What do Christians think about Kamala Harris?
We know that there is a large percentage of Evangelical Christians who fervently support Donald Trump despite his less-than-Christian actions. But what about Kamala Harris? What do Christians think about Kamala Harris, and will they vote for her?
Christian Americans are a very critical group of voters to have on your side in politics; after all, according to Gallup polling from 2023, three in four Americans identify with a specific religious faith, and of those, 68% identify as Christian.
Kamala Harris knows just how important it is to earn the Christian vote. On October 20, she spoke to around four thousand people from the pulpit at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly black congregation in south DeKalb County in Georgia.
As reported by The Guardian, Harris addressed the crowd, saying,
"It is so good to be here with everyone today and to worship with you. On this day, then, I am reminded, with everything that we reflect on, on the parable from the Gospel of Luke."
Harris has referred to her faith throughout the campaign, even campaigning with the reverend from her church, the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco's Dr Amos Brown in Georgia.
Harris even told CNN's Anderson Cooper during a town hall event that she prays every day, and said that when she first learned Biden was withdrawing from the race, her first call was to Rev. Brown.
But what do Christian voters think of Kamala Harris? Have the demonstrations of her faith and actions convinced them that they should vote for her?
According to an article published in Rolling Stone Magazine, there are several groups of Christians that are betting on Kamala Harris and trying to convince others to do the same. Examples include groups such as Vote for Common Good, Faith Forward, Christian Democrats of America, and Faithful America.
Vote Common Good is, according to its website, an organization that is "inspiring, energizing, and mobilizing people of faith to make the common good their voting criteria. And, we train and support candidates to connect with Evangelical and Catholic voters."
Photo: A Vote Common Good rally. Instagram@votecommongood
Per Rolling Stone, Pastor Doug Pagitt (pictured), the organization's executive director, explained what the group stood for recently at an event in Canton, Georgia, saying “...a lot of people in this country have been told over and over that if you’re truly a Christian, then you can only vote for a Republican.We’re here to remind you: That has never been true. It’s not true today, and it’s not gonna be true tomorrow.”
Photo: Instagram@votecommongood
Another one of these Pro-Democrat Christian organizations is, Faithful America, a group that has a very a strong statement on its webpage in the 'About' section stating: "Our members -- Catholic, Protestant, Exvangelical, and more -- are sick of sitting by quietly while Jesus' message of good news is hijacked by the religious right to serve a hateful political agenda."
Photo: Instagram@faithfulamerica
Faithful America's message continues, "We're organizing the faithful to challenge Christian nationalism and white supremacy and to renew the church's prophetic role in building a more free and just society." Pictured is an anti-Trump poster featured on the group's Instagram page.
Photo: Instagram@faithfulamerica
It is clear that many American Christians aren't pleased with how Donald Trump uses faith to manipulate so many and they are willing to fight back.
The British newspaper The Guardian spoke with 69 year old Elaine Montgomery in Georgia at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church following Harris' event. She had strong feelings about Trump saying, “He’s a man speaking on a level that’s below God, I will say that.”
Ms. Montgomery continued, “I don’t really think Donald Trump had faith. I really don’t. I’m serious, you know, because if he had faith and he believed in Jesus Christ, he wouldn’t be doing the things he does.”
Back in August, 'a Christians for Kamala' event was live streamed, and nearly 1,000,000 viewers tuned in. Group co-founder John Pavlovitz told Rolling Stone that, “The VP doesn’t sell Bibles with her name on them because she’s actually read the Bible.”
And although there are plenty more stories of Christians who are speaking up about the ways that what Donald Trumps says and does is very unchristian and goes against what the Bible and Jesus taught, there are still many who essentially believe that Kamala Harris is the devil incarnate.
According to PBS News, Christian nationalist leaders are trying to out balance these pro-Kamala Christian movements by telling their followers that Kamala Harris is "under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit.”"
PBS explains that this is a term with racist and misogynistic roots and was inspired by the biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who persecuted prophets and was punished with a horrible death.
Anthea Butler, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book 'White Evangelical Racism,' told PBS News, "People … are hearing this woman is possessed by a demonic spirit that is hardcore, terrible, hates men, hates authority, is going to do whatever she wants to do."
Being called a demon is clearly very damaging, and it is clear that Christians in America are very divided over who the best person to lead their country is. For as many Christians that love and support Kamala there are just as many that hate her.