As Donald Trump’s second term in office continues, many evangelical Christians are struggling to balance their faith and their political views.
From Donald Trump and his policies, to Charlie Kirk and the aftermath surrounding his death, to the amount of involvement Christendom should have in government, many conflicts have risen among Christian leaders in the Campbellsville area.
“I believe both sides (Democrat and Republican) are fighting a battle without the word,” said Tyrone Johnson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Campbellsville.
Johnson believes Satan is causing this division between Believers to conquer the church.
“A lot of Christians don’t use the word of God to decide on who is best for the job,” said Johnson. “That’s why to have Democrat and Republican is a divide from the get-go. Now all it takes is one comment or one statement, and now we’re going toe-to-toe.”
Johnson has been vocal in his belief that Christianity should not be looking to President Donald Trump as a leader.
“[Trump’s uncertainty about his salvation] should let every American citizen know he is not a child of God,” Johnson said. “If he’s saying he doesn’t think he’s going to Heaven, and he’s our leader, that means he’s leading us straight to Hell.”
Johnson feels the church’s lack of involvement in government hasn’t always been the case.
“I would say 20 to 30 years ago some pastors really took a stand on how they felt with the Bible and politics,” said Johnson. “Now I don’t see that happening.”
Johnson believes the church’s lack of unity is holding it back from making an impactful spiritual change in politics.
“We wouldn’t be able to go out here as just First Baptist and try to say, ‘Hey, we need a change,’” Johnson said. “Right now, the churches have divided. We need to unite, and as we unite, then I feel like God will lead us and then we would be able to better show the politicians that if we follow law and order the way God has made it for us, society would be better.”
Johnson believes Christians, and especially Christian leaders, have become too self-centered in their political views and have forgotten those who truly need help. He feels those who are rich have forgotten the poor and widows.
The way political leaders can manipulate the Bible is another concern for Johnson.
“If your political leaders are following Christ, we are supposed to follow that. But how many are following Christ?” asked Johnson. “There are some that twist the word of God and they’ll get you to where you think they are Christ-like, but really they are evil.”
Johnson believes patriotism is a worthy cause if in line with Scripture, but to be an upstanding American, you must first be a faithful Christian.
“In order to be a good American citizen, I still need to take the law of the Bible out here as well,” Johnson said. “If I don’t, if I fall for the snares and traps of the world, then I’m not a good citizen.”
Matt Boehnlein, pastor of Campbellsville Baptist Temple, also believes that since a Christian’s citizenship is in Heaven, Biblical principles are to guide their actions.
“I got saved at the age of 19, and God changed my life,” said Boehnlein. “I was born again. Even though I was born in Oklahoma, I identify more with being a Christian than being an Oklahoman or an American or being like anyone else. I identify with being a child of God.”
Boehnlein believes many of Donald Trump’s policies have been beneficial to being able to spread the Gospel.
“I feel like under the Trump administration, there are avenues for Christians to be outspoken in their faith,” Boehnlein said. “I think there’s more protection for Christians to be a witness.”
Boehnlein agrees with many of Trump’s actions while in office, such as being pro-Israel and pro-traditional marriage, but acknowledges that he is unsure of whether Trump is truly saved.
“I feel like he has a desire to promote Christian values,” said Boehnlein. “I really don’t know if he’s a Christian. I’ve tried to listen to some things that he’s said and done. I think he has people around him trying to witness to him, but whether or not he’s saved, I couldn’t speak to that regardless.”
Trump’s salvation doesn’t change the way Boehnlein looks at Trump, just like former presidents.
“Obviously with Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, all the way back to Bill Clinton and George W., there’s going to be things you disagree with,” Boehnlein said. “The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders.”
Prayer for those in authority is vital as a Believer, according to Boehnlein.
“We believe that God puts men and women in office for a reason,” said Boehnlein. “We pray for God to work in their hearts, change their lives and save their souls. The main thing is we want the Gospel to transform people’s lives, including our president and all of our civil and government leaders.”
Boehnlein continually stressed that Christians should remain focused on preaching the Gospel rather than pushing politics, while acknowledging that politics can venture into the arena of Christendom.
“I do think Christians end up attacking one another based on their political views, and that shouldn’t be the main reason why we’re motivated,” Boehnlein said.
Boehnlein believes that a Christian should have a Biblical reason for their political positions.
