Be honest. Has this election changed your perspective of some of your acquaintances that voted differently than you?

He was certainly flawed as a human being, no doubt.  But I don't recall the Christian evangelists rallying behind his election either.

I think she is talking about Hillary.

Oh...yeh, you are right.

I didn't like a lot of things about Hillary Clinton.  I was not a blind follower.  But I do believe she was the better choice.  

Yes Hillary.  And on issues Hillary was on the opposite side of Christian issues. And that is why she was not supported by many Christians.

Well, I always found it interesting what the Christian community will support and what they won't.  Trump was married how many times and had affairs in that time too?  Hillary stayed married, even though she endured a lot from her cheating husband.  

But put that all aside.  As Christians, we are all sinners, so I would be careful in rating one person's sin against another.

Again in terms of personal life both left a lot to be desired. That is why it just comes down to who is at least claiming they agree with me. 
I always vote on issues. I have since I started to educate myself on the issues and which party generally takes which side of an issue. That is when I learned I was a Republican. 

I think I sort of float in the middle, conservative with many personal issues, but liberal with  a lot social issues.  I can find good and bad with both sides.  

I really don't care if they claim to be a Christian or not.
I only care if they are qualified to run the country.

Totally agree!  Religion is personal and as long as we live in a society where we are free to practice it, that is all that matters.  I sure don't care what my president practices, just as long as he upholds the law of the land and he or she is a competent and decent human being. 

I hope you meant to say YOUR personal interpretation of "Christian issues". There are many Christians who DO think that character counts, for example (and therefore had the good sense to recognize the mountain of insincere BS that came out of his mouth!). Many who accept that things like sexual preference and orientation aren't for them to judge. Many who believe it is no more sinful for a woman to terminate a pregnancy than it is for the government to leave people without healthcare, discriminate against certain races or nationalities... or to be a serial adulterer, call women derogatory names, publically mock the disabled, etc., etc.

By Christian issues I mean things that the Bible is clear on.  Yes character counts...we had no one with character running. 
Yes there are liberal Christians. Those are not the ones who voted for Trump. 
But we all know what the Bible says about issues. 
We know what it says about marriage, adultery, abortion, drugs/drunkards, etc. 
No we are not to judge but we are also not to call right wrong or wrong right. 
Where does the Bible say the government is to provide anything (Healthcare, welfare etc) to its people? The Bible says the people and the church should help those in need. 

In this country, we have something known as separation of church and state. Believe it or not, this country was actually founded because people wanted The Church to stay OUT of government and didn't want to be told how to believe or worship by the government. If you want to live in a country where religion is government mandated perhaps Saudi Arabia would better suit you?

Here's a quote from the only "bible" that people should be concerned about, when it comes to the government. And it does mention the word welfare!

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I just have to add that for those that do follow Christian teachings, many chose to be a liberal in keeping with what they were taught, at least where I was raised.  

But with that said, I also always understood the separation of church and state.  It IS what our country is founded on and we are all very lucky we can freely express our beliefs and our criticisms of this government.  I would no more put my beliefs on others, just the same way I don't want them putting theirs on me.  

I find it kind of sad that these discussions even take on religion considering how personal that really is.

I agree with you. Many Christians are convinced that their beliefs and faith should be more focused on how they actually treat others, rather than how to condemn those who disagree with them or their interpretations of the Bible, or "sin" in particular fashion. It's like they think that God gives them bonus points for it!

I guess it's the extreme hypocrisy, when it comes to the support of Trump by "conservative Christians" that really blows my mind, you know? It is personal, but the way that some of these people talk, you'd think that all there was to being a Christian was being against abortion, against homosexuality, against people of different faiths, etc. Quite a contradiction between that and the "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" we grew up with, isn't there?

I was shocked the first time I realized there was such a division amongst Christians.  I was raised a Methodist, so the concept of Jesus and how he treated the poor and those in need really made an impression on me.  I never heard "hate speech" in Sunday school or the Christian camps I attended in the summer.  It was all about learning to love others, especially those that were different from us.  I never heard discussions about homosexuals or abortion.  We were taught to not judge others, but to quietly lead by example.  Some of my closest friends are devout Christians and they are the kindest people you would ever meet.  And we have had long discussions about this whole election and not one has told me they had to vote for Trump because of their Christian beliefs.  If anything, it was the very opposite!

I can only say that I am glad I was raised to be tolerant.   I have wonderful friends from all walks of life and I am better for it.  

It sounds like you really got the best of what Christianity has to offer, and it's obviously served you well! It took me many years to understand that people's religion or lack thereof doesn't define what kind of person they are. Personally, I don't think that intolerance, judgement and lack of compassion are very "Christian-like" qualities. I think that those things are actually why many people are completely turned off by Christianity.

Really great question, lots of good discussion here. Thank you for posting it!

I was lucky to not get too jaded by the time I reached adulthood.  While I admit to questioning a lot of things I was taught, I never questioned the basic message.

There are good and bad people in all groups whether they be religious or non religious.  

I could never vote for anyone that has behaved like Donald Trump, regardless of theology.  Donald is out for Donald.  

Glad you came and joined this discussion too!  It's helped me think out loud about a lot of things since the election.  

Yes we do have freedom of religion. Separation of church and state is NOT in the Constitution. It comes from some letters written by Jefferson. And it was not about keeping religion out of gov but keeping gov out of religion.  Read up some of the early Presidential speeches they quoted the Bible all of the time. The country was founded by those wanting to escape religious persecution from their government. While there was no Federal religion, many states had official religions....Do you know where the first mega church was? In our capital building. And the Presidents attended most feeling it a part of their duty. 
Yes the preambles mentions welfare but not the same thing as government giving entitlements. (I am not for getting rid of welfare, I do believe as Bill Clinton did that there should be a work requirement) 
The Constitution is not my Bible and never will be. 
I have never told anyone how to vote that doesn't work. I discuss positions on issues. In fact it has gotten much easier with the website www.isidewith.com 

Spot on!!  Being raised in a Christian home, I am certain this was not a man we were taught to admire.  

I admit to no longer following any particular church, but a person's character still matters, especially when he or she takes the job of the presidency.  

We didn't have much to choose from that is for sure.

Not after they took Bernie out of the picture.  I think he would have been the shake-up Washington needed.

That is who I wanted.

He would have been great.  He definitely wanted real changes.  People say they voted for Trump because they were tired of the "same old, same old", but Bernie would have done that without being such a loose cannon. 

YEP!

The history of how the Republican party became the "Christian" party is actually pretty interesting, you should google a bit, if you're interested. Much to do with civil rights, women's rights and Roe V Wade.

I don't believe that Trump is any more pro-life now than he was when he stated that he was "very pro-choice" and refused to agree that the government should even limit late term abortions. I believe this was less than 10 years ago, btw. He had to pretend to be a convert in order to enlist the support of the majority of the Republican party; same as he's pretended to switch viewpoints on other issues. I know a few very devout (and historically Republican!)Christians who had the wisdom to see through his complete and total BS and recognize him as the fraud that he is, when it comes to issues of faith and even of human decency.

It's also interesting to note that THE LEADER of the largest Christian organization in the world (Pope) endorsed Bernie Sanders, a Jew, over the many allegedly Christian candidates, isn't it?

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens, especially with the Supreme Court appointment(s).