The documentary will appear in September. Court evangelicals Paula White, Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, Mike Huckabee, Jack Hibbs, Eric Metaxas, Tony Perkins, Samuel Rodriguez, and Jack Graham are involved. This trailer is so over-the-top that some of it could pass for a anti-Trump parody of the Christian Right.
One of the primary target audiences for the movie is Christians who may be fed up with Trump’s divisive rhetoric and may be considering staying away from the polls or voting for Joe Biden in hopes that Biden may return the country to a sense of normalcy. The movie will try to convince those people that God is using Trump the way that God always uses flawed, imperfect people—and that though Trump may sometimes come across as a jerk, he is an effective champion of “biblical values.” The film will end with a virtual “altar call” inviting viewers to pray for salvation.
Read the rest here. For the record, Joe Biden is not a socialist.
There are many white evangelicals who believe that a spiritual revival will solve the problem of racism in the United States. When God transforms a human heart, the argument goes, the inclination to perform racist acts will subside. So we should pray for revival to “heal our land.”
As an evangelical Christian, I believe that God moves in the lives of his human creation and can change their hearts. But racism runs deep in American culture. It is systemic and structural.
The failure of white Americans to consistently and immediately apply Western ideals of liberty and freedom to African Americans is why we have systemic racism in this country. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments came around it was too late. White supremacy was baked in the American cake. (It was actually baked in the cake of Western Civilization well before 1776 because westerners failed to apply the universal values of the Enlightenment to the cause of racial difference). Neither did the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s end racism in America.
These reform efforts were important steps toward a new birth of freedom, but none of them were able to pull racism out by the roots. The roots were too deep.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this about court evangelical Robert Jeffress:
Jeffress thinks that racism will “evaporate overnight” if people just turned to God. Again, he fails to see that the sin of racism is structural–it is deeply embedded in our all of our institutions. I recall the argument of James Davison’s Hunter‘s book To Change the World”: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. In that book, Hunter argues that individual transformation is not the best way to change the world. True change does not happen through some kind of Protestant populism, but rather by the “work of elites: gatekeepers who provide creative direction and management within spheres of social life.” Such change takes generations and it can only “be described in retrospect.” Individual spiritual transformation can bring about good ends, but it does not change the “moral fabric” or “DNA of a civilization.” I think Hunter’s words are an important reminder that the eradication of systemic racism is going to take a long time and a lot of work.
Other evangelicals are also calling for religious revival as a means of healing the nation of its racial divisions (and other divisions).
Here, for example, are court evangelicals Greg Laurie and Jack Graham:
If there is a spiritual revival, and it actually does do something to curb systemic racism in America, this would be a relatively new development in our history. I was reminded of this as I read David Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a slave at a time when a great religious revival moved through America. Some historians call this revival the “Second Great Awakening.” This spiritual awakening made considerable headway among the Methodists of the Delmarva peninsula. (See William Williams’s The Garden of American Methodism and John Wigger’s Taking Heaven by Storm).
Here is Blight on Douglass’s view of his owner Thomas Auld:
In August 1833, Frederick attained a special insight into Auld’s character when his master allowed him to attend a religious revival at Bay Side, some eight miles from St. Michaels. This classic country Methodist camp meeting left indelible images in Douglass’s fertile memory. People came from all over Talbot County; two steamboat loads of pilgrims also arrived from Baltimore. The gathering lasted a week, and slaves relieved of work for a few days could hardly resist the excitement of hundreds of campfires roasting meat, a veritable tent city with a preacher’s stand in the middle and a “pen” marked off for “mourners” to enter and make their confessions, embrace the Lord, and be saved. A recent convert himself to Christian faith, although now struggling to understand whether God intended any justice on earth, Frederick witnessed the spectacle of master Thomas’s wrenching emotional breakdown and confession in that pen. Blacks were not allowed in the pen, nor in front of the preacher’s performances, but Douglass tells us that he imposed his way close enough to hear Auld “groan,” and to see his reddened face, his disheveled hair, and a “stray tear halting on his cheek.” Here festered the dark heart of the moral bankruptcy of slaveholders that the future abolitionist would make his central subject.
Douglass converted this memory into angry condemnations of the religious hypocrisy of the entire Christian slaveholding universe, especially the little microcosm of Auld’s household, where the young slave now had to listen daily to loud praying and testifying by the white family, and to participate in hospitality extended to local preachers who were sometimes housed at Auld’s home, all the while enduring the good Methodist’s verbal and physical cruelty. For Douglass, the proof of any sincerity in Auld’s “tear-drop” manifested in his actions. In his deeds and his glances, wrote Douglass, it was as if the pathetic master had concluded, “I will teach you, young man, that, though I have parted with my sins , I have not parted with my sense. I shall hold slaves, and go to heaven too.” Such a vow, imagined by Douglass from the memory of his owner’s cowardly eyes, might serve as an unspoken motto of the Christian capitalists who ruled the antebellum South.
It was not merely the agency of Master Thomas, in breaking up and destroying my Sabbath school, that shook my confidence in the power of southern religion to make men wiser or better; but I saw him all the cruelty and meanness, after his conversion, which he had exhibited before he made a profession or religion. His cruelty and meanness were especially displayed in his treatment of my unfortunate cousin, Henny, whose lameness made her a burden to him. I have no extraordinary person hard usage toward myself to complain of, against him, but I have seen him tie up the lame and maimed woman, and whip her in a manner most brutal, and shocking; and then, with blood-chilling blasphemy, he would quote the passage of scripture, “That servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”
Douglass thought the Methodist revival taking place on Maryland’s Eastern Shore during the 1830s was morally bankrupt because it gave white people a spiritual justification to continue their cruelty.
If a spiritual revival leads to more Christian Trumpism is it really a spiritual revival? Or is it something else?