“When we try to evangelize, sometimes that’s going to deal with political issues,” said Boehnlein. “People are going to say, ‘you must be this type of supporter,’ or ‘you’re against this,’ and we should have a Biblical reason why.”
Boehnlein believes based on God’s word that every Christian should believe that God made marriage to be between one man and woman, that God wants male to be male and female to be female and that they should be pro-Israel.
“Make sure if the Bible is saying very specific things about an issue, you should be agreeing with what the Bible says versus what political ring it’s coming from,” Boehnlein said.
Boehnlein believes that while being in opposition to certain issues is a good thing, it’s better to witness to the people who may disagree with those Christian beliefs.
“I’m not against people who use their faith to be against certain issues like abortion, homosexual marriage and transgenderism,” said Boehnlein. “I think it’s important no matter what, if we’re going to stand against something, we also need to be standing for something and making sure that message is the Bible and that message is the Gospel.”
Boehnlein also believes that the term “Christian” is too broad of a statement the way modern society uses it.
“I believe that a Christian is someone who has placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,” Boehnlein said. “I don’t believe people are born into it or brought into it at a certain time in their life. I believe it’s by faith; they’re receiving the Gospel and God saves them.”
Boehnlein believes that a Christian’s identity as a Believer should guide every aspect of the way they view life.
“I think Christians should be salt and light,” said Boehnlein. “I think Christians should share the Gospel. I think instead of being just an electrician, a carpenter or a teacher, they should be a Christian and allow that to influence what they do, how they conduct their business and how they raise their kids.”
Nathan Johnson, discipleship and college pastor at Campbellsville Baptist Church, believes there’s room for different political beliefs in the body of Christ.
“There’s room for people to have different political views, but we need to be of one faith,” said Johnson.
Johnson points to the apostle Paul as an example to show that different political beliefs shouldn’t divide Christians.
“In I Corinthians, he’s getting onto the church in a lot of ways for some crazy stuff that they’re doing, but the only time he says, ‘kick that dude out of the fellowship’ is when he’s in grave sin,” said Johnson. “So be patient with people’s politics. Don’t let it become the main focus. Whenever there’s conflict, faith has to triumph over that.”
Johnson believes that churches as institutions should stay out of politics.
“I don’t believe pastors should have a direct influence on politics, meaning we don’t preach politics from the platform,” Johnson said. “I think that is divisive and could lead to some disunity.”
Johnson sees politics starting to rear its head in churches nationwide.
“Nowadays you see people so obsessed with politics they’re bringing it into things like sports. People also want to see the church politicized,” said Johnson. “It’s like everything else is being split up and politicized all around us.”
While Johnson has issues with churches getting involved in the political spectrum, he does see value in Christians individually getting involved in politics.
“The Christian voice needs to be out there because the world has a thousand different opinions about sexuality, the home, gender and all these things,” Johnson said.
Johnson said there are certain issues that all Christians should agree on, but the most important of these issues is the Gospel.
“I Corinthians 15, Paul makes it clear,” said Johnson. “If anyone teaches anything different to you, even if it’s us, get that person out of the church, get that teacher out.”
Like Boehnlein, Johnson believes preaching the Gospel must remain the focus above all else.
“In the 90’s…we tried to threaten the secular world to adopt our morality, and wisdom says that’s not how it works. We didn’t try to engage them with the Gospel,” said Johnson. “We tried to intimidate and flex our influence to try to get them to adapt to us. At that point, I think it was going too far.”
Johnson believes that small political disagreements need to be handled in their early stages before they get out of hand.
“If you’re allowing politics to divide you as a congregation, that to me is unbiblical,” Johnson said. “We need to get back on track, and you can disagree, but you need to learn how to work together and how to co-labor.”
The division between Christians isn’t just felt on the pastoral level, but also on campus at Campbellsville University.
“I do feel pressured [to separate religious beliefs from political opinions],” said freshman Rachel Cuentas, “but I don’t submit to that pressure.”
Cuentas is a political science major who is a member of the right-wing organization Turning Point USA. Cuentas said she admired the way Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk pointed everything back to God.
“Why I admired him so much is that he was able to be so firm in his beliefs, and to know so much information thoroughly, know every political topic so thoroughly, and be such a strong man of God,” Cuentas said.
Cuentas said that Donald Trump and JD Vance not being evangelical Christians isn’t a big deal for her as long as they promote Christian values.
