The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues.

In the history of the church, the relationship between church and state—two institutions God created—has been difficult. In the early church, the Roman Empire of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries tried to eradicate the church. Hence, martyrdom was often the norm. With Constantine in the early 300s, that relationship changed. He ended persecution and brought Christians into his government. But, as you study the next 1,000 years, church and state became intertwined such that the church served the state. Even after the Reformation, various rulers chose which brand of Christianity the state would be and then enforced those commitments with the power of the state.

But, the relationship of the church and state changed, especially after the planting of the British colonies in North America in the 1600s and 1700s, when all the expressions of the Protestant Reformation emigrated to these thirteen colonies. Many of the colonies had established churches, but as you move closer to the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution, the idea of a state church diminished in practice. In fact, the First Amendment to the US Constitution pledged that America would have no state church and that the state indeed would guarantee the “free exercise” of religion.

The Bible declares that God created the church at Pentecost and the power of the state when Noah exited the Ark in Genesis 9. Church power is distinct from the power of the civil magistrate and Romans 13:1-7 defines that relationship clearly.  That the church deals with spiritual matters does not mean, however, that it is obligated to be silent on all civil issues. For example, the Bible has much to say about leadership and the church has the duty to speak about the virtues of servant leadership (see Matthew 20:25-28).

The church is not to be the master or the servant of the state; it should be its conscience: This was the church after the Second Great Awakening as it became the leader of the movement to abolish slavery. This was the church that championed the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s to promote the fundamental human rights of all American citizens, black or white. This was the church as it championed the pro-life movement against the monstrous evil of abortion.

But today the evangelical church of America has lost its role as the conscience of the state. Many evangelicals manifest an uncritical acceptance of Donald Trump. Why is it so difficult to embrace and support many of his policies but call him to account for some of the things he does and some of the things he says? This uncritical acceptance, indeed, endorsement of Donald Trump is harming the witness of the church when it comes to the Gospel. As the conscience of the state, American evangelicals have the responsibility to call the president to account and to chastise him. He is not the Messiah and he is not infallible.

Let me choose three examples of this uncritical acceptance of what he says.

First, consider his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on 5 February 2026. [The National Prayer Breakfast was founded in 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower accepted an invitation to join members of Congress to break bread together. Every president since has participated, regardless of party or religious persuasion. It offers an opportunity, according to its organizers, for political leaders to gather and pray collectively for our nation “in the spirit of love and reconciliation as Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago.”]

Peter Wehner summarizes Trump’s address at the Prayer Breakfast:  “In a rambling, 75-minute speech at the Prayer Breakfast . . . , we saw the quintessential Trump. His comments were grievance-filled, narcissistic, conspiratorial, factually false, divisive, and insulting. He referred to his critics as ‘lunatics.’ He engaged in projection, comparing them to ‘dictators’ and ‘the gestapo.’ He labeled Republican Representative Thomas Massie a ‘moron’ because he won’t cast legislative votes the way Trump wants. Joe Biden is ‘Crooked Joe,’ while Jacob Frey is ‘the horrible fake mayor’ of Minneapolis. Trump praised El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele—Bukele has referred to himself as ‘the world’s coolest dictator’—for his ‘very strong prisons’ . . .  Trump emphasized that Bukele—who also spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast—is ‘one of my favorite people.’

Trump took credit for churches ‘coming back stronger than ever’ and for religion being ‘hotter than ever.’ He claimed he has ‘done more for religion than any other president’ . . . and argued that his predecessors in the White House ‘bailed out’ on religion. ‘I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t,’ he said, adding, ‘They cheat.’

The spirit of love and reconciliation that Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago was not particularly evident in the words of the president. Of course, it never has been. No matter. The audience of some 3,500—the great majority of whom undoubtedly claim to be followers of Jesus—responded to Trump’s remarks with a standing ovation.”

