US election: Americans left with no good choice, says leading evangelical

Peter Lynas, the director of the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland, has said Americans have been left with “no good choice” as they prepare to go to the polls on Tuesday to decide who will become the 45th president of the United States.

Clinton and Trump are, it is now widely accepted, the two most unpopular presidential candidates in modern US history.

Mr Lynas told the News Letter: “This presidential election leaves our American friends with an unenviable choice.

“Many evangelicals in the States have been very critical of Donald Trump – his attitudes to money, power and minorities are deeply troubling.

“The revelations of him boasting about his sexual conquests are disgusting but should not have been surprising.

“However, Hillary Clinton has also been rightly criticised for her views on abortion, the unaccountable way she ran her email servers in public office, her hostility to religion and how she acted towards her husband’s victims.

“Abortion has led to the loss of 60 million lives in America – no issue comes close in terms of impact.”

Mr Lynas also accused the two candidates of putting their own self interest before the needs of the American people.

He added: “I am struck by the notion of self sacrifice. If either of the candidates had been prepared to withdraw, their VP nomination, or almost anyone else chosen by their party, would have won with ease.

“But self interest and the desire for power rather than the greater good and public service seem to drive the candidates.

“I could not look my daughters in the eye and tell them I voted for either candidate – on this occasion I am glad not to have to vote.”

The Evangelical Alliance is the largest and oldest body representing evangelical Christians in the UK.