The conversation
In Mike Pence, American evangelists had their ’24-carat-gold ‘husband in the White House
Mike Pence remained one of the only constants in the often chaotic Trump administration. Described differently as’ vanilla ‘,’ steady ‘and loyal to the point of’ psychophantics’, he is, in the words of one profile, a man of humility and accessibility in the Midwest, and in another, ‘ a ’61-year-old, gentle, deeply religious man. ‘ That humility and loyalty have been tested in recent days. “I hope Mike Pence gets through to us,” Trump told supporters during a rally on Monday, apparently under the false belief that Pence could overthrow the election result. However, during a joint sitting of Congress on Wednesday, Pence handled the election of the Electoral College. He broke with Trump’s wishes and confirmed Joe Biden as the next president, which provoked Trump’s anger. Balancing the ticket For the past four years, the vice president has provided a striking contrast with the mercurial, abrasive temperament of his commander-in-chief. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 2016, Pence joked that he was chosen because Trump, with his “great personality,” “colorful style” and “lots of charisma,” was looking for a little balance on the card. ” Pence’s persistence attributed to his Hoosier roots and his ‘skilled political operator’, but it is his beliefs that perhaps inform his politics and style more than anything else; as Pence has often repeated, he is a ‘Christian, Conservative and Republican’. In that order. “In a 2011 profile during Pence’s election for governor of Indiana, noted political columnist Brian Howey remarked:” Pence not only wears his faith on his sleeve, he wears the whole Jesus- Jersey.’ This is not a characterization that scared Pence away from “My Christian faith is the core of who I am,” Pence said during the 2016 Vice Presidential debate Richard Land, former president of the Ethics Commission and Religious Freedom of the Southern Baptist Convention and current president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, said the Atlantic in 2018, “Mike Pence is the 24-carat gold model of what we want in an evangelical politician. I know no one who is more consistent in bringing his evangelical Christian worldview to public policy. ”But as a scholar of American religion and culture, I believe Pence’s belief and political identity are more complex than these statements suggest. one can trace three distinct conversion experiences.In an Irish Catholic family with five siblings, working class roots and democratic political affiliations, Pence attended the Catholic school attended, served as altar boy in his family’s church, idolized John F. Kennedy and was a youth coordinator for the local Democratic Party in his teens. It was as a freshman at Hanover College in 1978 that Pence experienced an evangelical conversion when he attended a music festival in Kentucky, known as the ‘Christian Woodstock’. Thereafter, he remained active in the Catholic Church for several years, attending masses regularly, serving as a youth minister, and seriously considering joining the priesthood. At the same time, he and his future wife Karen were part of a demographic shift of Americans who ‘grew up Catholic’ and still loved the Catholic Church very much, but also loved the concept of having a very personal relationship with Christ. , “As a good friend put it. By the mid-1990s, he was a married father of three who identified himself as a” born-again, evangelical Catholic, “an unusual term that caused some uproar. among both evangelicals and Catholics., Pence spoke freely about how his 1978 conversion gave him a ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’ that ‘changed everything.’ But he tends to avoid naming his religious beliefs as he is pressured, referring to himself as a ‘fairly ordinary Christian’ who ‘cherishes his Catholic upbringing’. He has lived with non-dominant evangelical churches with his family since at least 1995. Pence’s political conversion was indicative delicacy. Although he voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, he quickly adopted Ronald Reagan’s economic and social conservatism and his populist profession. In a 2016 speech at the Reagan Library, Pence Reagan attributed that he was inspired to “leave the party of my youth and become a Republican as he did.” “His broad shoulder leadership has changed my life,” he said. Pence regularly compared Trump to Reagan, arguing that they have the same ‘broad shoulders’. Pence ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990, and the second bruise loss caused a third conversion, this time in political style. In a published essay, entitled ‘Confessions of a Negative Campaigner’ in 1991, he describes himself as a sinner and writes about his ‘conversion’ to the belief that ‘negative campaigning is wrong’. Between 1992 and 1999, Pence honed his mix of family values and fiscal conservatism in a conservative talk show of the same name. The popularity of the program provided a springboard for a successful run-up to Congress in 2000. During his six-term tenure in the House, Pence earned the reputation of ‘Unmanned Traditional Conservatism’ and principled opposition to Republican leadership on issues. such as No Child Left Behind and Medicare expansion of prescription drugs. Religious acts In addition to his ‘unpolluted’ reputation as a ‘culture warrior’, he also attracted attention for following the ‘Billy Graham rule’ to avoid meeting women alone and to avoid events where alcohol was served as his wife not at was. During the 2016 Vice Presidential debate, Pence said his entire career in the public service stems from a commitment to ‘live out’ his religious beliefs, however imperfect. ‘One of these beliefs is his opposition to abortion, based on his reading of especially biblical passages. As a member of Congress in 2007, he was the first to sponsor legislation for the planning of planned parenthood, and he did so repeatedly until the first bill for repayment in 2011. “I long for the day when Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history, ”he said at the time. In 2016, over the objections of many Republican state representatives, he signed the most limited set of anti-abortion measures in the country, making him a conservative hero. Among other things, the bill prevented women from terminating pregnancies due to reasons including fetal disability such as Down syndrome. Although opponents succeed in overturning the bill in the courts, Indiana is still considered one of the most anti-abortion states in America. As vice president, Pence also cast the Senate casting vote to allow states to withhold family planning funds. of Planned Parenthood in 2017. Pence was also an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights. He opposed the inclusion of sexual orientation in the hate crime legislation and the termination of the army’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He also supported state and federal constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, and expressed disappointment with the 2015 Obergefell decision, which requires all states to recognize such unions. At the same time, he was a strong supporter of ‘religious freedom’. especially for Christians. In March 2015, as governor of Indiana, he signed the law restoring religious freedom “to ensure that religious freedom is fully protected.” The action has sparked a firestorm of nationwide controversy: critics claim it enables individuals and businesses to legally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. Under pressure from LGBTQ activists, liberals, business owners and moderate Republicans, Pence signed an amendment a week later stating that it does not authorize discrimination. Important Reputation Pence’s religious and political biography reflects significant political and religious shifts over the past forty years, from the rise of religious law and its growing influence in the Republican Party to the conservative coalition of evangelists and Catholics across denominational boundaries, to the legacy of the President of an “outsider” celebrity. These threads carry together Mike Pence, whose ’24-carat ‘,’ unmanned ‘conservative credentials played a key role in gathering the evangelical voters behind Trump in the 2016 election and whose loyalty to Trump apparently finally broke. with the shocking events of January 6 and of which the political future is now uncertain. This article was updated on January 7, 2021 to incorporate recent events into Congress. This article was published from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Deborah Whitehead, University of Colorado Boulder. Read more: * Why Trump’s Senate supporters cannot overturn election college results they do not like – this is how the law actually works * What’s next for American evangelists after Trump leaves office? Deborah Whitehead does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any applicable commitments outside of their academic appointment.