As I said in an earlier tweet…. the left is coming after Jesus and the apostles next. Not the statues but the historic faith of Christianity https://t.co/wO8INqFk0v
Graham is responding to this tweet by Mike Huckabee:
Just when I didn’t think Don Lemon could say something any dumber than stuff he’s already said, he “dons” his ecclesiastical hat and declares “Jesus wasn’t perfect.” In the faith world, we call that kind of arrogant comment “blasphemy.” https://t.co/w27lTCHlXw
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 9, 2020
I was listening to CNN when Lemon said that Jesus “wasn’t perfect.” I think this was more of a simple theological misunderstanding by Lemon, or perhaps he really doesn’t believe Jesus was perfect. We live in a religious diverse country after all. Don Lemon is free to believe that Jesus was not perfect. (By the way, do Jewish conservatives on Fox News believe Jesus was perfect?) In other words, I did not see this as an attempt to attack Christianity. Lemon was trying to show that our founding fathers were not perfect. He was even calling out liberals. Watch for yourself:
Apparently Robert Jeffress is not happy about this either. But this should not surprise us. He has long believed that we live in a Christian nation, not a pluralistic democracy.
“Don Lemon’s comments are, first of all, heretical, and contradict the most basic tenet of the Christian faith and demonstrate how tone-deaf the left is to faith issues.”
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 9, 2020
According to Jeffress, anyone who does not believe Jesus was perfect is peddling “fake news.”
.@donlemon’s claim last night on @CNN that “Jesus Christ was not perfect” makes him and his network the uncontested champions of Fake News. https://t.co/QC0TC6WInL
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 9, 2020
Court evangelical journalist David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network agrees:
.@donlemon from @CNN said that Jesus Christ, “admittedly was not perfect when he was here on this earth.” Watch. THIS IS A LIE. HE WAS PERFECT ON EARTH. IF HE WASN’T, HE WOULDN’T BE GOD! And @CNN wants us to trust them when they can’t even get this right? pic.twitter.com/WWgruHavRe
Again, the point here is not to argue whether or not Jesus was perfect. That is a theological discussion. 3 points:
The court evangelicals do not care about the larger context of Lemon’s statement because the context does not suit their political agenda.
It is fine to tweet that Lemon does not understand the beliefs of Christianity. I am criticizing how his views (or his mistake) were turned into culture war tweets.
The court evangelicals do not believe in a pluralistic society. The idea that Jesus was imperfect may be a “lie” to all serious Christians, but this is not an exclusively Christian nation. Jews, Muslims, atheists, and people of all kinds of religions watch CNN. Non-Christians work at Fox News (I think). The belief that “Jesus was perfect” is an article of faith and it is perfectly fine in a democracy for people to disagree with this claim. As a Christian, I believe in the incarnation, but I am not offended that Don Lemon may not. These kinds of tweets just make Christians look foolish.
Gary Bauer is using his Facebook page to share an article on the American Revolution that appeared yesterday at The Federalist. Jane Hampton Cook’s essay is a historical and theological mess. It blurs African slavery, political slavery, and the biblical idea of liberty from sin. But at least she was able to take a shot at the 1619 Project! That’s all that really matters. Bauer writes:”>Rather than teaching our children a lie — that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery as the 1619 Project falsely claims — this is what our children should be learning in school.”
Hey Ralph, all you need to do is say “Happy Anniversary.” That’s it:
I was not a fan of his presidency, but congratulations to Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter on an amazing 74 years of marriage. Impressive. https://t.co/qyhDyEbmqJ
Eric Metaxas is trying to get his book If You Can Keep It in the hands of “every high school history teacher in the country. Before your school adopts Eric Metaxas’s book, please read this article and this series of posts.
Tonight David Barton will be making a case for why Washington D.C. should not be a state. I don’t have time to watch it, but I am guessing it has something to do with Christian nationalism.
Is it really true that Democrats don’t care about law and order or the Constitution? Jenna Ellis of Liberty University’s Falkirk Center thinks so:
My latest for @thehill — We need four more years of President @realDonaldTrump to expand a conservative majority to ensure equal justice for all. Democrats don’t care about law and order and the Constitution. Every American should!https://t.co/AAPhBXV2o5
John Hagee invited Fox News commentator, conspiracy theorist, disgraced Christian college president, and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza to speak at the Sunday evening service at his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. Watch:
D’Souza tells the audience that American exceptionalism is ordained by God and it is under attack. He then moves into his usual critique of socialism. This then devolves into a rejection of systemic racism. If the camera shots of the audience members nodding their heads and cheering is any indication, D’Souza seems to be getting through to them. This is what pro-Trump megachurches have become. It’s pure fearmongering.
The Supreme Court made an important religious liberty decision today, but some court evangelicals and other Trump evangelicals are still fighting. They continue to stoke fear about threats to religious liberty.
Why it’s paramount to never allow a Democrat activist in the White House. American liberty and our rights depend on it. Elections have consequences. https://t.co/Opm7oqWnYA
“Christian” politico Ralph Reed turns a SCOTUS victory into a chance to get revenge against his enemy.
Tremendous victory for religious freedom in #SCOTUS decision in favor of Little Sisters of the Poor. It was Joe Biden & Obama who persecuted these nuns and threatened to fine them millions. Trump stood with them.
Johnnie Moore, the self-professed “modern day Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” responds to the SCOTUS decision in a way Bonhoeffer would not have recognized as Christian. Perhaps Johnnie needs to read The Cost of Discipleship.
The lines are so clear…@JoeBiden supported the government REQUIRING NUNS! to provide contraception against their conscience.@realDonaldTrump‘s @WhiteHouse refused to enforce it, & sued to protect #ReligiousFreedom.
When you think David French is an “irrational woke liberal” and mock someone’s military service it speaks volumes about you and the institution you work for. In Jenna Ellis’s case it is Liberty University. Remember, not all Christian colleges are the same.
David French’s transformation into an irrational woke liberal is complete.
Military service doesn’t mean that every idea one offers is inherently correct simply because of their service. Duckworth’s facts are wrong and political ideas anti-American. https://t.co/Uej2mSAQLZ
Jenna Ellis was on the Eric Metaxas Show today talking about Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech. Metaxas, who is also a spokesperson at the Falkirk Center, says anyone who criticized the speech is “loony.” He mocks the Sioux leaders who pointed out that Mount Rushmore was on Lakota land: “They have benefited from this country.” Ellis thinks that Trump gave the nation an “honest history lesson” during the speech. Again, this should be offensive to any serious classroom teacher who is working to give American young people honest history lessons. In one of the more comical moments of the interview, Ellis praises Trump for his love of the nuclear family and commitment to the institution of marriage.
