join decisionThis is a newsletter containing coverage of the 2024 election.
FRanklin GrahamOne of America's most famous evangelicals recently did something he'd never done before. He gave a critical assessment of Donald Trump. speaking that much wall street journal Not long ago, Graham acknowledged that Trump, who has been impeached twice, married three times and been indicted four times, sometimes uses “locker room” talk.
great; That was it. And even Graham's most mild possible criticism of the former president was accompanied by praise. According to Graham, Trump may sound a bit obscene at times, but at least he doesn't hide it! Now praise Donald Trump for his sincerity.
We all, even Graham, know deep down that corruption permeates every aspect of Trump's life: personal, political, and financial. Just months after being accused of sexually assaulting and defaming a woman, Trump is on trial in New York City on charges of falsifying 34 business records related to paying $130,000 in hush money to a porn star. Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with him. But Graham, a right-wing culture warrior with a lifelong obsession with sexual sin, has given Trump a mulligan time and time again. Despite all of Trump's transgressions, Graham campaigned for him and argued that he would establish himself as “one of our country's great presidents.”
The narrative Graham is pushing is that Trump's 'locker room' talk and 'mean tweets' are his worst transgressions.
This claim is false and despicable, but in some ways it is understandable. In the end, Trump supporters cannot defend who Trump really is and the terrible things he does and says. They cannot defend his lawlessness, brutality, brutality, attempted coup, and encouragement of his supporters to violently storm the Capitol and hang his Vice President. They cannot defend his fraud and promiscuity, his love of conspiracy theories and his attachment to dictators, his pathological lies and outrageous rants, his misogyny and racism, his ridicule of prisoners of war and the disabled. So they take his least problematic behavior and pretend it is his most problematic crime. It's the exact opposite of damning someone with faint praise. In this case, it's praising Trump with a faint curse.
This is a common approach in the MAGA world, especially among white evangelical Christians. They are Trump's most reliable supporters. He owes his political career to them.
The question I have been asked in the Trump era is how people who claim to follow Jesus can provide such trustworthy and even enthusiastic support to someone with such blatant moral corruption. Why are there such overwhelming numbers supporting Trump in 2024, even though there are very solid conservative alternatives to him like former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley? How House Speaker Mike Johnson, who recently told Sean Hannity he could understand his entire worldview by reading the Bible, silenced Trump in Manhattan to show his moral support for a man so morally compromised Will you be able to appear at trial? (Ironically, Johnson claims to have installed “accountability software,” Covenant Eyes, on his and his family’s electronic devices to prevent them from viewing porn.)
How did we get to a point where the late Timothy J. Keller, one of the most trusted Christian pastors in the world, said these words: evangelism It used to refer to people who held the moral high ground, but is now almost synonymous in popular usage. dissembler?
teahe answers complicated. Part of the explanation is that many white evangelicals have convinced themselves that if Democrats win public office, especially the presidency, abortion and crime rates will soar, there will be a “war on Christianity,” and America will become hell.
The fact that empirical evidence does not support this claim does not matter to them. them feel It's true, they talk to each other It is true and so they operate under the assumption that it is true. must be truth. It is not enough to say that the Democrats are wrong on some important issues and have radicalized in some troubling ways. Things must be framed as existential battles: good versus evil, God versus Satan.
They also believe that criticizing their own position in this life-and-death struggle is treasonous. When the stakes are too great and the consequences of defeat too catastrophic, they are willing to embrace non-Christian means to achieve what they believe to be a greater moral good.
“For some on the religious right,” wrote Malcolm Gladwell. american specter “Advancing a political agenda has come to take precedence over the most basic ethical considerations,” he wrote in a 1986 essay. This has been going on for decades.
Another reason things are playing out this way in the white evangelical world is that its leaders are giving in to the ancient temptation to gain access to political power, choosing to become court chaplains to curry favor with the king. They are happy to be taken seriously, to be invited into the halls of power, and to be seen making an impact in the world. During my career in politics, I have never seen a group more easily seduced by political power than evangelicals.
An analogy may be helpful here. Imagine an awkward, socially unskilled, and not particularly popular middle schooler longing for a seat at the cool kid's table. it will mean everything Once the student is invited and comes in, they will do so. nothing stay. Losing your newfound social status will feel like death.
