An article published in Christianity Today provides surprising proof that not all evangelicals blindly follow President Donald Trump. The magazine, founded by Billy Graham in 1956, is calling for Trump to be removed from office.
Chief editor Mark Galli noted that while Democrats have been opposed to Trump from the get-go, his corrupt behavior has cast shame upon the presidency.
“Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion,” he wrote. “But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.”
Galli also wrote that because this administration has been rocked by controversy from the very beginning, people have become inured to it.
“The reason many are not shocked by this is that this president has dumbed-down the idea of morality in his administration,” he noted. “He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its’ habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near-perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”
Galli also warned that evangelicals who support Trump face losing whatever credibility they did have.
“To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and who you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?”
Galli is not wrong. Evangelicals like Paula White, Jerry Falwell Jr., and Jim Bakker have stood by Trump, even as he was hit by credible accusations of sexual misconduct and even rape. Even as he continues to support detaining immigrants in hellish conditions. This is a president with a track record that’s nothing to be proud of, and Galli knows it.
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