An overwhelming number of evangelical Christian leaders and notables from across America have signed on to an open letter strongly opposing a Christianity Today editorial calling for President Trump to be removed from office.
Among other charges, the piece by editor-in-chief Mark Galli recalls Trump’s past “immoral actions in business and his relationship with women,” and charges the president with bringing that immorality into his administration, accusing him of spreading “mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders” through his use of social media.
The editorial specifically targets evangelical Christians for their massive support of Trump, chiding them for backing a man of such “bent and broken character,” and admonishing them to “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.”
In response, nearly 200 respected Christian leaders and others from across the nation signed on to an open letter to Christianity Today president Timothy Dalrymple, challenging the editorial as well as Galli’s representation of rank-and-file evangelical Christians as being on the “far right” of the political spectrum.
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“We are, in fact, not ‘far right’ evangelicals as characterized by the author,” the Christian leaders declared in their letter. “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.”
The Christian leaders conceded that “our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint alike.”
They added that “we are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s — our public service.”
The letter charged the Christianity Today editorial with supporting “the entirely partisan, legally dubious, and politically motivated impeachment” of President Trump, along with questioning “the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens of millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations. It not only targeted our President; it also targeted those of us who support him, and have supported you.”
Among the nearly 200 Christian leaders affixing their signatures to the letter were Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of Liberty University, the largest evangelical post-secondary educational institution in the world; former U.S. Representative Michele Bachman (R-Minn.); Gary Bauer, president of American Values; Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Mike Hayes, founder of the Center for National Renewal; former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee; Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas; prominent Christian worship leaders Brian and Jenn Johnson of Bethel Music; pro-life leader Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King; Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship; best-selling Christian author and radio talk-show host Eric Metaxas; Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas; Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Ralph Reed, president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel; former Major League Baseball pitcher Darryl Strawberry; Tony Suarez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and George Wood, chairman of the Assemblies of God Fellowship.
You can read the letter in in its entirety, along with the names of its signers, at ChristianPost.com.
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