Ferreting out Donald Trump’s faith is – as is so much with The Donald – complicated.  Reports – including some from the man himself – have at different times identified him as a Catholic, a Dutch Reformed Church member, and a Presbyterian.  And he was married, at least once, in an Episcopalian church.

There is nothing wrong with seeking the right church home – at least I hope not, as I’ve done it myself. 

But having embarked on my own personal faith’s journey, which has led me to become what others might call an “evangelical” but which I choose to call a seeker after Christ, my own evolving faith makes me interested in Donald Trump’s own faith’s journey.  Not because I pick my candidates based on their church-going status – I don’t – but because a man who can claim not much more than a Christmas/Easter affiliation with, at different times, several mainstream faiths is now seeking, and winning, the support of evangelicals.

If nothing else, Ted Cruz’s head must be spinning like Linda Blair’s was in The Exorcist.

To get this exploration of his faith started, Trump told CNN:

People are so shocked when they find ... out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church.

Trump affirmed this in an interview with Politico.  What he didn’t say is that the Presbyterian Church in which people would be so surprised to find him is about as socially liberal and non-evangelical a Protestant denomination as you’re likely to find. 

Evangelicals do not typically flock to Presbyterian candidates when there are evangelical candidates in the running. 

Yet the socially liberal Presbyterian Church is where Donald Trump hangs his hat, and his description of his faith seems more in touch with the Presbyterians’ doctrines than with any evangelical branch of Christianity:

I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book.  First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica Queens is where I went to church. I’m a Protestant, I’m a Presbyterian.

And you know I’ve had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.

Set aside from his meteoric rise in the political polls, such a bland affirmation of faith is not the kind of statement that would stir the hearts of evangelicals.

When it comes down to church-going, he has a typically Trump response, one that reflects the declining attendance at Presbyterian and other mainline, socially liberal Protestant churches.  He said he goes to church:

… as much as I can.  Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there's a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I'm a Sunday church person. I'll go when I can.

A core tenet of evangelical faith calls for believers to ask forgiveness for their sins, then embrace a personal relationship with Jesus.  Yet according to that CNN interview, Donald Trump says he’s never sought forgiveness for his sins.

Interview moderator Frank Luntz asked Trump whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness for his actions.

I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't.

That attitude sounds just like Trump, but it is also at odds with the Bible’s path to salvation, which, as noted in 1 John 1:9, calls on all believers to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness before they can be saved.

Trump said that while he hasn't asked God for forgiveness, he does participate in Holy Communion.

When I drink my little wine – which is about the only wine I drink – and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed. I think in terms of  ‘let's go on and let's make it right.’

However, some denominations, including the Presbyterian Church, requires the communion participant to first repent and ask forgiveness before participating.  Apparently Trump doesn’t see the need for following even the lax requirements of his preferred church.

To cap this off, he said in the same Politico interview that he gets a lot of bibles from people – though he doesn’t explain why anyone would send him bibles.  He did not say he reads them.  Instead:

There's no way I would ever throw anything, to do anything negative to a Bible, so what we do is we keep all of the Bibles.  I would have a fear of doing something other than very positive, so actually I store them and keep them and sometimes give them away to other people but I do get sent a lot of Bibles and I like that. I think that's great.

At least he gives some of them away to people who might read them.

However, what may be the most remarkable “fact” in Trump’s growing success with evangelicals is his remarkable turnabout at a Des Moines rally in mid-December, as reported in The Right Scoop.  There, Trump not only attacked Ted Cruz’s impeccable evangelical credentials, but claimed the mantle of “evangelical” for himself in what was, even for him, a fairly incoherent statement:

I am an evangelical, I am a Christian, I am a Presbyterian. I love Billy Graham.

I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba. … Not a lot come out.

So that sums it up, really. 

Donald Trump claims at a campaign rally that he’s an evangelical, even though:

• He has never asked forgiveness for his sins.
• He attends a socially liberal mainline Protestant church – when he can find the time.
• He takes communion without first asking for forgiveness of his sins. 

As he makes these claims of being evangelical without, apparently, knowing what the term means, Trump publicly calls into question the very real evangelical faith of Ted Cruz.

Yet some evangelical conservatives are flocking to Trump, while turning their back on Ted Cruz, an authentic evangelical conservative.

Here is my assessment of the reason evangelicals are flocking to the Trump banner.  There are, I think, two reasons.

First, after electing Republican majorities in Congress and getting nothing but Democrat legislation in return, they want someone who can deliver real, meaningful results.  Period.  And whatever else you say about The Donald, he delivers results.

Next, after twice failing to nominate a candidate they could support to victory, evangelicals want to back a winner.  And whatever else you say about Donald Trump, he is a winner.

Those, I think, are the often subconscious reasons why constitutionally conservative, God-fearing evangelicals are turning away from Cruz and lining up to support Trump.

What’s not clear is, “do these evangelicals really know anything about Trump’s faith?”  When they do find out, that may or may not change their desire to elect a pragmatic get 'r done president, but at least if they continue to support Trump, they should do so with eyes wide open.