Some have seen too many political threads on RF. But I've asserted that they're intertwined for better and worse. This is one example of why I have my opinion.
This thread starts with the perspective of the role evangelicals have played in supporting and enabling Trump but it can apply elsewhere including the role extremist Muslims play in blasphemy cases, fanatical Hindus are playing in India, the role of extreme right wing Jews play in the middle-east and so forth.
I'm far from being an evangelical Christian, but I do agree with his analysis because I've seen them kowtow to Trump to get anti-abortion, anti-gay rhetoric and conservative economic policies they support while ignoring the clear message in the two greatest commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
I've bold faced a couple of sentences that to me said it all.
Evangelicals face a reckoning: Donald Trump and the future of our faith
First, far too many tolerated egregious behavior.
The past half decade has offered near daily examples of people co-opting the gospel for sinful ends. Racism, nationalism, sexism, and host of other sins have found purchase within the evangelical movement in both overt and subtle expressions. Many have been able to dismiss these examples as outliers that did not truly represent the evangelical movement. We have long since exhausted this excuse.
As evangelicals, we have to stop saying this isn't who we are. This is who we are; these are our besetting sins.
Second, far too many failed to live up to their promise of speaking truth to power.
During the 2016 election, and at many points since, many evangelicals justified their full-throated support by promising to be a check on Trump’s character. What has become apparent is that this promise was hollow.
Too few were willing to speak out regularly and often couched their criticism so much it lacked any weight. When evangelicals finally had access to the White House, they seemed unable or unwilling to use their prophetic voice to speak truth to power.
...
Will we look inside and repent when needed, or will we double down? Every political and cultural instinct will pull us to the latter but God calls us to the former. But into this temptation we hear the words of Jesus: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
We have reached a reckoning. What comes next will reveal where our trust truly lies.
This thread starts with the perspective of the role evangelicals have played in supporting and enabling Trump but it can apply elsewhere including the role extremist Muslims play in blasphemy cases, fanatical Hindus are playing in India, the role of extreme right wing Jews play in the middle-east and so forth.
I'm far from being an evangelical Christian, but I do agree with his analysis because I've seen them kowtow to Trump to get anti-abortion, anti-gay rhetoric and conservative economic policies they support while ignoring the clear message in the two greatest commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
I've bold faced a couple of sentences that to me said it all.
Evangelicals face a reckoning: Donald Trump and the future of our faith
First, far too many tolerated egregious behavior.
The past half decade has offered near daily examples of people co-opting the gospel for sinful ends. Racism, nationalism, sexism, and host of other sins have found purchase within the evangelical movement in both overt and subtle expressions. Many have been able to dismiss these examples as outliers that did not truly represent the evangelical movement. We have long since exhausted this excuse.
As evangelicals, we have to stop saying this isn't who we are. This is who we are; these are our besetting sins.
Second, far too many failed to live up to their promise of speaking truth to power.
During the 2016 election, and at many points since, many evangelicals justified their full-throated support by promising to be a check on Trump’s character. What has become apparent is that this promise was hollow.
Too few were willing to speak out regularly and often couched their criticism so much it lacked any weight. When evangelicals finally had access to the White House, they seemed unable or unwilling to use their prophetic voice to speak truth to power.
...
Will we look inside and repent when needed, or will we double down? Every political and cultural instinct will pull us to the latter but God calls us to the former. But into this temptation we hear the words of Jesus: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
We have reached a reckoning. What comes next will reveal where our trust truly lies.
