Like many people, I have been puzzled by the degree of support Donald Trump enjoys in the United States. I am in particular confused by how some of my fellow evangelical Christians are falling for the words of a man we have no reason to believe. This support does not appear to have waned in light of Trump’s hesitation to denounce the racist David Duke. Do these evangelicals not realize the sort of negative witness their support of Trump produces?

There are, of course, those evangelicals who follow politics only distantly and are supporting Trump with only the vaguest notion of who he is. Those voters just need more information about Trump before they get to the polls. The evangelical Trump supporters I have in view here are the ones who actually know a great deal about Trump and still insist on supporting him. What’s going on here?

Although Trump is getting more than his share of support from evangelicals, that support is not coming from evangelical leaders. An earlier survey indicates that Trump is one of the least supported Republican candidates among this group. Thus support of Trump by evangelicals is in spite, instead of because, of the desire of evangelical leaders. Indeed, it seems that the more committed an evangelical Christian is, the less likely he or she is to support Trump.

Is it possible that this recent racist incident sheds light on why some evangelicals support Trump? One has to ask why Trump is so hesitant to condemn a racist. Part of this hesitation may be due to the fact that an unknown, but non-trival, percentage of his supporters are racists and desire a more “white” America. His draconian notion of immigration and proposed embargo on Muslims coming into the United States are both measures that limit non-whites in our society. Clearly many people support Trump for reasons that have nothing to do with racism. However, if someone is a white supremacist, then the policies of Trump, along with some of his harsh rhetoric, almost guarantee the support of that person. This is why Trump has gained the official support of not only Duke, but also other white supremacists.

Unfortunately those elements of Trump’s agenda that attract white supremacists may also explain why some of my fellow evangelicals are attracted to Trump. Those evangelicals who tend to support Trump are less likely to regularly attend church. Decades ago research indicated that Christians who did not attend church on a regular basis are the most racist individuals in the United States. On the other hand, those who attend church regularly scored low in racism. Today, measures of racism are confounded by social desirability effects. People do not want to show their racism in polite society. But support for Trump can be a way to express racist desires without being called a racist.

The early research suggested that individuals who intrinsically accepted Christian values were less likely to accept racism because they worshiped a God that promoted human equality. They lived this out with their church attendance and their racial beliefs. Likewise today we have many evangelicals who state that they are Christian but do little to live out their faith. They place their confidence in a bragging, vulgar man who has had a problem telling the truth. I suspect that a good many — although certainly not all — Christians with a lack of intrinsic faith have racist desires for a White America, and those racist desires blind them to Trump’s obvious failings. Trump either shares those desires, or is bending over backwards to pander to those desires, which is almost just as bad.

In either case, the degree to which individuals are willing to support a presidential candidate who flirts with white supremacist organizations is disheartening to me as a man of color who is raising a child of color. Is this the world that we are creating for my kid and our future generation? I am an opponent of political correctness and its ability to shut down ideas. But some ideas deserve to be shamed, such as those pushed by Duke and other white supremacists. Supporters of those ideas should be shamed, and political figures who dither around when asked if they denounce such ideas, and only do so after much prodding, should also feel that shame.