In a church parking lot in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Rev Vince Anderson was pouring sweat as he pounded his keyboard and belted out his “dirty gospel” anthems. Taking aim at a string of Donald Trump’s policies, Anderson repeatedly roared: “I don’t think Jesus woulda done it that way.”

The crowd enthusiastically echoed the refrain. But they weren’t there just for Anderson’s stirring music; the afternoon rally was part of a 30-city tour organised by Vote Common Good, urging Christians to use their votes in next month’s midterm elections to flip control of Congress to the Democrats.

The message is the most politically explicit of a number of progressive Christian groups seeking to push back against conservative evangelical support for Trump. Whereas most focus on Jesus’s teaching to protect the poor and vulnerable, Vote Common Good is honing in on places that voted in Republican representatives in 2016. Exercise your democratic right to get them out, is the essence of its campaign.

The Rev Vince Anderson performs at the Vote Common Good Rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/The Guardian

“We have been really dumbfounded and dismayed by the level of support that evangelical leaders have given to Trump,” said executive director Doug Pagitt. “We have a moral obligation and a religious obligation to offer a different voice. Our faith compels us to speak out.”

In the 2016 presidential election, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Trump. Two years on, Pagitt estimates that between five and 20% of those voters are “moveable”.

He said: “They may have voted for Trump, but they are not supportive. Many of them had no idea it could be this bad. They’ve watched the rhetoric turn into horrible life implications for people, such as separating children and parents at the border, and they see it as contrary to human decency.

“They are generally silent, and most feel alone and isolated. We want to stand with them, look them in the eye and tell them their faith calls them to do something different in the polling booth this time.”

The resistance of progressive Christians to Trump and his policies is gathering momentum. In May, some two dozen faith leaders including Michael Curry, the Anglican bishop who shot to global stardom after preaching at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, launched a manifesto, Reclaiming Jesus.

Warning of a “dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches”, it rejected specific hallmarks of the Trump administration. Among them were the resurgence of white nationalism and the use of racial bigotry for political gain; misogyny, sexual misconduct and abuse; growing attacks on immigrants and refugees; reducing programs for the poor while cutting taxes for the rich; the normalisation of lying by the nation’s highest leaders; xenophobia; and environmental mismanagement.

The manifesto was the product of deep concern about “the cultural, political, spiritual and religious climate of this country, and also concern that the moderate religious voice was not being heard in the public square,” Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, told the Guardian.

“Representatives of Christianity were buying into political agendas that very often do not reflect the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth,” he added. Those that did not follow the example of the Good Samaritan, or biblical commands to protect the poor and vulnerable, “cannot claim to be Christian,” he said.

At around the same time as the launch of the Reclaiming Jesus manifesto, another group of faith leaders was attempting to recapture the moral agenda with a revival of Martin Luther King’s grassroots Poor People’s Campaign.

Its demands include a repeal of tax cuts and federal and state minimum wage laws. Liz Theoharis, its co-chair, told the Guardian in May that the campaign intended to have a political impact. “We are surely trying to make sure that our elected officials take these issues seriously. But this goes far beyond any one election or election year,” she said.

Meanwhile, Red Letter Christians has also been actively challenging the dominance of the Christian right. In April, Shane Claiborne, one of the organisation’s leaders, was threatened with arrest and up to 12 months in jail if he attempted to preach on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, whose president Jerry Falwell is an ardent Trump supporter.

Claiborne and other members of the organisation were holding a revival meeting in Lynchburg to protest at “toxic Christianity” and the “gospel of Trump”, and promote biblical commands to protect the poor and vulnerable. Another Red Letter Revival is planned for Dallas next month.

“This movement started because the word evangelical had collected a great deal of ugly baggage,” said Tony Campolo, a veteran pastor and activist who helped found Red Letter Christians. “If I describe myself as evangelical, the red flags go up. People immediately assume I’m anti-gay, anti-women, anti-environmentalist, anti-immigrant, pro-gun – all these things that I am not.

“The word evangelical had negative connotations before Trump, but it has picked up momentum because of Trump.”

Christians in the US had become extremely polarised, he said. Although there had been strong Republican support among white evangelicals for some time, “never before have evangelical leaders come out supporting a candidate like we saw in the last election. They said things like, ‘This is the man that God ordained for America, this is the saviour that God mapped for our nation, this is the man that’s going to make America Christian again’.

“And that’s scary. Almost implied in all of this is an attempt to create a theocracy here in America. And we are frightened because that’s just the opposite of what America should be about.”

Red Letter Christians was not a partisan organisation, said Campolo. “We want policies that serve the interests of the poor and protect the vulnerable.”

But it was hampered in delivering its message by lack of funds. “We’ve never had the financial support to get off the ground, whereas the religious right owns hundreds of radio and television stations. Their control of the microphone is enormous, and they use it very cleverly.”

John Pavlovitz, a pastor from Wake Forest, North Carolina, prepares to address the crowd at the Vote Common Good rally. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/The Guardian

At the other end of the Christian spectrum, Conservative evangelical organisations are also running campaigns to drive turnout in the midterm elections in support of Republican candidates.

Lance Lemmonds of the Faith and Freedom Coalition told the Christian Post that what was at stake was the continuation of the “unprecedented level of social conservative policies that have come out of this administration”.

It is spending $18m to target 125 million conservative Christian voters in 19 key states, and is partnering with 30,000 local churches to distribute “voter education guides” comparing candidates on key issues.

Family Research Council Action is in the midst of a 40-stop bus tour to mobilise voters to “preserve the bedrock values of religious freedom, sanctity of life, the family and limited government that make our nation strong”.

According to president Tony Perkins: “The path to a strong America requires first God’s help. Together as a nation we must seek God. We need to pledge to pray, to vote on November 6th, and to stand ... for the values that made America great.”

Back in the Greensboro parking lot, under a banner reading “From Fear to Faith”, the Rev Anderson took a break from his dirty gospel ballads. “The lack of compassion and empathy [among conservative Christians] really bothers me. Every day I wake up and think, are you kidding me? I am tired of apologising on behalf of my Christian brothers and sisters, and I don’t do it any more,” he said.

Attendees listen to Doug Pagitt at the Vote Common Good Rally. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/The Guardian

Pagitt acknowledged he and his fellow campaigners were facing “an uphill battle, and that the great majority of religious people support Republican candidates. But we will keep on encouraging religiously-motivated faithful voters to consider the common good when [they] exercise their democratic rights.”

As for the future, progressive Christian leaders were divided. “I cannot be optimistic about the values of America today. It has lost its way morally, and I fear it is losing its soul,” said Campolo.

But Curry had a more positive perspective. “I’m an African-American, a descendent of African slaves brought here against their will. I’ve seen this country at some of its worst, and I’ve seen it at some of its best. I know this country has the capacity to rebuild and move forward, and I believe it will,” he said.

“Democracy is going to hold, but it won’t hold on autopilot. It will hold because people of good will and human decency come together and say we’re not going to destroy this country, we’re going to build it better. I know we can move forward again.

“We’re having a cultural struggle, no question about that. But, let us be clear, the foundations of this democracy are stronger than any differences that we may have at this time. As a nation, we shall overcome.”



