Kamala Harris' message to women on “freedom” helps explain why black and white Christians are deeply divided on the difficulty of support for Donald Trump

Only a number of days later President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign in July, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Annual Meeting in Indianapoliswhere she emphasized the importance of each religious faith and political freedom.

Harris contrasted Her stance on abortion rights echoed that of former President Donald Trump, saying: “Across our country, we are witnessing a full-scale attack on hard-won and hard-fought freedoms and rights,” Harris said. “And in the face of these attacks, we must continue to stand together and defend freedom.”

By making “freedom” the theme of her campaign, Harris appealed to a key element of black identity and spirituality that’s rooted within the historic liberation struggle of former slaves. This legacy partly drives a divide between the attitudes of black and white Christians, particularly on issues reminiscent of abortion and support for Trump.

As political scientists and spiritual scholars, we view Harris's remarks as a subtle reminder to voters that black religious life within the United States has long appealed to people of all faiths. to make use of their beliefs to advance social justice.

Her message stands in sharp contrast to Trump's conservative allies who support restricting personal freedoms regarding abortion.

Racial segregation

To higher understand the connection between race, religion, and support for Trump, we conducted a nationwide online survey in June 2024, supported by the Public Religious Research Institutea non-profit organization that conducts opinion polls on various topics.

To compare the views of white and black Christians, our sample of nearly 1,500 adults included over 700 participants from each ethnic group. We asked half of the sample to point their level of agreement with five statements commonly used to measure Christian nationalist beliefs.

These points include support for religiously based laws and the idea that the United States was designed to be a Christian nation.

We then categorized participants in accordance with whether or not they agreed with most statements (“supporters” and “sympathizers”) or disagreed (“skeptics” and “decliners”). Over a 3rd of each black and white Christians agreed with most Christian nationalist ideas.

However, we found that black Christian nationalists are far less prone to support Trump than their white counterparts. In addition, they don’t support far-right policies reminiscent of those in Project 2025the Heritage Foundation's plan to implement a conservative agenda throughout the federal government.

The two groups also differ considerably of their assessment of Trump. Only 17 percent of black Christian nationalists expressed a positive opinion of the previous president, in comparison with 49 percent of white Christian nationalists.

The chosen one?

These racial differences are much more pronounced after we examine the attitudes of charismatics – a bunch of believing Christians who within the late twentieth century began to emphasise Pentecostal practices reminiscent of divine healing And speak in tonguesa language of incomprehensible sounds that was believed to be a direct communication with God.

All of our survey respondents—760 white Americans and 734 black Americans—were asked whether or not they had personally experienced or witnessed practices of charismatic Christianity, including receiving what they believed to be a direct revelation from God.

While only 23 percent of white Americans were classified as charismatic within the study, this number doubled to 51 percent amongst black Americans.

Although outstanding white Christian nationalists often describe Trump as “the chosen one“ we found that only 15% of black charismatics expressed a positive opinion of him, in comparison with 52% of white charismatics.

The ongoing struggle for freedom

The Black radical traditionhelps explain why black charismatics have a lot in common with their white counterparts—even an endorsement of Christian nationalism—but differ on the difficulty of Trump and abortion.

In its current form, the tradition of black radicalism is an ideological framework that calls on its adherents to actively fight against policies that threaten racial equality and bodily autonomy. Abortion rights fit squarely into this political tradition.

According to a 2014 study Study of the religious landscape A study by the Pew Research Center found that the vast majority of black Christians say that abortion must be legalThese Christians include denominations reminiscent of Baptists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals who usually are not members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Over the years, this majority support for abortion has remained stable amongst black Christians and reflects similar support amongst black voters overall. 2024 Pew Research Center In one poll, for instance, 73% of black voters said abortion must be legal.

During her speech to members of Zeta Phi Beta fraternity, Harris said she understood how difficult it was to reconcile one's faith with political opposition. But as she explained:

We imagine in reproductive freedom and can fight for ladies's right to decide on, since you don't have to present up your faith or your deeply held beliefs to agree that the federal government shouldn't inform you what to do.

After Harris accepted Biden's endorsement, her longtime pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, prayed that Harris would lead her campaign “in the spirit of our ancestors.”

This ancestral spirit includes the tradition of radical black political resistance – and the continuing struggle for freedom.