Wait a minute, I thought Biden was working with Black Lives Matter to undermine America?:
1/4 At Mount Rushmore, President Trump eloquently articulated American exceptionalism, noting that “our Founders” launched not only “a revolution in government, but a revolution in the pursuit of justice, equality, liberty, and prosperity… It was all made possible by… the
2/4 Declaration of Independence,” which “enshrined a divine truth… ‘all men are created equal’.” As President Trump observed, these “immortal words set in motion the unstoppable march of freedom.” President Trump also noted that our rights were given to us “by our Creator in
3/4 heaven.” This is the fundamental difference between the enduring success of the American Revolution as opposed to the collapse and savage bloodshed of the French Revolution, which came along only thirteen years later. The French Revolution asserted “liberty, equality, & fra-
4/4 -ternity” based on the mere human assertion of these rights, which proved to be a woefully inadequate foundation, compared to their being divinely conferred. When our forefathers declared their independence from Great Britain they did not declare their independence from God. pic.twitter.com/iGSmbgimyN
Make no mistake about it, the same anarchism that wants to erase American history and heritage will be coming after Biblical history next. Next up after the founding fathers will be Jesus and the apostles.
Graham’s words remind me what I wrote in Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump about the Election of 1800 and the evangelical response to the threat of the Deep State Illuminati in the early republic.
Jentezen is worried about the radical left controlling churches:
California’s Governor just banned singing/chanting at church. Catholics can’t recite mass; Evangelicals can’t worship out loud. The very definition of discrimination is to allow thousands to march and scream without masks while telling churches 100 or less that you cannot sing.
Jack Graham is asking people to wear their military uniforms to church on Sunday. Why do white evangelicals always appeal to the Armed Forces, and only the Armed Forces, on July 4th?
We’re looking forward to our annual Patriotic Service this weekend honoring all those who have bravely served or are currently serving our country in the Armed Forces. Please invite any of these heroes you know to join us so that we may honor them. pic.twitter.com/nEAN61wN79
I am really confused by both Paula White’s retweet and Samuel Rodriguez’s original tweet:
Rev. Rodriquez is correct! What the virus has revealed is how willing the radical left is to discriminate against religion. Treating comminunities of faith unequally is unconstitutional. It is illegal. https://t.co/ndWR9phkIn
James Robison makes it sound like “profanity, pornography, and exploitation” are new things in America:
If the ideas set forth by the purveyors of profanity, pornography and exploitation become the prevalent mind-set in America, the foundations of our freedom will have cracked. Ultimately, our nation will deteriorate and true freedom will be lost.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19 pic.twitter.com/YOUKx6FGjH
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 3, 2020
I’ve always wondered why so many Christian Right preachers stop after Matthew 28:19. Don’t they realize that the Great Commission continues into verse 20: “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
If the Great Commission means we should be observing all Jesus commanded us, Christians should rejoice when persecuted (Mt.5:11-12), be agents of reconciliation (Mt. 5:23-25), tell the truth (Mt. 5:37), turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:38-42), love their enemies (Mt. 5:44-46), stop practicing their righteousness before men (Mt. 6:1), judge not (Mt. 7:1-3), not cast their pearls before pigs (Mt. 7:6), practice the Golden Rule (Mt. 7:12), follow the 81% narrow way (Mt. 7:13-14), beware of false prophets (Mt. 7:15-16), pray for laborers (Mt. 9:37-38), fear not (Mt. 10:28), defend their rights deny themselves (Lk 9:23-25), celebrate the poor (Luke 14:12-14), and welcome strangers (Mt. 25:35).
Jeffress is also mad about the California prohibition against singing in church. It looks like he got the news from the alt-Right, white nationalist website Breitbart:
The “science” that allows for protests but prohibits singing in church is “fake science” that must be rejected. If being outside makes protests safe, then why are beaches being shut down? https://t.co/ofa12FBij8
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 3, 2020
Pastor Mark Burns thanks Trump for protecting Confederate monuments:
Thank you for standing strong and protecting American History. The Left sounds like Nazi Germany, when they begin to burn books and historical artifacts. Good or Bad, American History is American History and needs to be remembered.
— Pastor Mark Burns (@pastormarkburns) June 26, 2020
The Falkirk Center at Liberty University is using Edmund Burke to defend Confederate monuments and the white supremacy they represent.
So called “progressives” have failed to realize that by erasing history and spitting on the graves of their predecessors, they are digressing rather than progressing. We cannot improve as a society if we do not recognize the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past. pic.twitter.com/RmKThENVki
I have many questions about this tweet, but here are two:
Would the Falkirk Center feel the same way about George III, Parliament and British tyranny? Would they tear down monuments?
Would the Falkirk Center like this “good, bad, and ugly” approach to American history to be applied to public school American history textbooks?
It looks like Trump will be “telling the truth” tonight in South Dakota. Here is what Falkirk Center spokesperson Jenna Ellis retweeted earlier today:
🚨 To celebrate Independence Day, @realDonaldTrump is going to tell the TRUTH about American history—and the truth about the people tearing down our statues/history. At the foot of Mount Rushmore tonight, our @POTUS will defend and celebrate America’s founding. TUNE IN! 🇺🇸
I am watching the crowd assembling at this event right now. No social distancing. No masks. The president’s job is to protect the people. This rally is immoral.
Last month, when I was writing my series “Three Sundays in April,” I commented on how court evangelical preachers Greg Laurie, Robert Jeffress, and Jack Graham were predicting a great spiritual revival as soon as Americans came out of quarantine and started attending church again.
But David Gibson, the director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, wonders if COVID-19 will actually lead to “religion recession” in America.
Here is a taste of his piece at Religion & Politics:
The future of our national religious life is also the subject of growing speculation, with the sunny-side-up view arguing that we are primed for a new “Great Awakening” of the sort that have periodically transformed American culture.
This revival will be spurred, the thinking goes, by a flood of Americans who ache for a return to communal worship that has been denied them for months. They will be joined by newcomers who, chastened by this national memento mori, discover or rediscover the balm of faith. “Could a plague of biblical proportions be America’s best hope for religious revival?” Robert Nicholson wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “[T]here is reason to think so.” Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution had the same question: “It could also go the other way,” he tweeted, “but my instinct is to think that a great awakening is now *more* likely, at least in America, by 2050.”
To many, the prospect of a resurgence in religious observance is an enticing vision, because faith communities can be anchors of social solidarity, which has been steadily eroding for decades.
