Christianity Today's Call to Remove Trump an Encouraging Word

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Yesterday, the retiring Christianity Today editor in chief, Mark Galli, wrote and opinion piece for the magazine calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office. It’s the first time since the publication offered political comment since writing that  Bill Clinton was unfit morally to lead the nation in 1996.

The clarion call from one of the oldest evangelical publications (Billy Graham was one of the founders), dropped a biblical plumb line which divides supporters of the president from orthodox Christianity. 

Galli’s call is long overdue. Too many voices from the evangelical community have been co-opted by power, and as a result, have become sycophants for a president who had little use for people of faith or traditional moral values until they became game pieces in his successful election run of 2016.  

Galli has been editor in chief of the magazine since 2012. While leading the publication, he has not been accused of being reactionary or politically sectarian. Until he broached the subject of the golden calf that is Donald Trump.

In an interview with “The Atlantic,” Galli said:

“It isn’t the first time in Church history that the Church has been divided. It’s been divided over very important things. So I am a great believer in the providence of God, and that he will, in his grace, mercy, and mysterious judgment, help us through this period. It’s not my responsibility to heal the breach among evangelicals. It’s not my responsibility to bring peace to the world. My responsibility, given the position I have, whatever it might be, is to speak the truth. If it makes a difference, I am thankful to God. And if it doesn’t make a difference, that’s kind of up to him.”

This rare voice of faith and commitment to biblical standards is a breath of fresh air in a world polluted by those pastors and evangelical who have sold their birthright by becoming mouthpieces for Trump and apologists for his approach to life. 

Galli’s “Christianity Today” begins with  “The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.” 

While he “grants” the president the notion that Democrats have had it out for him from day one, “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.”

Morality is a word the current GOP, which has it’s roots in the “Moral Majority,” that has been left out of the of conversations of most Trump supporters. (The few who champion Trump’s morals are, at best, blind to his history and behavior.)

Galli correctly identifies “that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. 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 relationships 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.”

Evangelical supporters hail, among other things, the president’s Supreme Court nominees and the economy to justify their support of a the president who is late to the positions which are key to his support base. 

Galli writes: “President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.”

He also points out the similar concerns in the magazine’s 1996 editorial on former President Bill Clinton’s failures which concluded:

“Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.”

Galli writes these words also apply to Trump, concluding:

“That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments. 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? 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?”

And

“…no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.”

Why is this editorial getting so much attention? It’s because many of us who have held certain biblical understandings of Christianity have been gobsmacked by the refusal of so many good men and women to hold a politician who shares many of their political beliefs to the standard we would hold our local officials, our teachers and our friends. 

CT’s editorial is an encouraging light for many of us during this Advent season to feel the communion of the saints who recognize that the ends never justifies the means, and a reminder that relinquishing the mandates of the God of the Bible, in the name of any cause, is not the path of faith.

This does not mean we declare those who disagree with us enemies, or use this call as another argument to have with friends and family over the holidays and in the year ahead. But neither does it mean we remain silent, while watching those who see themselves as ministers of the good news of Jesus ignore the teachings of the messiah for political purposes.

Martin Luther wrote: “When we speak the truth, the dogs began to bark.”

There is a lot of barking going on, and it will continue in the days and months ahead.

I applaud Galli and others in speaking the truth with the shared understanding: “If it doesn’t make any difference, that’s kind of up to Him."