While white evangelicals voted overwhelmingly (81 per cent) for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, not all churchgoers are happy with the President. And now many are sending messages to the leader of the free world through church signs.
A handful of Christian houses of worship across the US have been updating the signs out front to share strong words for the President and those who follow him.
The signs denounce racism and white supremacy, call for compassion, and even seem to pray for impeachment.
Hey Mr. President! Christians have been sharing messages for Donald Trump on church signs, including this Beatles-inspired version which pokes fun at his tweeting habits
Clearer words: Last week, First Christian Church of Glenwood earned national attention for urging Trump to say that ‘white supremacy is sin’
Strong message: Several other churches took cues and put up similar signs
Soft: Trump was criticized for not unequivocally condemning white supremacists this month
Say it loud: Many churches more strongly condemned the racism in Charlottesville than the President did
Not messing around: Signs called out white supremacists and the alt-right in clear words
Across the US: The signs have been popping up all over the country
Not condemning evil is just as bad as committing it: This church quoted pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing that ‘silence in the face of evil is evil itself’
According to the Pew Research Center, 81 per cent of evangelicals, 58 per cent of Protestants, 61 per cent of Mormons, and 60 per cent of white Catholics voted for Trump last November. (Meanwhile, just 24 per cent of Jews and 21 per cent of Hispanic Catholics voted that way.)
But Trump, a professed Presbyterian, doesn’t count all Christians as fans — and some are using church signs to let him know.
This month, First Christian Church in Glenwood, Iowa updated its roadside sign after white supremacists marched in Charlottesville. Their new sign had strong words which seemed to shame the president for not speaking quite as unequivocally while encouraging him to condemn the alt-right.
‘White supremacy is sin. Say it,’ reads the sign.
The church’s pastor, 34-year-old Evan Welcher, told the Des Moines Register: ‘I’ve tried to learn from my African-American sisters and brothers in Christ about racism and one of the overwhelming frustrations I’ve heard from them is they do not believe their white sisters and brothers in Christ care about their plight.’
Strong words: In February, New Era Baptist Church in Birmingham updated its sign to say: ‘Trump deceived poor white folks’
Taking it back: Some churches have reworded Trump’s MAGA slogan
They’ve called for America to be made compassionate again, for racism to be ‘wrong again’
High number: 81% of evangelicals voted for Trump
Get a dictionary: One church updated a commandment to warn against ‘alternative facts’
Rabble-rousers: This spot said it’s white supremacists, not immigrants, who should be deported
Similar signs about white supremacy, racism, and the alt-right have popped up elsewhere. Keizer Christian Church in Keizer, Oregon put up an identical message, while Paxton United Methodist Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has theirs read: ‘We all need to say it out loud. White supremacy is a sin. All people have divine worth.’
‘A woman was killed on a US street fighting Nazis. Repent our racism,’ wrote Third Lutheran Church.
Several turned Trump’s own catchphrase around, reimagining it to get their messages across.
‘Make racism wrong again,’ wrote St. Luke United Methodist Church in Austin. ‘Make American love again,’ wrote another. St. Pius X Parish changed its sign to say, ‘Make America compassionate again.’
And then there are the signs that have called out Trump by name. In February, the New Era Baptist Church in Birmingham updated its sign to say: ‘Trump deceived poor white folks.’
Watch your words: This Lutheran church warned about rude Twitter usage
Humility is a virtue: The Madison Avenue Baptist Church has had several strong words on its sign
Folliwing his lead… This sign had a prayer to God that Trump would become his servant
Eclipse joke: While this sign isn’t outside a church, it did offer up a prayer
The Rev. Michael R. Jordan, explained to Al.com: ‘There’s a covert expectation by even poor whites of white privilege. They feel like even if they’re illiterate, skin color should give them privilege. Even if they are an illiterate, they feel superior to a black president with a Harvard degree.
‘What interrupted that was a black president and immigrants. Trump plugged in on that. He’s talking basically about let’s get white males in charge. That was the covert message of this campaign.
‘Everything to poor whites was Obama’s fault. They feel that because they’re white they should get privileges,’ he added.
Over in Wichita, a church sign offered up a prayer that Trump would start being a ‘servant’ to God. And Canaan Baptist Church called out the administration’s looseness with the truth, writing: ‘Thou shall not lie or use alternative facts.’
The Wallingford Sign in Seattle doesn’t sit outside a church, but did offer a prayer before the solar eclipse on Monday.
Up north: Similar signs can be found in Canada. This one says a longer table — not a taller fence or wall — should be built, welcoming the less fortunate
Look inward: This church also warned against a wall and encouraged self-reflection
God’s children: An Austin church wrote simply: ‘No human is illegal’
This church points out that the bible says ‘thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’, meaning one should want to help others, not take away their healthcare because they can’t afford it
Mini me: A Baptist church sign reminds those who speak out against transgender individuals that people were all made in God’s image
Constitution-ish: A Massachusetts church proclaimed to believe in the ‘separation of Church and hate’
‘Dear Lord, is it time to impeach? Give us a sign, blot out the sun,’ it read.
Another American church sign rewrote the words to the Beatles song Let it Be, reading: ‘When I find myself in tweet o’ trouble, Mother Russia comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom… covfefe!’
Other signs have attacked Trump’s Twitter usage, too. ‘Tweet others as you want to be tweeted,’ wrote one Lutheran church.
More signs have criticized Trump’s position on transgender people, whom he recently banned from the military, as well as his hatred of Obamacare and plans to cut Medicaid.
They’ve condemned calling people ‘illegal’ and Trump’s insistence on building a wall at the Mexico-US border.
‘Rather than a wall, America needs to build a giant mirror to reflect on what we’ve become,’ posted the Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City.