The data and history tell a different story, however, and, much like the economic outlook, the forecast for religion looks more like recession than resurrection.
Jenetzen Franklin’s new book, Acres of Diamonds: Discovering God’s Best Right Where You Are, shares a title with Russell Conwell‘s famous prosperity gospel lecture. Here is a quote from Conwell’s sermon: “I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich.”
Jack Graham wants his followers to stay away from current events so they can clear their minds and “focus our thoughts on God’s Word and doing His will.” He implies that focusing one’s life on God’s word and “doing his will” is something different than bringing Christian truth to bear on current events. I am not sure this is the time for Christians to retreat to the prayer closet.
There’s so much negativity around us which is toxic to the soul. Let’s clear our minds and focus our thoughts on God’s Word and doing His will everyday. Take a break from news and endless opining. Get some exercise. Pray and obey God.
Tony Perkins is retweeting a clip from a speech by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley. His comment on the speech is a convoluted mash-up of God and politics that fuses American values with Kingdom values all in service of making America Christian “again.”
When men and women try to rewrite God’s truth, it’s up to His people to stand up and speak out. Could we still lose our freedom? We might. But as Christians, we’re not called to win in the earthly realm. We’re called to stand. pic.twitter.com/AgORPJWEQI
If you read through Perkins’s twitter feed you will find him quoting a lot of scripture. But all the verses he cites are meant to be read through the lens of his Christian nationalist political agenda.
Perkins said we should support Trump because he will deliver on conservative Supreme Court justices. His article today at Family Research Council reveals the sense of betrayal he feels after Neil Gorsuch’s opinion in the recent LGBTQ civil rights decision. He blasts the court for being too political. Interesting. For many court evangelicals, the Supreme Court is only “too political” when it makes decisions that the Christian Right does not like.
Eric Metaxas had Pat Boone on his radio show and tried to get Boone to say that he is not in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame because he is an outspoken Christian. Boone thinks he belongs in the Hall of Fame because of his music, but he won’t bite on Metaxas’s suggestion that he faces discrimination because of his faith.
The Eric Metaxas Show is Trumpism disguised as Christian radio.
So what has happened in the country since yesterday’s update?
Donald Trump continues to deny systemic racism in the police department and American society generally. At a speech at a Dallas megachurch today he said that there is no real problem with the police department apart from a few “bad apples.” He added: “we’re dominating the streets with compassion.” At the same event, Attorney General Bill Barr said that “we’ve never had a president who was more committed to reforming law enforcement.” I am trying to figure out how Trump can believe in police reform and still think the problem is just a few “bad apples.” It doesn’t make sense. It is also worth noting that Trump came to Dallas to discuss race and policing in America, but the Dallas Police Chief, Dallas County Sheriff, and District Attorney were not invited. They are all black.
Mark Millery, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and the nation’s top military officer, apologized for taking part in Trump’s photo-op on June 1. He called his participation a “mistake.”
Local and state officials are removing Confederate statues from public spaces and the protests over the death of George Floyd continue.
Trump announced that he will be back on the campaign trail. He will hold his first mass campaign rally since the COVID-19 lockdown in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Juneteenth (June 19). This is the day African Americans celebrate the 1865 reading of the Emancipation of Proclamation. This event will take place a few weeks after the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying today?
Jack Graham called out the individual sin of racism on Sunday, but there is not much here about how racism is embedded in our economic, legal, and cultural institutions. (To be fair, I have not listened to the entire sermon). This is usually how far most of the court evangelicals will go on the question of race.
The Family Research Council (FRC), run by court evangelical Tony Perkins, is talking about abortion. But the video the FRC tweeted today actually makes a good argument for the fact that abortion is directly related to systemic racism and poverty. Yet Perkins and his fellow court evangelicals deny the existence of systemic racism and support politicians with policies that favor the rich over the poor. When will the court evangelicals get serious about reducing the number of abortions in America?
“What about racism?”
In New York City, more black babies are aborted than born. African Americans are “the only demographic where there are more induced deaths than births. And yet people call this reproductive justice.” @lifehaspurpose#prolife#abortion#racismpic.twitter.com/IB4dUFVbvh
Johnnie Moore, who hails himself a “Modern Day Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” shares a video of HUD Secretary Ben Carson saying that under Trump’s leadership the American people will realize that “we are not each other enemies.” What world does Moore live in? Trump a healer? Trump a unifier?
“We the people will recognize despite all the forces to the contrary that we are not each other’s enemies.” https://t.co/VcWe4YjDRo
Ralph Reed is talking about Trump’s accomplishments. He is “flummoxed” that some Christians and political conservatives do not support Trump. No surprise here. Reed helped to write the Christian Right political playbook. He has executed it his entire life. He knows no other way. As I have argued, the playbook is unChristian and ineffective.
Here is what your favorite pro-Trump evangelical leaders–the court evangelicals— are saying about everything going in our country right now:
Robert Jeffress is using scripture to subtely suggest that Christians should obey their government. Once again, he is using the Bible and the flag in the same tweet:
“I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-2 #PrayingForAmericapic.twitter.com/6UT6DXG78s
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) June 3, 2020
Samuel Rodriguez said he was glad to see Trump brandishing the Bible “like a Boss.” He added, “I see Donald Trump going, ‘You all dare to burn a church behind the White House. How dare you? Let me show you something.”
I’m still trying to figure out how to reconcile the statement with the tweet.
Ralph Reed seems to be getting more and more desperate. He is trying to maintain composure on a sinking ship. Here he is tweeting a completely debunked piece at The Federalist:
Must-read outstanding piece by @MZHemingway. Media Falsely Claimed Violent Riots Were Peaceful And That Tear Gas Was Used Against Rioters https://t.co/Y3NXK4EOJJ
Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk’s Falkirk Center at Liberty University weighs in:
With the nation amid intense turmoil, we must stay united in the fact that we are all Americans. In order to form a more perfect union, we must dispense of the vitriol that permeates the news cycle and instead, have genuine, good faith discussions about the state of our nation. pic.twitter.com/3Rim8RmIxV
The Falkirk Center seems unsure how to respond to all of this so it turned to Arnold Schwarzenegger. When will Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk learn that the future of American unity is happening in the streets of American cities right now? Don’t be deceived. The Falkirk Center believes in “national unity” on its own terms, and these are not the terms of the people who are in the streets right now. “Dispense of vitriol?” Just read the Center’s tweeter feed. Just read Kirk’s feed.
