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This is Fresh Air.

I'm Dave Davies in today for Terry Gross.

In 2020, Daniel Darling, an evangelical author and spokesman for the National Religious

Broadcasters, spoke out in favor of COVID-19 vaccinations after his family had contracted

the virus and his kid's piano teacher had died from it.

The resulting furor from religious conservatives angered by Darling's embrace of the vaccine

soon cost him his job.

Our guest, New York Times correspondent Ruth Graham says the episode is far from an isolated

case. She writes that the issues dividing the Republican party today are creating

tensions within white evangelical churches across the country.

Pastors who won't embrace Donald Trump's views are facing criticism, losing parishioners,

and in some cases leaving the ministry.

Ruth Graham is a Dallas-based national correspondent covering religion, faith, and values for the New

York Times.

She graduated from Wheaton College and previously worked as a writer and reporter at Slate.

Ruth Graham, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thank you so much.

You write about a pastor in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Kevin Thompson, who delivered a

sermon in the fall of 2020, which would have been right in the middle of the Trump Biden

presidential race.

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