Standing Up to Moral Failure

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 whom 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?

Christianity Today Editorial December 19, 2019

Several decades ago I subscribed to Christianity Today magazine, an evangelical publication started by Billy Graham. After a year or two I stopped, realizing that its conservative content didn't fit well with my changing theological outlook. Just the same, I would regularly take a look at issues in the United Church college library in Sudbury and then online because CT represents a huge evangelical constituency in the United States. The magazine has become more open to discussing the role of women in the church and the importance of Creation Care, but is still staunchly to the right when it comes to abortion and inclusion for the LGBTQ community. And people of colour note that CT is essentially a magazine for white folks, the base for the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. One of my colleagues from the past called the magazine Christianity Yesterday. 

You may have heard about the recent editorial in CT which has caused quite a stir. A couple of days after Trump's impeachment the editor, Mark Galli, called for his removal from office because he is morally and ethically unfit. This seems rather obvious to many of us, but for CT --or ET as Trump hilariously called it in an angry response -- to say so has rocked the evangelical world with its shameful support of a man whose values and actions are antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trump has since fumed that the magazine is "far left", which indicates that he has never read it. 

This was a big enough deal that the New York Times and the Washington Post reported it, and for a couple of days it seemed that every other Twitter post had something to say. Predictably and sadly, many evangelical bigwigs rallied around Trump, including Billy Graham's reprehensible son, Franklin. The younger Graham insists that his father would not have supported this editorial, yet Billy Graham wrote an opinion piece in CT years ago when Bill Clinton was impeached, calling out the president's moral failure. And CT responded to the impeachment proceedings for Richard Nixon which resulted in his resignation.

To be honest I think the editorial is far too easy on Trump and upholds values I simply cannot support as a Christian. I do commend Galli for the courage to go against the lockstep support of a man who is "morally lost", as he puts it. 

I figure that Trump could be caught in bed with the wife of a man he'd just murdered for reneging on a bad business deal made while in office and millions of evangelicals would concede that while he's flawed, he's God's choice for the presidency. We'll see whether the editorial moves the needle on public opinion, but I'm not holding my breath. I suppose I should continue to "phone home" my prayers for a moral shift in a nation which seems to have lost its way. 

Comments? 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html