And here is Eric Metaxas rejecting the idea of both white privilege and systemic racism. He says these ideas were manufactured by “cultural Marxists.” He says these things are “bizarre.” Let’s remember that Metaxas fashions himself as a historian. Maybe he should read some African-American history. Tune in at about the 16-minute mark:
Metaxas doesn’t even hide his partisanship anymore. Lately his show starts with attacks on Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden as part of a commercial for “My Pillow.”
And then in the second hour of his program on Wednesday he talked with Charlie Kirk:
At around the 28-minute mark, Metaxas addresses the Trump Bible photo-op. I will just let you watch it. Kirk says that anyone who criticized Trump’s use of the Bible at St. John’s Church is trying to destroy Western Civilization.
At the 39-minute mark, Kirk calls white privilege a “racist and sinister lie.” He even makes the case that when Trump held-up the Bible he was somehow making a statement against white privilege and systemic racism. Metaxas responds with some pretty bad theology. Just watch. There is only so much of this stuff I can take.
Jack Graham has finally weighed-in:
My take? The President walked to an historic church and held up the Eternal Word of God and publicly declared his faith and demonstrated solidarity with people of faith. I am praying for my President and his family. https://t.co/r21M3OzEAD
Yes, Trump did show solidarity with “people of faith”–the conservative evangelical Christians who support him. Did Trump really declare his faith in front of St. John’s church on Monday? Here is how he understands Christian faith. (From an interview last night with Sean Spicer):
SPICER: Since you’ve been president, have you grown in your faith? …
TRUMP: So I think maybe I have, from the standpoint that I see so much that I can do. I’ve done so much for religion. The Johnson amendment, getting rid of it, Mexico City … Two Supreme Court justices. pic.twitter.com/MYuppABjUs
It isn’t possible for anyone anywhere to ever do anything “for religion.” There’s no religion in general. There’s no faith in general. There is only faith in something. The voice in your head, for instance. Or white supremacist terror. Thanks for taking my religion course online. https://t.co/m9NRF54TZE
Trump’s visit to St. John’s Church yesterday was an attempt to shore-up his white evangelical base. He probably lost some evangelical supporters as a result of his mishandling of the coronavirus. He needs them back. (He is heading to the John Paul II National Shrine today to shore-up the Catholic vote and apparently sign an executive order about international religious freedom).
Here is what the court evangelicals are saying about Trump’s speech yesterday and his visit to St. John’s Church. (I mentioned a few of these tweets in yesterday’s post):
Robert Jeffress went on Fox News to praise Trump for standing with historic St. John’s Church. For him, it was all about religious liberty and the protection of churches from violence. (The Episcopal bishop and the rector of the church have a very different view). He did not mention Trump’s use of the Bible. Jeffress also revealed that his church, First Baptist–Dallas, was vandalized during the demonstrations over the weekend.
Franklin Graham, as expected:
Yesterday @POTUS Trump made a statement by walking to @StJohnLafayette that had been vandalized & set on fire in Sunday night’s rioting. God & His Word are the only hope for our nation. https://t.co/DNsTr12TTh
Jack Graham won’t go there. But the day is still young:
As Christians we commit to love one another. This includes standing with those who are hurting, uniting with those who are helping, and believing with those who are hoping for a better life. We care. Deeply. We weep with those who weep and hear the cries for justice.
Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Falkirk Center, a “Christian” think tank that was essentially designed to strengthen the white evangelical support for the hate-inducing and divisive Trump administration, tweeted:
Even through these times of incredible uncertainty and unrest, we must mirror Martin Luther King Jr.’s resolve to not give in to hate but instead, extend the hand of love and reconciliation to a fallen and sinful world. pic.twitter.com/e0o4vmiCRu
Ralph Reed is trying to come-up with something positive to say about Trump:
For over 7 years we have worked on criminal justice reform to help address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. President @realDonaldTrump supports the African American community and is working to improve our justice system. https://t.co/5qLgP4ymWT
ADDENDUM: If you have more court evangelical statements send them along and I will add them to the list here. One reader just sent me this tweet from Johnnie Moore:
I will never forget seeing @POTUS@realDonaldTrump slowly & in-total-command walk from the @WhiteHouse across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church defying those who aim to derail our national healing by spreading fear, hate & anarchy. After just saying, “I will keep you safe.” https://t.co/sH8jLg5pnz
Religion News Service asked me to write something on this. Here you go:
Eric Metaxas, a Christian author, radio personality and one of the president’s most prominent court evangelicals, wants to make America great again. Earlier this week we got a glimpse of what he might mean by such a return to greatness, and it speaks volumes about the state of white evangelicalism in the age of Donald Trump, particularly as it relates to race.
Last week, Metaxas published a tweet in response to Joe Biden’s comments during a radio interview with African American talk show host Charlamagne tha God. At the end of the interview, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Metaxas reacted on the social media platform that he has called “a sick and nasty place”:
“Just now Joe Biden tried & failed to walk back his ‘You ain’t black comment’ by saying ‘Sho nuff you is so shizzle ain’t black! Cuz Massa Trump be fixin to put all y’alls behinds back in chains! You done got you sefs no choice in dis hyah. And that’s a FO sho for sho!”
Metaxas eventually deleted the tweet and then devoted part of his own syndicated radio program this week to defending it. Metaxas claims he was poking fun at how Biden’s use of “black lingo”— especially the former vice president’s use of the phrase “ain’t black”— serves as an example of how “old white Democrats” co-opt African American speech for political gain.
Biden’s comment was, as many have pointed out, inappropriate and offensive for its presumption to speak for African Americans. Metaxas’ tweet, however, was worse. His language tapped into the nearly 200-year-old practice of blackface minstrel shows, a form of white entertainment that has long been a source of pain in the African American community.
Let’s think about what has happened in the last 24-48 hours.
The President of the United States continues to push a conspiracy claiming that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough murdered Lori Klausutis, a 28-year-old women who died in his former congressional office in 2001. The widower of this woman, T.J. Klausutis, wrote a letter to Twitter asking the social media outlet to remove these tweets. In that letter he wrote: “the president of the United States has taken something that doesn’t belong to him–the memory of my dead wife–and perverted it for perceived political gain….My wife deserves better.”
