Pastor Greg Locke says Christians can't vote Democratic. Why this rhetoric is bad faith. | Hill

Global Vision Bible Church Pastor Greg Locke knows his audience.

Since starting the Baptist church in 2006, Locke has been a conservative force. His most recent and notable actions have been attending protests on Jan 6, 2021 that evolved into the U.S. Capitol attack and leading a book burning of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight."

Ya know, the Lord's work.

Locke is one of many zealous religious leaders who use Christianity as a ploy to propel themselves to center stage — no matter how toxic their path has become.

Now, this may seem like low-hanging fruit, criticizing an outspoken preacher like Locke, whose unapologetic "take me or leave me" style serves as a warning for those on the other side of the political spectrum.

The evolution of Greg Locke: How a controversial Tennessee pastor wants to save America from its demons

Greg Locke timeline: From independent Baptist pastor to right-wing firebrand

Locke's hatred for Democrats and their leaders runs deep. He's called Hillary Clinton "a high priestess in the Satanic church." Yikes.

Locke's Democratic-hating rhetoric has once again placed him in center stage.

On Sunday, May 15, a video clip of Locke's recent sermon surfaced.

"You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation," said Locke as he was greeted with cheers and applause.

Statistics shows that in 1972, 89% of Democrats identified as Christians. In 2021, that number dropped to 53% — a 36-percentage-point difference. Republican Christians dropped from 95% to 79%.

A Gallup survey shows overall religious participation in America is down. In 2020, only 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque. That number is 20 points down from turn of the century.

Yes, you can vote for a Democrat and be a Christian

I loved church as a kid.

On Sundays, I remember being a rambunctious 7-year-old, jumping down the stairs of the Wilson Avenue Church of Christ lobby entrance and crawling under the pews pretending I was Spider-Man.

Before Sunday service would start, I would make a bee-line to a woman who always had my favorite candy, Werther's caramel candies. Like I needed it.

The church van would come to my house every Sunday morning and Wednesday night like clockwork and I would hop right in.

I learned valuable lessons, which formed my faith.

As I grew up, as a Black man in a society that can treat me and people like me unfairly due to the color of our skin, I set values on top of my faith foundation that reflected the change I sought.

It wasn't until I got older that I realized that my values were seen as liberal by members of my church. Even still, I saw each of them, regardless of their political beliefs as my family.

Unfortunately, I realized when I got older that others would put my political beliefs over my faith in how they perceived me.

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Practicing bad faith

The setting for this memory is a wonderful place called Facebook.

I was 21 years old and it was 2016. During that year you could find Facebook users fighting over what was worse: Hilary Clinton's emails or Donald Trump's bigotry.

I, however, was grateful for Barack Obama's presidency from 2009-2017 and felt compelled to share a post that read: "You can say whatever you want about Barack Obama, but you can't say he didn't benefit our country."

"Healthcare?" a former church member commented. I took the bait and thrust myself into a social media debate about ObamaCare.

A friend of the person who started the debate began to chime in.

The conversation was going nowhere, so I ended the conversation with a snarky: "You have a good day, sir."

"You have a good day, you fake Christian," he responded.

And while I've been at The Tennessean, I've been told by readers that they assume I'm not Christian for my support of Black Lives Matter.

Now, I know some may believe that I shouldn't focus on those few experiences and, instead, focus on Jesus. That is a great outlook but can be harder to achieve than you might care to think. Community is at the center of any belief; you want to feel wanted and cared for.

In those moments I shared, I felt alone and alienated, just as I'm sure Democrats and progressive people felt watching Locke call them a "demon."

Many other people, including me, see Locke's faith as performative, and that may be useful in his hypothetical fight against the "enemy," so they shun people like me by labeling the views that I share a disease or demonic.

I was taught an old adage by one of the deacons of my church, "You lay with a dog and you'll wind up with fleas."

Take a look at this: A look inside the Global Vision Bible Church with Pastor Greg Locke

See photos: Sunday at Global Vision Bible Church

As conservative Christians lay with and enable leaders like Locke, the decrease in Christian faith will only continue.

Case in point, one's political beliefs don't have to equate to their spiritual beliefs. As we have faith in God, we must have faith that our neighbors' beliefs outside of the Christian faith come from a pure and genuine place.

It would benefit Locke and his church to open their minds and remember that love, not hatred, is at the heart of Christianity.

 LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the curator of the Black Tennessee Voices newsletter. Feel free to contact him at LHill@gannett.com or 615-829-2384. Find him on Twitter at @hill_bron or Instagram at @antioniohill12.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Greg Locke saying Christians can't vote Democrat is bad faith | Hill