Poll of Journalists

Poll of Journalists Finds Trump’s Relationship with Evangelicals is the Biggest News Story of the Year

Poll of Journalists
Ninian Reid is licensed under CC BY 2.0
‘Trumpvengelicals’ now influence White House actions

The year 2017 resembles the past year 2016 in a number of ways. The more prominent among them is U.S. President Donald J. Trump's two-year embrace of evangelical Christian politics[/tweetit]. Among other news are the Texas church shooting, a Christian baker unwilling to bake a cake for a same-sex couple and Jerusalem's status as Israel capital.

Poll of Journalists Finds Trump’s Relationship with Evangelicals is the Biggest News Story of the Year[/tweetthis]

There is one difference though: in 2016, the evangelicals supported the then-Republican nominee to the White House. In 2017, the White House has supported the evangelicals. The mutual support is so strong that the yearly poll of journalists conducted by Religion News Service, has named the Trump -evangelical nexus as the story of 2017. The result of the poll was published by Religion News Service. Manya Brachear Pashman, the President of the Religion News Service has described the scenario of evangelicals adequately represented in the presidential Cabinet. The influence of the religious advisory board is so strong that it shapes the priorities of the administration- from interpreting religious liberty to shifting the U.S. embassy in Israel from its present Tel Aviv address to Jerusalem.

God and Donald Trump
Amazon
Stephen Strang, the author of the book God and Donald Trump, pointed out that when it came to evangelicals, "A large majority are still aligned with the unconventional president, thanks in part to the fulfillment of the promises he made to Christians around the country, such as strengthening religious liberties protections, appointing a conservative jurist to the Supreme Court, supporting pastors and churches, and keeping the American family a priority."access to Oval Office through two sources. The first is an advisory panel of an informal nature composed only of conservative-minded evangelical Christian leaders. The other access was through conservative Christian Mike Pence, who is also the vice-president of the United States.

Trump's administrative appointments smacked of the religious right trying to intervene in court matters. The U.S. President appointed Neil Gorsuch as the Supreme Court justice, who rolled back the contraceptive coverage and backed a bill which proposes to ban a majority of the abortions post 20 weeks of pregnancy.

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