Faith matters on the North Carolina battlefield

Well beyond the heyday of the Bible Belt, faith still matters in eastern North Carolina. And the Rocky Mount Events Center crowd of about 5,000 that turned out for former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Wednesday made sure to get the word out at every opportunity.

“We unite Christians and Jews and Catholics and evangelicals and Muslims and Mormons and everyone who wants one thing: to make America great again,” Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, told his enthusiastic audience, decked out in red, white and blue.

Laurie Buckhout, the candidate for these parts’ 1st Congressional District, explained what The Center Square means before the 45th president took the stage.

“I was talking to a man backstage, a Secret Service agent,” she said. “He said, ‘I was prayed for yesterday.’ He didn’t do this. And I said, ‘How did you feel afterward?’ He says, “I felt so good.” I said, ‘Embrace it, baby.’ It’s one of the best parts of running in North Carolina: faith, love. And it is positive. It’s based on good things. It’s really based on joy; it is about bringing back prosperity and a vision based on faith.”

Faith has been given a boost in this election phase. Perhaps as much or more since America elected John F. Kennedy in 1960, the first Roman Catholic president who came up with a very different story than the next after him: President Joe Biden.

While Biden’s faith largely stayed out of the headlines four years ago, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has once again called Trump a fascist, and the Democratic National Committee has linked him to Hitler.

For context, in Hitler’s day, some ninety years ago, Germans were also Christian, although they belonged to neither the Roman Catholic nor the Protestant churches.

To be clear, fascism is a political ideology through the suppression of opposition and social hierarchy, all of which contradicts not only the Presbyterian views of its opponent, but also those of Christians in general.

Then there’s the war in the Middle East, ignited after Hamas attacked Israel thirteen months ago, at the center of escalating protests on American campuses, and punctuated by more Democrats supporting Palestine and a ceasefire over America’s historic ally in the region.

Harris, in a social media post on September 19wrote: “You don’t have to give up your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree: the government, especially Donald Trump, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”

Just over 90 minutes after her post, NFL Hall of Fame coaching legend Tony Dungy, among others, responded in part: “Are you talking about the Christian faith that says all babies are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26 ), that God places them in the womb (Jer 1:5) and that we should not take any life unjustly (Luke 18:20)? What ‘faith’ are you talking about?”

On October 10, Harris was near Rocky Mount in the pulpit of a church in eastern North Carolina. Five days later, at a meeting in Wisconsin, she answered an attendee’s cry, “Jesus is Lord,” by saying, “You’re at the wrong meeting. The other one is down the street.”

“It makes you question her sincerity because that’s how it was written,” said U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from the state’s 9th Congressional District. “What wasn’t in the script was her off-the-cuff comment to that young man, that you’re at the wrong meeting. That’s what she really believes.”

Trump’s lifestyle has made its share of headlines, with allegations of affairs and boys’ locker room conversations in secret recordings. As for faith, most thought he was done in January 2016, just under eleven months after defeating Hillary Clinton, when he infamously quoted Scripture from Liberty University and said “two Corinthians” in instead of ‘second’, as is more common.

“Faith is important,” said Buckhout, the retired lieutenant colonel facing Democratic Rep. Don Davis and who is seeking to be the first Republican to win an election representing the northeastern part of the state since 1882. “Faith is important in this state. Faith is more important in this district than many people think.”

And, she says, not in the old Bible Belt way.

“It got shaken,” she says of the nickname, “and it led to some not good conversation. Now it’s a loving, accepting positive environment. It’s a wide environment. I see it all over the state. It’s loving, it’s kind, it’s accepting, it’s positive. It wants good things for everyone. Every race, every demographic, and you want everyone to be lifted up.”

Buckhout and Hudson, who each roused the crowd before Trump took the stage, say there’s nothing wrong with people standing up for what they believe in, regardless of political party.

“There are people in this room who may disagree with me on certain issues, but they are welcome to be here,” Hudson said. “Something as basic as your faith, and to say you are not welcome at a Kamala Harris meeting is shocking. She’s lost.

“The thing about America – we have the freedom to choose our religion. We have the freedom to express our opinions. That was shocking.”

Hudson said it’s more than policy that Democrats are getting wrong.

“The American people recognize; they don’t like the direction of the country,” he said.

Division driven by Harris and Trump will eventually have a resting place – Election Day is Tuesday. And this battleground state has 16 votes in the electoral college.

“It’s not red churches and blue churches,” Buckhout says, echoing many a preacher along Tobacco Road. “These preachers come in; they will pray for you no matter what color shirt you wear. And we feel the same. I see more hugs going out.

“I run into people on the campaign trail and they say, ‘Hey, you know what, I’d love to vote for you, but I’m a Democrat.’ And I would say, ‘God bless you. Thank you for being part of the American experience. God bless you and thank you for your vote.” It’s okay.”