One hour ago, Trump tweeted:
Psycho Joe Scarborough is rattled, not only by his bad ratings but all of the things and facts that are coming out on the internet about opening a Cold Case. He knows what is happening!
Despite its refusal to remove Trump’s Scarborough tweets, Twitter may be waking-up to the president’s lies. The social media outlet recently fact-checked a Trump tweet on mail-in ballots. Trump says that he will punish Twitter for this. (I still don’t understand why Twitter fact-checked this tweet and not the Scarborough tweets).
In Minneapolis, four police officers were fired for their involvement in the death of a black man named George Floyd. An officer held down Floyd with his knee as Floyd said that he could not breathe. He died shortly after this took place.
Trump mocked his Democratic 2020 rival Joe Biden for wearing a mask. He told a reporter wearing a mask that he was trying to be “politically correct.” Conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh said that masks have become a “required symbol on the left to promote fear, to promote indecision, to promote the notion that we’re nowhere out of this.” Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that it is “peculiar” that Biden doesn’t wear a mask at home.
These all seem like moral issues that Christians should be concerned about. The T.J. Klausutis story falls into the realm of “family values” and “marriage.” The Twitter fact-check story is about the difference between truth and lies. The George Floyd case is about human dignity and racism. The mask story is about life.
But too many conservative evangelical leaders, especially the court evangelicals, are silent. Trump has paralyzed them. Their consciences are held captive by GOP politics, the Christian Right political playbook, and the president. Their heads are in the sand. They are mostly silent. While all of these stories rage, they tweet things like this:
My new book, Praying for America is available NEXT TUESDAY, June 2! Join with me as we ask God to do His will in and to bless America. You can pre-order your copy here: https://t.co/z7QH1190RKpic.twitter.com/1xPuSYPOiT
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) May 26, 2020
I would rather have a president who’s not afraid to go outside and play golf for the first time in three months than a president who’s too scared to come out of his basement for three months
Court evangelical Jack Graham should be commended for calling attention to the Floyd case:
We cannot ignore the tragic death of George Floyd. The brokenness of a sinful world and violent humans cannot be tolerated. Silence is not an option. We condemn hate in all its forms and stand together to end injustice. For the love of God.
Now if only Graham and Reed would develop a deeper political theology to address the history of systemic racism that led to this moment. They condemn what happened to Floyd. This is right and good. Yet they remain blind to the racism and racist policies of Donald Trump.
(A lot of our readers are not on Twitter. A “retweet” is a re-posting of a tweet that is then shared with all of retweeter’s followers. When Trump retweets, it is always an endorsement of the content of the original tweet).
A lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe Scarborough. So a young marathon runner just happened to faint in his office, hit her head on his desk, & die? I would think there is a lot more to this story than that? An affair? What about the so-called investigator? Read story! https://t.co/CjBXBXxoNS
The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history. People grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and “force” people to sign. Also, forge names. Some absentee OK, when necessary. Trying to use Covid for this Scam!
To protect PolyGrip during this pandemic, we have developed 2 options. With the DJT option, she will be able to tongue and adjust her dentures more easily. With duct tape, she won’t be able to drink booze on the job as much. Which do you think she will prefer? #maga#tcot#kagpic.twitter.com/cqRnPmmdyf
We just got a look at the official portrait for the self proclaimed Governor of Georgia. She fought a tough race, kissed a lot of babies and visited every buffet restaurant in the State. Joe will be a racist if he doesn’t pick her. #maga#tcot#kagpic.twitter.com/T0gESxbKX4
Friendly Reminder: If you stay home in November and don’t get every person you know voting for DJT, these 3 will be the line of succession in America. The Three Stooges on steroids. We can’t let that happen. #maga#tcot#kagpic.twitter.com/JxNWU5O9No
Jeff, you had your chance & you blew it. Recused yourself ON DAY ONE (you never told me of a problem), and ran for the hills. You had no courage, & ruined many lives. The dirty cops, & others, got caught by better & stronger people than you. Hopefully this slime will pay a big… https://t.co/AJPUBTPCnT
….price. You should drop out of the race & pray that super liberal @DougJones, a weak & pathetic puppet for Crazy Nancy Pelosi & Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, gets beaten badly. He voted for impeachment based on “ZERO”. Disgraced Alabama. Coach @TTuberville will be a GREAT Senator!
The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan, Dana Nessel, is viciously threatening Ford Motor Company for the fact that I inspected a Ventilator plant without a mask. Not their fault, & I did put on a mask. No wonder many auto companies left Michigan, until I came along!
.@deanbaquet is to be seriously respected. He has long been considered one of the dumbest men in the world of journalism, and he became Executive Editor of the Failing New York Times. Not easy to do. He has given up on “figuring Trump out”. Called it all wrong from the….
And now here are the recent tweets and retweets over the last 48 hours from Trump’s leading evangelical supporters:
“The Trump Administration has been the best friend that the faith community has ever had, and Faith & Freedom Coalition and millions of others are grateful for his friendship and leadership.” – Chairman @ralphreedhttps://t.co/HPtwOQfosJ
It looks like Reed is suddenly interested in politics making racist comments:
Did Biden really say this? He insulted an African-American radio host by saying, “you ain’t black.” Simply because he asked Sleep Joe questions. This is racism. It is ugly. Democrats should repudiate this racist comment immediately. #YouAintBlackhttps://t.co/FYMtnL8h4I
#FlashbackFriday Ignore the polls. What matters most in determining election outcomes is intensity, enthusiasm, ground game and turnout. Polls are poor measures of those factors. https://t.co/wcRfvbXONs
“There has never been a more pro-religious liberty President in the history of our country than @realDonaldTrump.”
Watch my interview from “@LouDobbs Tonight” discussing President Trump deeming places of worship essential here: https://t.co/Qx6MSbycyD
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) May 22, 2020
Imagine coronavirus under an Obama, Clinton or Biden admin! We would all be like Rapunzel – locked away forever!
DOJ intervenes in case challenging Illinois coronavirus restrictions, says governor went too far https://t.co/aZX5WD5IMW#FoxNews
We can’t have government shutting down churches against their will. This violates First Amendment rights. We have voluntarily cooperated these weeks and months as churches have closed services but this is overreach , partisan politics, and will be judged illegal in lawsuits https://t.co/DmGZMDZwyo
On April 19, 2020, the Sunday after Easter, Donald Trump watched the service at Jack Graham’s Prestonwood Baptist Church in West Plano, Texas.
