Donald Trump, the Christian Right and COVID-19: The Politics of Religious Freedom

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a really interesting article. I have a few minor comments & edits. 

Comments first:

1) You might want to include information in your intro/conclusion about the recent supreme court case (Nov 2020) involving the Roman Catholic Diocese, since it went the way of the religious right. 

2) In your definition of the Christian Right, acknowledge that it is not as monolithic as you make it appear here. The group of Catholic Latino men who played a definitive role in the recent election are a good case in point.

Minor edits:

p. 2, line 62: check paper for consistent tense, like this line, "represents...challenged"

p.2, line 81: agree on, however

p4, line 160-164: might clarify here why choose Trump for this role, specifically, and why consider him infallible? That is not clear here.

p7, line 291: Republican-controlled

p7, line 305: a conflict which, for the USA, lasted

p8, line 307-308: was...is, need verb agreement

p9, line 361: no comma after Newsome's

p9, line 368: anyone who did not live there

p10, line 402: Rob McCoy, Pastor

p10, line 403: and the church was fined in Nov 2020 every time it met.

p10, line 406: Jack Trieber, pastor

p10, line 407: in late Nov 2020, the church

p10, line 410: the church was unlawful

p10, line 431: services in California, and because

p10, line 449: who acted in order not to protect public health, but to undermine public freedom.

p10, line 454: may well be

Author Response

Thanks for your comments and suggestions for minor edits. I have added in material responding to your two comments and have attended to the minor edits.

Reviewer 2 Report

The subject matter is important, though I would suggest at least a mention of the links between Christian Nationalists and White supremacists, especially as supporters of Trump. 

At times the writing feels too colloquial and not based on evidence. I wanted more evidence in several places: 1) more direct quotes from religious leaders and religious perspectives themselves 2) some examples of how religious gatherings did contribute to the spread of COVID when the restrictions were not respected. 

On pg. 7 I wasn't satisfied with the analysis - I wanted more engagement with what causes this kind of thinking, from a theological perspective? Faith in God, belief that one's time will come with God's will, the virus is an act of God that humans cannot mitigate? I think there needs to be more engagement with the religious logics, or the argument needs to be more clearly - Christian Nationalists are most interested in protecting their personal freedom and not religious issues. Interviews and statements from Christian nationalists themselves would be helpful for understanding this perspective, and not just secondary analysis of them. 

At some points the argumentation language was awkward, or weak and needed to be more forcefully stated. Engagement with secondary literature was particularly strong, but primary research was lacking. 

Author Response

Thanks for your very helpful comments and suggestions. I have responded to them as shown below in capitals:

The subject matter is important, though I would suggest at least a mention of the links between Christian Nationalists and White supremacists, especially as supporters of Trump. MENTION MADE IN REVISED ARTICLE

At times the writing feels too colloquial and not based on evidence. I wanted more evidence in several places: 1) more direct quotes from religious leaders and religious perspectives themselves 2) some examples of how religious gatherings did contribute to the spread of COVID when the restrictions were not respected. EVIDENCE PROVIDED IN RELATION TO BOTH COMMENTS IN REVISED ARTICLE

On pg. 7 I wasn't satisfied with the analysis - I wanted more engagement with what causes this kind of thinking, from a theological perspective? Faith in God, belief that one's time will come with God's will, the virus is an act of God that humans cannot mitigate? I think there needs to be more engagement with the religious logics, or the argument needs to be more clearly - Christian Nationalists are most interested in protecting their personal freedom and not religious issues. Interviews and statements from Christian nationalists themselves would be helpful for understanding this perspective, and not just secondary analysis of them. EVIDENCE PROVIDED IN RELATION TO THESE POINTS IN REVISED ARTICLE

At some points the argumentation language was awkward, or weak and needed to be more forcefully stated. Engagement with secondary literature was particularly strong, but primary research was lacking. EVIDENCE PROVIDED IN RELATION TO THESE POINTS IN REVISED ARTICLE