Are Black Christians Who Vote for Democratic Candidates, Christians?
It’s a ludicrous question, but the people who say Christians can only vote Republican must answer it.
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A right-wing writer, Megan Basham, took issue with my participation in the Evangelicals for Harris call a couple weeks back.
After the event she wrote on X/Twitter that it was “irritating” to her that she and others had spoken “with clarity” about the dangers of listening to me and others who support Harris’ candidacy. And now that our apparent profligacy has been further revealed, few people will circle back and essentially say, “Megan, you were right.”
I wrote back,
“You have *yet* to contend with the many Christians who have long voted Democratic/for the party that at least gestured at forward progress (however imperfectly), not least of which are the majority of Black Christians.”
Well, and this might shock you, she never responded.
I find a lot of the “you can’t be a Christian if you vote for a Democrat” crowd don’t like dealing with Black Christians voting patterns.
Even for people on the extreme right, a blanket condemnation of the vast majority of Black Christians feels a bit uncomfortable. Not because they aren’t willing to question the faith of Black folks wholesale, but saying it out loud might bring some unwanted pushback.
Better to keep those sentiments safely under the cover of Trump’s Truth Social platform or on Gab where folks are more likely to agree.
I posted about this issue recently on Instagram when some new polling came out from Pew Research in the wake of Robert F. Kennedy dropping his third-party presidential bid.
The data show that Black voters still overwhelming vote for Democratic Party candidates.
Seventy-seven percent of all Black voters support or lean toward supporting the Harris/Walz presidential ticket compared to just 13 percent who support or lean toward supporting the Trump/Vance ticket.
Men support the Democratic presidential ticket at slightly lower rates than Black women: 73 percent and 77 percent respectively.
A little surprisingly, younger Black voters are less likely to support the Democratic presidential nominee than older Black voters. The 18-49 year old range votes Democratic at 68 percent compared to 86 percent of Black voters over 50 years old.
These voting patterns intersect with religion because Black people remain the most religious demographic group in the United States, and they overwhelmingly identify as Christians.
According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)
Religion plays an important role in the lives of Black Americans. According to PRRI data from 2022, more than seven in ten Black Americans (71%) are Christian, a slight decrease from 79% in 2013. About one in five are religiously unaffiliated (22%), up from 16% in 2013, and the remaining 7% affiliate with non-Christian religions. Black Americans are notably more likely than Americans in general to say that religion is the most important thing in their lives (28% vs. 15%), and this percentage is notably higher among Black Christians (36%).
Even for the increasing number of “religiously unaffiliated” Black people, “40% are Democrats, 38% are independents, and 2% are Republicans.”
Only a small minority of Black voters choose Republican Party candidates.
These data indicate that the majority of Black people are both Christian and vote Democratic.
So, are Black Christians, in fact, Christian?
This question is ludicrous on its face, but the frequent accusation, after decades of right-wing discipleship, is that voting Republican is the only truly “Christian” way to vote.
This assertion reveals the racial arrogance and ignorance of its promulgators.
When they say “you can’t be a Christian and vote for a Democratic candidate,” they are thinking only of white Christians. As is often the case, Black Christians never even enter the equation.
And if they do think of Black Christians, their perceptions are often paternalistic and patronizing.
Black people can’t get off the “Democratic plantation.” In other words, we are political slaves to one party. Nevermind the fact that this accusation is coming from Christians who only ever vote for one party—the Republican Party.
At some point in your political reasoning, you have to contend with the fact that millions of Black Christians, both past and present, have voted for the Democratic Party.
Is it the case that this many people have been deluded for decades?
Is it likely that Black Christians simply are not as politically mindful as their white Christian counterparts who vote Republican?
Or could it possibly be that a people who endured slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynching, redlining, mass incarceration, and the ongoing effects of racialization may know what laws and policies help them and which cause more harm?
Maybe Black Christians have a different set of issues and priorities when it comes to voting. And maybe supporting those priorities leads to benefits for everyone.
Historically, Black political support has led to the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, to name a few.
Perhaps white Christians, especially those who insist on voting on a single issue or solely for the Republican Party, should do more work to understand this different approach rather than condemning it.
We can disagree, sharply even, on which policies and which politicians to support. But dismissing the vast majority of Black Christians as illegitimate believers because they vote Democratic…well, you don’t have to be a historian to know how history will record that sentiment.
How are you dealing with people who say “You can’t be a Christian if you vote for a Democratic Party candidate?” Share your thoughts below!
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This is an exceptional piece by Dr. Tisby.
The easy response could be, "How could White Christians vote for a man like Donald Trump who is a trice married, convicted sexual abuser, convicted criminal on fraud, serial liar, and only used the pro-life language to get votes."
The arguments that many use against Black people represent double standards as they do not apply the same arguments to themselves. People continue the fallacy of thinking that there's something spiritual about voting. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, there will not be a section for Americans to be judged on how they voted. Voting is not a spiritual act but a civil duty. The objective is a select the most competent and qualified persons to do a job.
To the argument that voting for someone who is pro-choice is supporting abortion, it's no different than those same people having satellite, cable, Internet, and streaming services that also have pornography on the same network, to which they do not subscribe.
It is the most shallow of arguments to overlook the extraordinary competence of someone like Kamala Harris to then presumptuously argue that there's something sinful about voting for her. Psalms 19 clearly states that presumption is a sin.
Worst of all is the implicit White supremacy and high-mindedness of making any judgment about what Black people should or should not do.
I too, was once told the same by a sibling. As I try to distance my world further from white-centering, I am appalled by THEIR voting intentions. They won’t even enter into a conversation. I am grateful for Black Christians and how progression has benefitted us all. Thankful too, for how your writing makes me better.