What did he hear?
Jack Graham is sixty-nine-years-old and a life-long Southern Baptist. He has a Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Southwestern in “Church and Proclamation.” After serving several Southern Baptist Churches in Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida, Graham came to Prestonwood, a prominent Dallas-area megachurch, in 1989. Today the church claims 45,000 members. Graham was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2002-2004.
Graham has strong court evangelical credentials. Here are some of his greatest hits:
He was one of the several evangelical leaders who prayed for Trump at the “Evangelicals for Trump” gathering in January 2020. (I wrote about this event at USA Today).
He signed a letter criticizingChristianity Today after former editor Mark Galli wrote an anti-Trump editorial. (He said the magazine was “increasingly liberal and out of step and out of touch with conservative Christians and churches”).
He defended Trump during impeachment, calling the proceedings against the president “ludicrous” and a “sham.”
When Donald Trump pointed his browser toward Prestonwood Baptist Church he watched a few praise songs and then saw Graham interviewing Texas governor Gregg Abbott. The Republican governor knew that his primary audience was not Graham or those sitting on their couches at home awaiting Graham’s sermon. Abbott was talking to the President of the United States. Abbott said that “Texas wants to lead the way” in opening the nation’s economy. He told Graham, “put your faith in God and Texas will once again rise-up to be the number one economy in the United States of America.”
Graham’s sermon was titled “We are Alive.” It was based on Acts 2, a passage chronicling the coming of the Holy Spirit and the first days of the early Christian church. Christians around the world celebrate these events on Pentecost Sunday. This year, May 31 is Pentecost Sunday. Since Southern Baptists do not follow the historic Christian calendar, Graham felt comfortable preaching on Acts 2 six weeks early.
Graham’s delivered a standard 3-point message. Based on the text, he exhorted his listeners to “exalt” Christ, “evangelize” the world, and “engage” the life of the church. Because several listeners had made professions of faith (by contacting the website on the screen) the week before–Easter Sunday–Graham wanted to make sure that these people got connected with a church characterized by these three practices. Those in the evangelical world call this “follow-up.” Billy Graham (no relation to Jack Graham as far as I know) would have new converts fill-out “decision cards” and the Graham organization would “follow-up” with them to make sure they got connected with a local congregation. This became very controversial during the 1957 Billy Graham New York Crusade when some of the decision cards were distributed to the “liberal” churches of the Protestant mainline. Jack Graham does not want this to happen to his new online converts.
In Graham’s first point, “exalt Christ,” he came closest to reminding Trump that because of the events of Holy Week there is another leader in charge. (Unlike Greg Laurie on Palm Sunday and Robert Jeffress on Easter Sunday, Graham never acknowledged the fact that Trump was watching). “Christ is King,” Graham said, and “there is no president or King above him.” I am not sure Graham meant this as a political statement addressed to the current President of the United States, but he said it nonetheless and it is true. But such a statement does not seem to match-up with Graham’s court evangelicalism. I don’t think he has teased out the full political implications of Christ kingship. He is not alone. Most evangelicals have not thought about the Kingdom of God in this way. As a minister, Graham represents an alternative Kingdom. Yet he wants to rely on the corrupt king of an inferior kingdom to advance the mission of the superior and victorious Kingdom to which he holds his higher loyalty. If you view the world through the eyes of faith, this does not make sense. It is also a form of idolatry.
Graham’s second point, “evangelize” the world, represent the classic evangelical understanding of the church’s mission. Christians should preach the “simple” message that Jesus died for the sins of the world, rose again on Easter Sunday, and offers eternal life to all those who believe. When Christians do this, Graham notes, they are following the Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20. In that passage, Jesus tells his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Italics mine). Jesus had a lot to say during his ministry about the ethics–including the political ethics–of His Kingdom. The Great Commission is not just about evangelism as Graham defines it. It is also a call to discipleship.
Graham calls himself a “gospel preacher” and subtly distinguishes this kind of preaching from the kind of preaching that helps Christians grow in their faith. “Gospel preachers” like Graham are always trying to ignite a revival. They want to get people saved in the way I described above. Revival is thus a major theme in Graham’s April 19 message. Such an appeal to revival might even perk-up the ears of Donald Trump, especially since Graham talks about “revival” during this service in both spiritual and economic terms. The message is clear: President Trump and Governor Abbott will revive the American economy and spur a spiritual revival. People will return to church, preach the Gospel, and lead more people to salvation. We know that Trump already thinks his presidency is responsible for a great revival in the church. Now Graham, by inviting Abbott to his service, is implying that Trump will continue to be such a spiritual leader by opening the economy. These two ideas are inseparable in the mind of this president.
But again I ask, what might such a revival look like? Graham said that once the economy comes back, the church will “turn the world upside down.” If this is true, did Trump get the message? Does Graham understand the meaning of such a message?
Graham believes that a revival will come when people accept Christ as Savior, but “turning the world upside down” seems to be a revolutionary political act. I imagine that Graham thinks this means revived Christians will turn the world upside down by reclaiming it as a Christian nation characterized by conservative Supreme Court justices, the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, a restoration of biblical values related to marriage, the defense religious freedom, and the flourishing of a free-market economy. When the revival comes, America will be great again.
As I listened to Laurie, Jeffress, and now Graham talk about the large numbers of people making “decisions for Christ” after watching their coronavirus services, I thought about the mid-20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr‘s critique of this kind of evangelism. Writing in the context of Billy Graham’s New York crusade, Niebuhr said that Graham’s success depended on “oversimplifying every issue of life.” Evangelicals like Billy Graham, he added, failed to address “the social dimensions of the Gospel.” Billy Graham’s gospel, Niebuhr argued, “promises new life, not through painful religious experience, but merely by signing a decision card” (Life, July 1, 1957).
So I return to my question: What might Jack Graham’s revival look like? Will it announce the Kingdom of God by speaking truth to the corruption and immorality of this presidential administration? Will it cause Christians to address the structural problems of race in America? What will such a revival mean for the “least of these”–the poor, the immigrant, the unborn, the elderly? How might such a revival inspire Christians to care for the creation? Or will this be a Christian nationalist and capitalist revival? Or perhaps it will be solely a pietistic revival, with little effect on sin-infested social institutions and practices.
