Mod: The Evangelical movement is paying a very large price thanks to the Marmalade Messiah. One that just maybe it can no longer afford. Just don't go believing the hype.
America’s Christians are headed for huge collision course thanks to Trump — Christianity Today just the tip of the iceberg (
Raw Storylink): According to a report from
Reuters, the editorial calling for
Donald Trump’s ouster published in
Christianity Today— which rocked the evangelical world and provoked a furious response from the president — exposed a growing rift within the evangelical movement that is forcing many followers to question their faith.
The editorial, written by chief editor
Mark Galli and published by the venerable magazine founded by
Bill Graham, stated, ” “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?”
Reuters reports those words, and the resulting furor laid bare a movement at the crossroads.
“The Dec. 19 editorial sparked a
Christmas holiday debate over religion in
U.S. politics, and posed new questions about the close alignment between white evangelical voters and
Trump, who has given their beliefs strong political support,” the report states, adding, “There has been a big drop-off in white evangelical church participation among adults under 40, and publications such as
Christianity Today and religious leaders are struggling to engage ‘
Gen Z,’ or those born after 1996.” According to
Greg Carey, a professor at
Lancaster Theological Seminary in
Pennsylvania, “One of the major factors is that the church is too tied up in right-wing politics.”
Napp Nazworth, who resigned as politics editor of the
Christian Post, after agreeing with the op-ed, explained, “Having to go out and defend this guy day after day, as many of these
Trump evangelicals are doing, they’re just destroying their credibility.”
“
Evangelicalism, like all forms of
Christianity in the
United States, is struggling to attract younger members, amid an unprecedented surge in recent years of the number of people identifying as religiously unaffiliated,” the report states. “White evangelical protestants declined as a proportion of the
U.S. population between 2006 and 2018, falling to 15% from 23%, according to analysis by the
Public Religion Research Institute.”
“Younger evangelicals are put off by church leaders’ seemingly unconditional support for
Trump despite his ‘cruel’ treatment of migrants and deregulation that could damage the environment, said
Marlena Graves, a
Christian author on faith, culture and justice, who signed the petition,”
Reuters reports, with
Graves explaining, “No political party embodies
Jesus’s teaching closely. You can’t depend on government to do what
Jesus says because, oftentimes, you have to go against the government.”
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