been awed by evangelical and catholic missionary doctors risking their lives to ease suffering. and remember that it was evangelical pressure that led president george w. bush to adopt a massive program to fight aids around the world, saving millions of lives and turning the tide of the disease. many young evangelicals seem tired of the culture wars, wearied by politics, and less interested in hounding gay couples than in helping the homeless, the addicted, the incarcerated. evangelicals have done sterling work fighting prison rape and combating sex trafficking, and if secular bleeding hearts and religious bleeding hearts can just work together, so much more will be accomplished to improve the human condition. i hope that the crisis among evangelicals this election year creates an opportunity to build bridges across america<u+2019>s <u+201c>god gulf.<u+201d> as many prominent evangelicals renounce trump, the secular response should be to applaud that courage in hopes that this is a turning point, and that people of good will, regardless of where they stand on the faith spectrum, can begin to move from fighting one another to tackling the common enemies of humanity that plague us all. i invite you to sign up for my free, twice-weekly email newsletter . please also join me on facebook and google+ , watch my youtube videos and follow me on twitter (@nickkristof) . a version of this op-ed appears in print on october 23, 2016, on page sr11 of the new york edition with the headline: can trump help us bridge the <u+2018>god gulf<u+2019>?. today's paper | subscribe
can trump help us bridge the <u+2018>god gulf<u+2019>?
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