Northern Slant provides a space for thoughtful conversations on the politics of Northern Ireland. Jason Sime, a youth and children’s worker in the Presbyterian Church, reflects on his experience of the complicated relationship between religion and politics.

Recently on Northern Slant Michael Avila wrote about how Donald Trump had successfully secured the evangelical Christian vote in the United States. This is despite his reputation for behaviour not befitting of the practices taught by the majority of evangelical churches. His article suggests that while there is a historic link between evangelicals and the Republican Party stretching back to the 1980s, it is Trump’s stance on issues such as abortion that has helped him win such strong support from this group. 

It is an interesting discussion and one which can be explored in the context of Northern Ireland as well. Traditionally the DUP has been seen as the party of evangelical Christianity, but I would argue that is a misinterpretation. We have a habit of conflating fundamentalism with evangelicalism. The DUP may have initially been a party with strong fundamentalist roots, but fundamentalism and evangelicalism are entirely different.

Evangelicalism is the belief that the Gospel message teaches that a person will receive salvation through faith alone. This, in theory,  would apply to any Protestant denomination, but it is more widely attributed to those who believe in emphasising the Gospel message and reaching out to others with the message. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, is a belief in a strictly literal interpretation of Scripture. For example, a fundamentalist interpretation of creation is that it occurred in seven days, whereas many evangelical churches believe the creation story to be a metaphor written as poetry with the aim of teaching that God is solely responsible for creation.

The three largest Protestant denominations in Northern Ireland could be described as evangelical, but not fundamentalist. These three denominations – Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Methodist – account for roughly 35% of the population in Northern Ireland. Coincidentally, this figure lines up very nicely with the DUP’s 2017 Westminster vote, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us what is really going on at the individual level.

Not-so-straightforward decisions

As a Christian who is interested in politics, I tend to have plenty of conversations with others about political issues. Many have confided in me about who they would tend to support and, when considering members of evangelical Christian denominations, there is a surprisingly large spread. The following observations are not based on any statistical data, but they can at least shed light on the conversations that evangelical Christians are having with regard to their vote.

There are three main factors that many voters consider when voting, and evangelical Christians are no different. They are: policy, personality and practicality. When considering their policies on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage the natural home for an evangelical Christian would be the DUP or TUV. For many the DUP is the option because they are more likely to actually win seats. The TUV may be a protest against the DUP for those who like their policies, but do not like the behaviour of certain individuals in the party. However, the real picture is more complicated than that. 

It should not come as a surprise that the bulk of this group does vote for the DUP, but many are unhappy with it. Many evangelical Christians aren’t happy with individuals behaving in ways that clearly are not compatible with a Christian lifestyle. This may be a local case for some, but for others it stops them voting for the party generally because it may show that they are not committed to certain principles, such as a traditional view of marriage, for the right reasons. The UUP also remains a viable alternative for many. While the party generally allows a free vote on issues of conscience, a vote for the UUP should not be interpreted as a vote for liberal positions on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. Instead it could be interpreted as giving consent to a more liberal direction on certain policies if it is the will of the people, but certainly not directly pushing for such a direction.  

Looking purely at social policy it may seem surprising that a significant number of Christians vote for the Alliance Party. Why are Christians happy to vote for a party that, in the last decade, has moved to support same-sex marriage and a relaxation of Northern Ireland’s abortion laws? The answer is a combination of policy and personality. This group sees Alliance as the reconciliation party, the party to vote for if you want to move beyond our deep divisions. They also see many of the representatives as competent and likeable, which certainly helps the party’s electoral prospects. 

No party owns the evangelical vote

Evangelical Christians, as members of Protestant denominations, may be expected to support unionist parties in Northern Ireland. The phrase ‘For God and Ulster’ famously implies a link between unionism and the reformed faith. The DUP have historically been linked with the Free Presbyterian church and, indeed, some of its elected politicians have been ordained ministers in the denomination. It has always been the case that some Catholics supported the union and some Protestant supported a united Ireland but prominent people are beginning to make those positions clear in public. A Catholic has served as a councillor for the UUP, while Protestant stood for the SDLP in last year’s local elections.

From my own experience, some evangelical Christians told me that they have voted for, or would consider voting for, the SDLP and Aontú. The SDLP, like the UUP, are beginning to move on these issues and, indeed, have on same-sex marriage, while the SDLP remains a pro-life party, they do now allow their members a free vote on the issue. Aontú is a relatively new party and most people still do not know where they stand on most policy issues, but anyone who has heard of them can certainly tell you that it is a pro-life party. 

Evangelical Christians in Northern Ireland do not always have an easy time choosing who to vote for. When it comes to social policy the issue appears to be clear cut, but it is not all about social policy for everyone. For many, it is about the overall view of a party and how they would serve Northern Ireland on other policy issues, including Brexit and broader economic policies including tax rates (at Westminster) benefits, and levels of public spending public spending. There is also the issue of economic responsibility in the wake of the RHI scandal.

When politics becomes linked with religion it leads to entrenchment. An idea that a vote for a political party is an endorsement of a specific creed or religion is dangerous, and one which puts many people off voting. Evangelicals want to reach out to people with the Gospel and lead them to Christ; the vast majority do not want politics to get in the way of that. Certain voting patterns have emerged over the years, but it would be wrong to say that any single political party has an exclusive grip on the evangelical vote in Northern Ireland.