(RNS) The bombshell dropped by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson that Donald Trump had recently accepted a relationship with Jesus shook certain corners of social media over the weekend.
Some evangelicals welcomed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to the family as a “baby Christian.” Others expressed their doubts any such conversion had taken place.
And still others found something in the report that tickled their funny bones.
Several scholars studying American evangelicalism began joking amongst themselves on Facebook about what the candidate might be like as a born-again Christian. Kate Bowler, assistant professor of American Christianity at Duke Divinity School, said she quickly “realized what an incredibly fruitful line of inquiry this was” and took the lighthearted conversation to Twitter Monday (June 27) morning with the hashtag #IfTrumpWereEvangelical.
Many Twitter users quickly jumped in with their own suggestions, and by mid-afternoon Monday, more than 800 total tweets had been posted using the hashtag, according to hashtracking.com.
It’s partly funny, Bowler said, because of the nostalgia and “tender love-hate relationship” many have with their evangelical upbringings, which many of the tweets reference.
And also, she said, “I think it was mostly that it wonderfully highlights the contrast between Trump’s hedonism and evangelicalism’s puritanism.”
When you ask scholars of evangelicalism #iftrumpwereevangelical you get PURE GENIUS. https://t.co/5yq8eTDV74
— Kate Bowler (@KatecBowler) June 27, 2016
Here’s a roundup of some representative tweets using the hashtag #IfTrumpWereEvangelical:
First, there’s the issue of Trump’s reported conversion. So far, it only has been relayed by Dobson, but at least one Twitter user is hoping to hear it dramatized in the style of the “Golden Age of Radio” on the long-running radio program “Unshackled.”
#iftrumpwereevangelical he would have a conversion story that belonged on Unshackled.
— krakenkarmin (@CarmintheB) June 27, 2016
Many Twitter users riffed on Trump’s plan to build a wall along the United States border with Mexico.
The Bible includes numerous references to walls: Joshua led the Israelites in marching around the city of Jericho and its walls came tumbling down, and Nehemiah led the Israelites in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem after they returned from exile. And what Sunday School student hasn’t sung about the house upon the rock?
#iftrumpwereevangelical he'd know, per Joshua, that when God gets involved, the walls come tumbling down
— Heath Carter (@heathwcarter) June 27, 2016
#Iftrumpwereevangelical he would build his wall upon the rock so that when the rains come down and the floods come up …..
— TammieGitt (@TammieGitt) June 27, 2016
#iftrumpwereevangelical he'd talk a lot about Nehemiah's wall.
— Michael Stephens (@M_S_Stephens) June 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/samuelgilleran/status/747461378076610560
Others referenced movies, music and books — like the apocalyptic “Left Behind” and “Thief in the Night” series — that were popular in Christian subculture 20 to 40 years ago and left their mark on many evangelicals growing up.
#iftrumpwereevangelical he'd know he's looking a lot like Nicolae Carpathia these days
— ProfB (@AntheaButler) June 27, 2016
#iftrumpwereevangelical He'd have a childhood story in which he cried because he thought he'd been left behind. #notthatIknowaboutthat
— Mandy McMichael (@mandyemcmichael) June 27, 2016
#IfTrumpWereEvangelical he would have kissed debating goodbye.
— John Shelton (@jayshelt) June 27, 2016
#iftrumpwereevangelical The music at the GOP convention would include Skillet, Red, Jars of Clay, and Petra
— Matt Hedstrom (@HedstromMatt) June 27, 2016
Most lovingly drew from Scripture or poked fun at certain evangelical turns of phrase and verbal tics, like a tendency to pepper prayers with the word “just.”
#ifTrumpwereevangelical he'd "have a heart for" the United States
— Heath Carter (@heathwcarter) June 27, 2016
#iftrumpwereevangelical he’d state in his convention speech that the GOP is not a party, it’s a relationship
— Matt Hedstrom (@HedstromMatt) June 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/JesusOfNaz316/status/747459034605752320
#iftrumpwereevangelical We’d hear more talk about his "walk" than about his run
— Matt Hedstrom (@HedstromMatt) June 27, 2016
#Iftrumpwereevangelical all his Miss USA contestants would be wearing double tank tops and one-pieces to avoid being a "stumbling block"
— Kate Bowler (@KatecBowler) June 27, 2016
And a few made their politics clear.
#iftrumpwereevangelical He still wouldn't be qualified to be POTUS.
— Feminism Is Better Than Fascism (@RebekahWriter) June 27, 2016