Back to the Real Salt Lake Newsfeed

What is wrong with white Christians? Why do they, unlike their Lord, blame the poor for being poor?

This isn’t meant simply to be a provocative question. A new survey from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation offers the latest dispiriting news about the troubling state of white Christianity.

Christians, the study found, are more than twice as likely to blame a person’s poverty on individual failings than Americans who are atheist or have no specific religious affiliation. White evangelical Christians, who voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump and continue to be some of his most steadfast supporters, are especially wedded to this worldview.

White Christians are also oblivious or in denial when it comes to the reality of racism and discrimination, according to data from the Public Religion Research Institute.