Franklin Graham's father, Billy Graham, was known as “The President's Pastor.” He admitted late in his life that he wanted to get away from politics. “Looking back, I know I crossed the line sometimes, but I won’t do that now.” That lesson was lost on his son and the religious right as a whole. They've crossed the line again and again, and they're about to do it again. The attraction is too great and the resistance is too weak.
There are also some disturbing facts: In the words of my friend Russell Moore, too many people who claim to be Christians see Jesus as a “hoodwinner.” For them, Christianity is an additional thing they use to validate their existing ideological and partisan political beliefs. The Bible is useful enough to serve as evidence for what they already believe.
If you look at Christian fundamentalism and evangelical subcultures (not all of them, but a significant part of them), you will find that antipathy, rather than love, is treated as animating, energizing, even life-giving. Hostility, especially toward Democrats, liberals, and Never Trumpers, is a feeling that enters the broader community. It provides a home for a tribe that thrives on conflict and hostility. Jesus' example is not just inconvenient for these adherents. It's a thousand light years away.
It is certainly true that not all of the evangelical world is fully on board with the MAGA movement. There are many evangelicals who are uneasy about Trump and the number of American Christians who support him, including many pastors and those in leadership positions. But many of them are reluctant to speak out to avoid conflict. They do not want to politicize the church. This is an understandable impulse.
However, the problem is that Christian institutions are collapsing due to the aggressive attacks of the Christian right. We recently saw the Presbyterian Church (PCA), a conservative denomination, initially invite author David French to speak on a panel about political polarization, then disinvite him in the face of right-wing online backlash.
French only agreed to appear on the panel after being approached by individuals within the PCA. He did it as a favor. Moreover, he reminded the PCA that he was no longer a member, and the PCA was warned that French was causing controversy on the far right. Are you ready to brave the heat? He was confident the PCA would, until it and its secretary, Bryan Chapell, closed their doors. The failure of courage by Chapell and his colleagues at the PCA has been repeated at Christian institution after Christian institution in the Trump era.
middlemost evangelicals They will tell you that converting people to the Christian faith is one of their highest callings in life. For them, “soul saving” is essential, spreading the message of salvation to non-believers. Whatever non-Christians feel about that mission, and how much grace and sensitivity Christians have shown to fulfill it, for many Christians it is Jesus' command to “make disciples of all nations.” matches . This makes the evangelical embrace of MAGA ethics particularly problematic.
In the early days of the Trump era, it was clear that the decision by many fundamentalists and evangelicals to embrace him despite his cruelty and depravity would be very costly for the Christian witness. The hypocrisy and self-righteousness was so great that it was unimaginable. It is difficult to think of a more effective way for the enemies of Christianity to undermine the faith than what we have seen since 2016.
For Walker Percy second coming, Will Barrett, the main character of the novel, says this about Christians: “I’m not sure they don’t have the truth. But if they have the truth, why are they so repulsed as to accept it and advertise it? If there are few Christians around you, you might become a Christian. Have you ever lived among 15 million Southern Baptists?” Barrett then presents the following mystery. “If the good news is true, why doesn't anyone want to hear it? And if the good news is true; Why are the promulgators so stupid, and why are the proclamations themselves so exhausting?”
meThere's no need to do that. Just keep going like this. Christianity's witness to the world has been filled with many moments of glory, beauty, special mercy and devotion. The main reason for the spread of Christianity during the first three centuries was that its believers showed compassion and sacrificial love, especially to the powerless and marginalized, widows and orphans, the imprisoned and the sick, and the socially marginalized. Christianity propagated the idea that all people are made in the image of God and are therefore endowed with human dignity. According to the French philosopher and secular humanist Luc Ferry, this was “an unprecedented idea at the time, and one in which our world owes its entire democratic heritage.”
My life has been forever shaped by people of the Christian faith who have loved me. They have walked with me through times of sadness and pain, listened to my questions and doubts, and created precious moments and memories. They have enriched my life, and I know that their faith has made their lives more merciful, joyful, and generous. I have seen a few people I have loved walk through the valley of the shadow of death with dignity, courage, and faithfulness.
One of them was Steve Hayner, who served as president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Columbia Theological Seminary. The last time I saw Steve, who passed away in 2015, he said something that I have kept in my mind. Steve said God's central character is love and grace, and the central mission of Christians is to extend God's reach of grace to others.
This is the answer to the Will Barrett mystery.