Can Gary Johnson Win Over Evangelical Voters Disappointed With Trump?
II. “Law was destroying grace…”
It’s against this dubious backdrop that Chaplain Scott Scrimshaw set himself the considerable task of convincing voters of faith that Johnson, despite his socially liberal leanings, comes closer to embodying Christian values than the current GOP candidate or the social conservative movement that has made its unlikely bed with him.
Scrimshaw is head of the Johnson/Weld Faith Coalition, a loosely organized collective of faith leaders and parishioners that are seeking to rally evangelical support for the Libertarian ticket. His treatise, An Open Letter to American Evangelicals, was published online in July, and it functions as something of a manifesto for the Faith Coalition’s effort and an entreaty to voters of all persuasions to think beyond the two-party system.
Scrimshaw attended the Libertarian National Convention in May and supported Johnson’s nomination. He is currently chairperson for the Johnson/Weld Campaign in Oregon, where he resides. Though he takes care to note that the “Open Letter” is his own project and was not endorsed by the campaign. Regarding the Faith Coalition’s role in the campaign’s strategy, a campaign spokesperson would only say that Johnson/Weld was committed to working with a wide host of groups across the political spectrum.
For Scrimshaw the social conservative movement has deviated not only from the founding values of the country, but from the Gospels they purport to defend. In his summation, the Christian Right became more concerned with enforcing religious values through legislation and judicial activism, rather than trying to instill those values within their communities.
In the letter, he writes:
Life in the “real world” of ministry kept putting me at odds with the Republican Party and the evangelical base dominating it. Both were becoming more dishonest and manipulative, more authoritarian and exacting on social issues and less gracious in policy. Law was destroying grace. [link in the original]
Speaking to me by phone, Scrimshaw, a 51-year-old Navy veteran and volunteer community chaplain in Hood River, Oregon, lamented that all voters seem to believe that they are essentially embedded for life in one of the two major parties. Conservative Christians must be Republican, those “concerned about social justice issues” had to be Democrat. “We as a nation don’t know how to discuss things out of the two-party narrative. We’ve always been given these two choices,” he said.
“Evangelical voters are caught between a rock and hard place,” he said. But could they make their peace with Johnson?
Continue reading: “I don’t think it’s the government’s job to protect Christianity…”
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[image: Libertarian Party of Oregon delegation. Scrimshaw is 2nd from left. Via LPOregon.net]
