There are evangelicals for Kamala Harris and evangelicals for Donald Trump. And there are evangelicals for neither.
Evangelical influencer Preston Sprinkle, who runs the Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender, declared a pox on both political houses Sept. 16. Sprinkle also attempts to walk a middle road among LGBTQ inclusion, which makes him suspect on the right and the left.
He similarly was unmoved by the new book by Richard Hays and Chris Hays, The Widening of God’s Mercy, about the elder scholar changing his mind on LGBTQ inclusion. That book, he wrote, “simply repackaged an old trajectory argument to make a questionable logical leap: Since God welcomes foreigners, eunuchs, tax collectors, and sinners, therefore sex difference is no longer part of what marriage is.”
Preston Sprinkle
Now Sprinkle has applied a similar rejection to the binary electoral choice in this year’s presidential election.
A few weeks ago, he posted on X: “Evangelicals for Harris are about as theologically interesting as Evangelicals for Trump. Peak behind the curtain, folks.”
Then today, he expanded on that statement, apparently in response to some who challenged him.
His tweet wasn’t meant to slam his friends who are part of Evangelicals for Harris, he said. “But it certainly could be taken that way, and that’s on me.”
He continued: “If you’ve read my book Exiles, you’ll know that I think allegiance to a political party is theologically problematic. I believe the Democratic and Republican parties are two sides of the same dragon-empowered beast that John calls Babylon (Revelation 12-13, 17). This was the spirit behind my tweet, which is why I said support for Harris was theologically uninteresting.”
That doesn’t mean some people might not find one candidate better than another, he said. “My main problem is not with voting for a certain candidate. It’s more with offering public support for one potential ruler over Babylon because you really don’t like the other.”
All political candidates stand in opposition to the messianic reign of Jesus, he asserted.
“With all the partisan propaganda, lies, rhetoric, manipulation and money devoted to gain power over Babylon, I find it hard for followers of the crucified Lamb — who will judge all kingdoms of the earth — to offer support for an aspiring leader of the empire. Maybe Harris will be better at imperial rule than Trump. Maybe Nero was better than Caligula. Again, toss in your vote for whichever Caesar you think is less evil. But make no mistake: the mission of Christ’s global kingdom is fundamentally at odds with the mission of the kingdoms of this earth. And their leaders are more than happy to use you to gain power.”
Sprinkle’s position stands at odds with both evangelicals who believe they must use their vote to advance anti-abortion views and evangelicals who believe they must use their vote to advance social justice issues.
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