The
editorial was blistering: President Trump must be removed from office. It came
within a day of the US House Democrats voted to impeach the President. The
piece could have been written by one of Trump’s many secular progressive
opponents in politics or the media. Instead, it came from Christianity Today
(from henceforth called CT), an evangelical publication. Are the
evangelicals who voted for Trump in the 2016 Presidential election, now turning
against him? Or is CT a minority voice?
In
December 2019 Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted to impeach
President Donald Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of
Congress. This move was totally predictable. Yet, what seemed to be
unpredictable was that Christianity Today’s (CT) outgoing editor Mark
Galli wrote an editorial calling for the President to remove from office due to
his ‘grossly immoral character.’ https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html
Mr.
Galli said the facts were ‘unambiguous’ that Mr. Trump violated his oath of
office by pressuring the Ukrainian President by withholding promised military
aid unless he investigated former US Vice-President and 2020 presidential
hopeful Joe Biden and son Hunter for personal gain - a quid pro quo.
Galli sought to prove Trump’s ‘immorality’ by the type of people he hired and
his past personal conduct. Even his tweets are ‘immoral.’ Trump’s achievements
as President cannot compensate for his flawed character. Claiming this was not
a partisan call, but in ‘loyalty to the Creator and Ten Commandments,’ Galli
admonished - perhaps lectured - Trump supporting Christians to remember Whom
they are serving. Basically, in order to honour God, such Christians need to
reject and remove from ‘this immoral President’ from office.
The
mainstream media, who normally don’t care about what Christian publications
have to say, was ‘over the moon’ because of Galli’s anti-Trump editorial. After
all, American evangelical Christians are a significant voting-bloc in the presidential
elections. In Trump’s case, he garnered over 80% of the evangelical vote in
2016, more than any other candidate in history. They have continued to support
him during his presidency. If Trump loses evangelical support, it would greatly
jeopardise his chances of being reelected. Since Christianity Today (CT)
is a well-known as an evangelical magazine, if they have turned against
Trump, then this is a sign that Americans evangelicals as a whole are doing the
same.
Are
these assertions from CT correct? Are American evangelicals turning against the
President? Does CT represent the voice of the American evangelical community?
Was it right in condemning the President?
Our
sincere and steadfast goal is to help people to ‘understand the times’ so they
would know ‘what to do’ (I Chronicles 12:32). Here are some takeaways.
Who
are the evangelicals?: Evangelicalism is a significant and important
branch of Christianity. In summary, in the most elementary sense of the word,
to be evangelical is to place Scripture as the highest and sole authority of
faith and practice. It also means to put evangelism as a top priority.
Evangelicals are worldwide but the American version is large and a coveted
voting bloc in US elections.
The
most famous classic evangelical of our time was the late Evangelist Billy
Graham (1918-2018), who immortalised the word: ‘The Bible Says’ (interpretation:
‘God says’); The Bible is God speaking to us. Conservatism in morals and
politics was a practical hallmark of evangelicalism, especially in America.
But
in an age of postmodern, culture-war ’redefinition,’ evangelicalism today does
not necessarily mean what it used to mean. There has been a notable shift to
the left, theologically and politically, over the last few years. Millard
Erickson’s The Evangelical Left: Encountering Postconservative Evangelical
Theology (1997) outlines this trend. A self-proclaimed evangelical
author wrote a 300 page best-selling book which only alluded to Scripture only
5 times; in the same book the author gently advocated socially progressive
causes.
Evangelicals
Against Trump?: Is the CT editorial signalling an evangelical exodus from
Donald Trump? Short answer: No. His approval rating is around among
evangelicals is 67%, or higher. Nearly 200 high-profile evangelical leaders
rose up and condemned the CT editorial in a letter.After all, Galli’s op ed did
not just criticise Trump himself but also those Christians who support him.
They wrote:
The CT editorial “offensively
questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of
believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations.[1]’
In
response to the charge that pro-Trump supporters are ‘far-right evangelicals,’ the
leaders said:
“We
are, in fact, not ‘far-right’ evangelicals as characterized by the
author," the letter said. "Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians
and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our president has sought
our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn,
promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to
strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of
conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy
aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our
support of the State of Israel.”[2]
TO
BE CONTINUED
[1] https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/nearly-200-evangelical-leaders-condemned-christianity-today-editorial-on-trump. By Frank Miles. Accessed
26/12/2019
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