“I voted for Trump, but I don’t think he’s perfect,” Cuentas said. “I think that distinction is really important because you start to idolize him. In the end, he’s just a man that will die eventually, and eventually he’ll be forgotten.”
A major issue which Cuentas listed for being conservative was the issue of abortion.
“My main thing is pro-life,” Cuentas said. “That is so important to me. My mom worked at a pregnancy clinic, and it’s just so important to me that people know that every life, no matter what stage, no matter what trimester, even if it’s just a clump of cells, that’s a human clump of cells. Every life is worth giving a chance to live.”
Senior Emily Burchett is on the other side of the aisle politically and disagrees with Cuentas about abortion.
“The argument I like to make is that it is more likely on the conservative side that you will be pro-death penalty,” said Burchett. “However, as a more left-leaning person, I am anti-death penalty, and I am more pro-choice.”
Burchett’s core belief is that Jesus loves everyone.
“He loved everyone, and I will fight for that belief for everyone,” Burchett said. “It has nothing to do with my politics. They are one and the same.”
Burchett believes that because Jesus and his disciples healed everyone without payment, healthcare in America should be free.
“I believe people deserve housing and healthcare,” said Burchett. “The stories in the Bible mesh together with some political issues I see today.”
Burchett pointed out that Donald Trump used to be a Democrat to show that he just wants popularity.
“He’s great at getting people to like him because he’s genuinely funny,” Burchett said, “but I don’t want my president to be funny. I want my president to be smart, capable and kind. He says foul things about his opponents, about women, about everyone.”
The division between Cuentas and Burchett isn’t rare.
“What causes that division can be a myriad of things,” said Kent Ashley, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church.
Ashley believes having a shared starting point of understanding the fact your opponent is a human being worthy of respect and love is crucial to having this conversation.
“Those who have faith need to be mindful of the weaker brother, like Scripture teaches us to do,” said Ashley. “At the same time, those who are less courageous in their faith need to grow and learn to step out and trust Christ as well.”
Ashley, who spent 10 years on the mission field in the Solomon Islands as a child, said not everyone in the world is able to have the conversations we have in the United States.
“Being involved in our political dialogue here in the U.S. is absolutely a privilege many people around the world don’t get to enjoy, and we take that for granted,” Ashley said. “We need to be careful to see it as the privilege it is.”
Ashley said Americans should take care to preserve their freedoms.
“We need to be careful and responsible to preserve what [the Founding Fathers] gained for us against the abuses of power that would try to strip us of those privileges,” said Ashley.
Ashley’s experience overseas has given him an appreciation for the American political system.
“It gives me a strong sense of gratitude for what we have, coming from a perspective overseas seeing the level of corruption and the lack of freedom, liberty and even the ability to participate,” Ashley said. “We have a system here that is second to none.”
Ashley believes the separation of church and state is an incorrect interpretation of the American system.
“I think [the separation of church and state] is based on a faulty understanding of our history,” said Ashley. “I think if we look back at history, we’ll see the faith of our fathers was really foundational to how they set up the structure of our nation.”
In Ashley’s opinion, having sound political views requires having sound doctrine.
“There’s a point at which politics is all about establishing norms and guidelines and laws even for our human society and human flourishing,” Ashley said. “If we don’t understand that from a theological perspective, then those political notions will be off kilter. I would absolutely say that our faith should inform and guide our politics.”
Ashley believes the Bible should be the guiding force behind the political views of American Christians.
“Our political views should be derived in large part from ethics informed by Scripture,” said Ashley, “and not just ethics, but also views of authority and what it means to be responsible to God and to our neighbor.”
Ashley also believes the answers to many issues facing America today, such as welfare programs and abortion, are found in Scriptures, and those topics should be debated in a nonviolent manner.
“If we truly believe what Scripture says about those things and those things guide our convictions and our interactions with the politics of our day, nevertheless it must be done respectfully,” Ashley said.
Ashley believes a difference in facts, the bias a source may have, different data and different Biblical convictions are all key factors in this division.
“I think one of the key things to remember is none of us have a grasp on all of the facts completely,” Ashley said. “We have a lot to learn from one another in dialogue and conversation. We need to look at the facts and work through them together. You may see the facts as one thing, and I may see it as another. Put them all on the table together and let’s have an open dialogue about them.”
Mark • Nov 10, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Great article!!