The Conversation

The Last Temptation

In April, Michael Gerson described how evangelicals, once culturally confident, became an anxious minority seeking political protection from the least religious president in living memory.

I grew up in an evangelical-Christian household, and I am currently a student at Liberty University. As I am a recent ex-evangelical, Michael Gerson’s excellent article, “The Last Temptation,” struck a resonant chord with me.

Growing up, I was taught conservative beliefs and values by my parents, whom I deeply love and respect. I learned to value biblical morality, human life, marriage, and faith in God, and to believe in the transformative power of Christ. During the 2016 campaign, when the president of my university, Jerry Falwell Jr., endorsed a man who has lived in complete and unapologetic opposition to all the things I had been taught to value, I questioned my religion, I questioned my faith, and I questioned my God. Falwell’s actions shattered the legitimacy I found in the evangelical movement and, by association,