Wehner argues that it is “the marketing genius of Donald Trump that he never sold himself to Christians as one of them—pious, devoted, merciful, forgiving, irenic, biblically literate, a faithful husband and father, a man of high moral standards. Instead, he sold himself as their protector. He didn’t hide his cruelty or his belief that the ends justify the means; doing so would have been impossible for him because they are central features of his personality. So he did the opposite: He presented himself to Christians as a fierce, even ruthless, warrior on their behalf. It worked. He built a huge, loyal, fanatical following . . . Much of today’s evangelical world sees Trump’s viciousness not as a vice but as a virtue, so long as it is employed against those they perceive as their enemies, against those whom they resent and for whom they have a seething hatred.”

Why is it so difficult to express concern about the president’s remarks at this breakfast? Is this the appropriate spirit to project at this solemn occasion?

Second, on the evening of 5 February 2026, President Donald Trump posted an egregiously racist video clip on social media that portrayed former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes. The AI-generated image of the Obamas as primates—a racist trope that has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and justify slavery—was shown at the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost and refuses to concede.  When asked about the video the next morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confidently defended the clip, calling complaints about it “fake rage” and saying it only depicted Democrats as “characters from The Lion King” (though there are no apes in the film).

After outcry from Democrats and Republicans, including close allies of the president, the clip disappeared from Trump’s Truth Social account. The White House blamed the post on an anonymous staffer who they say had access to Trump’s account. On Friday [6 February], Trump told reporters he watched the beginning of the video—and not the part that featured the Obamas—before passing it off to someone else to post. When asked if he condemned the racist imagery, Trump said he did. But he did not apologize. “I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.

Sho Baraka, editorial director of the Big Tent Initiative at Christianity Today, writes, “If the president doesn’t hold anyone accountable for the video, or offer an apology, it’s safe to assume racism doesn’t bother him. Anyone who follows the news knows this isn’t the first racist thing Trump has posted, or said, since he came on the political scene. But it is important to remind ourselves that this type of behavior and carelessness is not acceptable. In 2026, Americans shouldn’t get up on a Friday morning and see news reports of racist garbage coming from the highest office in the land. We shouldn’t see the country’s leader sharing a bigoted image of a top House Democrat wearing a sombrero, or hear him call Somalis ‘garbage.’ And we certainly should not see a clip of the first Black president and first lady as apes.”

If evangelical supporters of Trump value the Bible more than their political allegiances, they should be outraged and repulsed and publicly voice their disapproval over Trump’s behavior—including the lack of apology for the racist post. Scripture tells us wise leaders promote virtue and integrity. They should “detest wrongdoing” and be “established through righteousness” (Prov. 16:12).

Finally, is the cluster of comments Trump made at the brutal murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele at the hands of their mentally ill son, Nick. Here is his reaction to this tragic murder: “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

As Bret Stephens comments, “Good people and good nations do not stomp on the grief of others. Politics is meant to end at the graveside. That’s not just some social nicety. It’s a foundational taboo that any civilized society must enforce to prevent transient personal differences from becoming generational blood feuds. Indeed, Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, was equally appalled by the attack on Mr. Reiner. “I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the president of the United States,” he told CNN. “Can the president be presidential?”

The killings of the famed director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, had nothing to do with politics. But Mr. Trump decided to make it about himself with a bizarre social media post suggesting that their deaths were “reportedly due to the anger” at Mr. Reiner, an outspoken liberal, for “his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Even after the Reiners’ son Nick Reiner was arrested in connection with the attack, Mr. Trump doubled down, telling reporters, “Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person,” and adding, “I thought he was very bad for our country.”

My prayer is that evangelical leaders will end their uncritical acceptance of everything Donald Trump does and says and call him to account. May these leaders be the conscience of the state. Trump is harming our country and harming the witness of the church. It is our duty before our Lord Jesus Christ to ask him to end his coarse, hateful language and lead the nation as a servant leader. I am not certain he can do so, outside of the work of God’s Spirit in his life. May God help us through the remaining three years of his term.

See Peter Wehner, “The Evangelicals Who See Trump’s Viciousness as a Virtue” in The Atlantic (6 February 2026); Sho Baraka, “Trump’s Racist Post Deserves Outrage” Christian Today (7 February 2026); Peter Baker in the New York Times (20 December 2025); and Bret Stephens in the New York Times (17 December 2025).