A pastor who was an evangelical Christian for his whole life admitted how he voted for Donald Trump once before his conservatism came crashing down all around him.
Kevin Young, a pastor and speaker who considers himself "post-evangelical," told the story on Substack of how he was raised in a conservative Christian family, and about how he was taught to believe that "Democrats are evil." Young describes each of these lessons he was taught as bricks being laid into his foundational beliefs.
But those bricks slowly fell away until George Floyd's untimely death, Young said. That was the final brick that purportedly fell before his beliefs were shifted into something completely different.
"My favorite boss in the Church Media department I served in during Seminary had been a closet liberal, but I had seen how his convictions translated into a deep love for me and others in his life. There was a sizable hole in my wall, thanks to him," the former conservative wrote. "I had never known a conservative to love like this, and it rattled me."
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Young also explained how his conservative indoctrination stopped him from understanding the LGBTQ+ community.
"By 2016, I had also done considerable damage to the wall myself while trying to prove the unaffirming stance of my youth. I had spent the better part of a decade trying to concretely prove that LGBTQ+ individuals were living in sin and against God, but my years of work in the original languages, ancient culture, and deep study had only served to weaken my stance… and in turn, weaken my wall," the pastor wrote. "Most of what I had been told and taught about God and the LGBTQ+ community was false, if not outright deception."
But it was the death of Floyd that removed the final brick from the wall, ultimately causing Young to vote for President Biden, the first time he voted for a Democrat, according to the pastor's explanation.
"It took 8 minutes and 46 seconds for my wall to be reduced to rubble. The exact length of time that a white police officer’s knee was on George Floyd’s neck. 08:46," Young wrote. "One man, Officer Derik Chauvin, pulled a brick and the wall came down. Even now, that moment reduces me to tears."
