I am pro-choice, feminist, a strong advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ folks (partially because I am part of the LGBTQ+ community myself), support Black Lives Matter and Syrian refugees, and have generally progressive beliefs, so it's probably no surprise that I am voting for Hillary Clinton is this election. (Simply because she's not Donald Trump, but don't get me wrong, I don't think she's all that great either.) What probably will come as a surprise, however, is the fact that I am proudly and strongly Christian.

I know, I know, I'm “way too liberal for a Christian”- I hear this a lot. I believe in a lot of things that you probably wouldn't expect someone as religious as me to believe in. (Fun fact: it is possible to be super religious without being super conservative!) But before any of those things, I'm a Christian. And I'm here to tell my fellow Christians that, if you support Donald Trump because you think he lines up with your Christian beliefs...well, you're wrong. Simple as that.

Trump says a lot of things that I realize can sound appealing to ultra-conservative, traditionalist, right-wing Christians. He talks about being pro-life and infamously made a comment earlier this year about wanting to punish women for getting abortions (rumor has it that he's actually not even pro-life and has just said things like this to get more attention from Republicans, particularly Christian ones). He's made numerous statements and promises about wanting to eradicate radical Islam (which honestly seems in his and his supporters' eyes to be all of Islam) and close our borders to Syrian refugees in order to keep out potential sources of terrorism. He's continuously discussed his desires to build a wall to keep out said refugees or Islamic threats and Mexicans, who he's designated entirely as potential rapists. He's appointed Mike Pence as his running mate, who has made clear how homophobic and transphobic he is, in that he wishes to overturn marriage equality and force LGBTQ+ people to undergo conversion therapy.

But if you look more closely at all this shit Trump has said, you will realize his statements and beliefs are really not very Christian at all. All he spews is hate. And it's rather disgusting that he attempts to spread bigotry in the name of God-- and even more so that so-called followers of God would buy into this bigotry.

First off, no matter what your views are on Trump, you at the very least have to admit that the degrading things he's said about women are atrocious. There's no skirting around that. Even if you support him for other reasons like his politics, no one in their right mind can possibly think it's okay to joke or brag about sexually assaulting women. It is certainly not very Christian to condone those things either.

Now I know that a typical Republican rebuttal for this is along the lines of "oh Bill Clinton actually did sexually assault women and Hillary stood by him; Trump just made jokes, he didn't actually do it." Let me stop you right there. First off, Bill Clinton is not running for President. Hillary is, and she did not assault or make jokes about assaulting anyone. In fact, the widely-spread claim that she freed a child rapist and laughed about it has been debunked. Second off, more importantly, Trump actually has assaulted women before! He didn't simply brag about it, he's actually done it. He has had multiple rape accusations levied against him, including from one of his former wives, and also from a woman who was a thirteen-year-old child at the time. Why aren't Republicans concerned about this? Why do they just divert the conversation to Bill and Hillary's scandals, without stopping to think for a moment about the fact that Trump actually did assault women?

As a woman who has experienced multiple cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault, I do not feel comfortable at all with someone like this potentially running our country. As a woman who also has various disabilities, I don't feel comfortable with him running our country. He has openly mocked a disabled person before- there is video evidence of him making fun of a disabled news reporter.

I don't know about you, but joking about assaulting women and mocking the disabled do not seem to me like very Godly behavior. Neither is hating on people for their race or religion, or attempting to criminalize the lifestyles of LGBTQ+ people. Are we as Christians supposed to be endorsing hate speech? Are we supposed to degrade people different than us?

If Trump truly cared about appealing to Christians, I believe he'd want to attempt to act more like Jesus and spread love and equality in the same way Jesus did. Did Jesus believe anyone to be less than him for reasons like their skin color, financial status, sexuality, background, or religion?

No. Jesus didn't shame anyone for any of these things-- because he was a minority and an outcast himself. He'd never think less of anyone for where they've come from, because he knew how it feels. There are many examples in the Bible of him helping and associating with all types of people-- the poor, the sick, the hungry, the immigrants, the refugees, the disabled, and the women (particularly poor, sick, disabled women or prostitutes/promiscuous women). Trump has degraded all these types of people.

The truth is, Trump would probably hate Jesus if he knew him. Trump is the embodiment of exactly what Jesus did not preach about. Jesus is the exact opposite of Trump. He was a poor, Jewish, Middle Eastern refugee- all characteristics that Trump has talked shit on- who taught socialism and sharing. He constantly talked about how important it is to reach out to the less fortunate. He preached about positivity to everyone he met. He famously said "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 27:39).

I do not think Jesus wanted us as Christians to spread bigotry and prejudice about people who are different than us, or to support someone who does. After all, the whole reason Christianity came to be was based out of Jesus' love for everyone around him. His followers were called Christians and that's how our religion was born. Because people followed someone who spread love and truly cared about everyone around him. Not someone who only cares about those just like him (in Trump's case rich, heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied white men) and doesn't give a single fuck about the well-being of anyone else.

Now, to be fair, I know Hillary Clinton is no saint either! Although rumors about her regarding various rape cases have been debunked, she has still lied a lot and promoted a lot of war-mongering. I am voting for her, but I still don't particularly like her and would honestly rather have another president altogether besides the two choices that we have now. I originally supported Bernie Sanders and voted for him in the primary back in April. I'm still devastated he didn't end up becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, and I certainly don't agree with a lot of things Clinton has said or done.

However, I truly feel as a Christian that she is a better choice for our country. This article explains in further detail the notions that I agree with on why Clinton is the more Christian choice than Trump (I'm more pro-choice than pro-life, but this article does make some great points about abortion in addition to about why Clinton is the better choice). This is also a good article about voting as a Christian in this election.

So go out and vote. Vote for whoever you feel confident is the best choice to run our country. If you believe that's Trump, then by all means vote for him. I'm not here to try and stop people from voting for Trump in general, because I realize I cannot change everyone's political views, nor is it my goal to try.

But if you believe that Trump is the best choice particularly because of your religious values, then those certainly are some strange religious values you have. And not ones that my God or my church has taught me. If I cannot influence your political views, then at the very least I will pray for you. And for Trump and his followers, in order for them to reach a place where they are able to come from a different mindset in how they view the world. "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins." -1 Peter 4:8

And I can also at the very least encourage you to pray for our country as we endure this election, because Lord knows that no matter who wins it, we need all the prayers we can get right now.