this is an election that could change
america and at the heart of it is
religion we put our faith
in almighty god i'll be an
ally of the light not the darkness
nearly two-thirds of americans are
christian and more than half say they'd
be less
likely to support a candidate who didn't
believe in god
white evangelicals helped donald trump
win in 2016.
this is in my opinion spiritual warfare
but a different type of christian could
tip the results this time
i do not believe that president trump
stands for christian value if you're gay
you're married to manna and you pray and
if you believe in god and you say
hi this is how i feel that's how you
feel god would like to see
no abortions so that is something i do
agree with
so what are the issues that matter to
christian voters and do you need jesus
in order to win
i would describe myself politically as a
christian
conservative patriot that's what i'm
looking for
make sure you can see it through
firearms instructor ronda is one of the
christians who helped donald trump into
the white house
exit polls show that more than eight out
of 10 white evangelicals voted for him
my faith in my relationship with jesus
christ is is
paramount is the utmost importance it is
number one priority it rules my
decisions
our leadership dictates the society that
we live in
and i would prefer that it continued to
stay the god-centered country that it
was originally created to be
she believes having a gun is a god-given
right this is
good against evil we are god's army the
christian is god's army on earth
rhonda's what many people think all
christians in america are alike
but the majority are not white
evangelicals
i'm a christian so i know that the
church is diverse there are black people
like me
latinos and also an increasingly vocal
christian left
so i wanted to speak with people we
don't usually hear from in a state that
could vote either way
to do that i'm traveling as best as i
can in a pandemic
to north carolina it's a key swing state
in america's bible belt
and donald trump won here in 2016. this
time the two candidates are running
almost neck and neck in north carolina
and the arguments playing out in the
state reflect those being had
right across the country covert 19 and
the job losses it's brought have hit
black and latino communities
disproportionately hard we started this
about march
in march march 15th pasta brickhouse
runs a drive-through giving free meals
in the state capital raleigh
the pandemics will demand increased
tenfold
so this is one of our sites in
morrisville
uh individuals come up they let them
know how many meals they need
but he's offering more than food and
then at the end of the table
you'll see the information for school
supplies
as well as information for the census
data and voting
his church has set up a voter education
war room so if you just make a mark by
his name
i'll be sure to mail him more i believe
that the black christian vote is
more energized this election cycle
because what we have seen is that lives
really do depend on it i do not believe
that president trump stands for
christian values
i believe that president trump preys
on the christian faith in order to seek
reelection the black church in
greensboro has a history of civil rights
activism
from sit-ins in the 1960s to black lives
matter today
i'm about the christianity that is about
a revolutionary jesus
a jesus that cared for the poor the sick
and ultimately stood up against the
powers and principalities the systems of
his day
pastor maurice is part of a movement
called the poor people's campaign
hoping to reclaim what it means to be a
christian from the political right
i've been harmed by unjust police
practices
i've tried to fight for my own
justice i've filed complaints they've
gone up all the way to the department of
justice and
have been denied uh so i i know
what it's like to feel the unjustice of
a
unjust world the heart of christianity
to me
is the um really the care of the poor
and our faith calls us into the spaces
of systemic poverty and racism
appreciate it thank you thank you
it's important to me that our state
um speak clear that it rejects the kind
of policies and the experience that
we've had under this president
[Applause]
more than a quarter of all christians
are black or latino and they tend to
vote
for the democratic party but it's not
always that simple
nineteen-year-old rose is voting for the
first time this year
uh some pros for trump would be the
abortion i think that is something i
agree with
you know as a christian that is
something that
god would like to see is no abortions
so that is something i do agree with
on trump's side latino christians have
been called the ultimate swing voters
nearly half a catholic and they're often
more conservative when it comes to
issues like abortion but donald trump's
immigration policies can make things
difficult
rose's mum is from honduras my mom
she's she's got this temporary status
which
allows her to stay in the country but um
it's just temporary for now i'm not sure
what the future may hold for me and her
or for our family because of that
if i could choose what i would like to
see in a candidate
i would really like to see him give a
chance to immigrants
faith in religion is a huge aspect of
everything we do
everything that our life evolves around
is really around faith and
and we show that by not only having a
church right here behind me that's so
beautiful but
being surrounded by churches this whole
area where you can't go to a corner
without seeing one it's quite it's quite
awesome
in the small town of granite falls
tristan will also be voting for the
first time
i do believe for you to win the american
election you do need jesus and you do
have to have a christian
christian value or a christian belief
tristan and his friends are socially
liberal
the older generations they were they
grew up in that strict
christian community where it was
traditional all the way no
no gay marriage no none of that i mean
that's just how they grew up and
i feel like that generation pushed a lot
down
but the this generation is the first one
i've seen kind of step against that and
say
like no like this is meant to be
interpreted as
things change it's not up to me as far
as like with the abortions
i might not necessarily support the idea
of it
but at the same time i'm never going to
tell somebody that god told them not to
get
you know that if they believe i just
want them to pray to god for it and if
they pray to god
and they say i think i'm going to have
the abortion i talk to god
then that's what god told them who am i
to say that god didn't tell you that if
you're if you're gay
and you wanna marry another man and you
pray and if you believe in god and you
say i this is just how i feel that's how
you feel
and there's nothing i can do about that
and i believe that's what christianity
is is learning to accept others and we
all get a different message from god and
who am i to tell you that yours
yours is wrong but they do like how
donald trump speaks about faith
and i feel like he's going for a lot of
the young vote especially whenever
you're going to get somebody like joe
biden that's not very good at
i guess you would say captivating people
catching people's attention
i mean i've seen him like post
scriptures and stuff on
twitter and he even prays before his uh
rallies and stuff like that so i mean
it's getting a point across to me that
he really
like wants the christian votes there's
another christian who has a huge
influence in his life they're both
saying stupid stuff right so don't
i mean as much as you you need to watch
both i will
i'm promising
i love him i am for joe biden um
as far as my faith values go with
supporting him
would be simply that we both do believe
in god i know he is catholic
and that is different than me but the
idea that we both
believe in god and we have a lot of the
same values
from me listening to him talk
i feel like we have a lot more in common
than i definitely
have with donald trump tristan supported
donald trump in 2016
even though he was too young to vote at
two o'clock in the morning in my ears
saying drink
drain the swamp drain the swamp because
trump had won and
and then my husband was so excited he
couldn't believe it and i was devastated
because i really loved hillary clinton
um
but so anyway but we just all came
together you know we're just like
i never want us to be a part because of
politics so you're still
you're still on the side right tristan
she's not very liberal
i love that you're undecided though
you're thinking so just don't let
anybody make you do
anything just do your buying is pretty
pretty
incoherent but not everyone's able to
have conversations like this
the lift is either going to
make us pay or in retribution for the
last four years
or uh they will become even more violent
than they are now
if they don't win when i first started
working on this film i could not have
imagined that i'd be making it during
lockdown
and i also could not have anticipated
america's racial reckoning
and the impact that would have on me
some of the things that people shared
really helped me at a time that my own
faith was challenged
and others helped me see the fears
behind the divisions that we see
what so many americans have in common is
that faith
will shape their vote and that is why
jesus could be the key
to winning this election i'm putting a
lot of faith into god that at the end of
this no matter who wins that the right
person comes out
and how confident are you in those
prayers
i'm very confident in that