N.T. Wright has been a lodestar for me during this series. Here Wright in The Day the Revolution Began:
True, in recent years several thinkers have made a distinction between ‘mission’ (the broadest view of the church’s task in the world) and ‘evangelism’ (the more specific task of telling people about Jesus’s death and resurrection and what it means for them); but the word ‘mission’ is still used in the narrower sense as well, often referring to specific events such as weeklong ‘evangelistic rally.’ Part of my aim in this book has been to widen the scope of the ‘mission’ based on what Jesus did on the cross without losing its central and personal focus. I hope it is clear, in fact, that this task of telling people about Jesus remains vital. But I have also been arguing that the early Christian message is not well summarized by saying that Jesus died so that we can go to heaven That way of looking at the gospel and mission both shrinks and distorts what the Bible actually teaches. It ignores Jesus’s claim to be launching God’s kingdom ‘on earth as in heaven’ and to be bringing that work to its climax precisely on the cross. It ignores the New Testament’s emphasis on the true human vocation, to be ‘image-bearers,’ reflecting God’s glory into the world and the praises of creation back to God.” (p.356-357)
According to Wright, the vocation of the image-bearing Christian extends beyond Christian Right talking points.
Finally, in point three of his message, “engage the church,” Graham talks about how the church grew in numbers, prayed together, and studied the scripture. This is good. But it is also a pretty selective view of Acts 2. For example, Graham fails to mention Acts 2:42-47:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.All the believers were together and had everything in common.They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
What might this passage mean in the larger context of debates over the opening of a capitalist economy defined by individual accumulation of property and possessions? How might this passage in Acts relate to the “spiritual awakening” Graham believes is coming to America and the world?
If Trump managed to make it through the entire service, he learned that his attempts to open-up the economy will lead to a religious awakening that will make America great again and secure him the evangelical votes he needs in November.
On Palm Sunday, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, tweeted that he would be tuning-in to religious services at Laurie’s Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. The following week, Trump said he would be watching Easter Sunday services at Jeffress’s First Baptist Church–Dallas. Finally, the Sunday following Easter, Trump said he would be watching Graham’s service at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas.
Presidents have visited churches for a long time. In Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction, I told the story of George Washington’s regular visits to Christ Church in Philadelphia. Rev. James Abercrombie, the assistant rector of the church, was not happy about the fact that the first president was in the habit of leaving Sunday services before Communion was served. Abercrombie decided to preach a sermon , with Washington present, against those in “elevated stations who uniformly turned their backs upon the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.” Washington apparently acknowledged the rebuke, but never again attended services at Christ Church on Sundays when Communion was served.
Today we do not have to rely on Abercrombie’s memory. In this age of the Internet and live-streaming, we get to watch the same service the president is watching and hear exactly what the preacher has to say to him.
Did Trump watch these services because he wanted to feed his soul during the Easter season? Perhaps. Did Trump want to show his support for his most loyal evangelical supporters during this time of coronavirus quarantining and social distancing? Probably. Did Trump want to “attend” these services to solidify his evangelical base as the November election approaches? Absolutely.
What did Trump hear during these services? Or more importantly for the series of posts I hope to write here over the next week, what did these ministers of the Gospel say to Trump? All three of these ministers had the chance to proclaim the message of Easter to the president. Though Trump has a short attention span, let’s just assume that he gave his full attention to these services. How does what these ministers said in the (virtual) presence of their special guest provide us with insight into the current state of American evangelicalism?
Above is a picture of some of the men protesting at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing. Yes, you do see machine guns.
Michigan mayor Gretchen Whitmer will not open the state to business yet and continues to stand behind her stay-at-home order in the midst of the protesters call to “lock her up.” Whitmer is trying to save lives. But some people in Michigan believe that their rights are more important. They seem to be defending their “right” to die from the coronavirus.
I am guessing many of these protesters would say that they are Christians. But Christian faith teaches that we must submit our own interests–as a mark of our kindness and love of neighbor–with the needs and suffering of others. Jesus is our model here.
As I have written before, there is also a secular political tradition–it is called civic humanism–which calls the citizens of a republic to occasionally sacrifice self-interest for the public good. The founding fathers of the United States, many of whom wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, called this “virtue.”
It does not look like the protesting crowds are very large. Most residents of Michigan appear to be obeying Whitmer’s order. But what if such protests degenerate into a riot? What if these men with guns stormed the Capitol building or tried to depose the governor by force? It would seem at a moment like this, Whitmer (or any governor for that matter) might need military help from the federal government to protect her. Would she get such help from a U.S. president who is encouraging the protesters?:
And let’s not forget the political angle here. Whitmer is a Democrat. Michigan is a battleground state that Trump desperately needs to win in November.
There is also an anti-intellectual/anti-science dimension to these protests. Andrew Sullivan’s captures this well in a tweet covering protests in Texas:
Yes, you heard them correctly. They are chanting “Fire Fauci”–a reference to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the lead scientist on the White House coronavirus task force.
Whitmer deserves our support and prayers right now. So do all of the governors–Democrat and Republican– trying to lead their states in this time of crisis. Most of them are trying to save lives.
As for the protesters, they also need our prayers. Father forgive them.
And where are all of Trump’s evangelical supporters? Trump has announced he will be watching the church service tomorrow at Rev. Jack Graham‘s Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas:
I am not a fan of politics in the pulpit. But sometimes the church must speak out–either directly or indirectly–against a President who is fomenting armed rebellion. (These court evangelicals seem to love Romans 13. Does it apply to governors as well?). Jack Graham has the ear and eyes of the president tomorrow morning. How will he respond?
ADDENDUM (Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 1:15pm): Apparently some folks are upset because I have said that these men are carrying machine guns. I apologize for the confusion. They look like machine guns to me, but I don’t know anything about guns. But those who are criticizing me for getting the model of gun wrong are missing the point.
Last night Donald Trump delivered a nationally-televised address to the nation on the coronavirus. It was a disaster. And he followed-up today with an equally bad press conference.
Following his speech, Trump’s administration had to clarify facts about his travel ban on multiple occasions.
Trump’s failure to calm fears, tell the truth, and get his facts straight last night resulted in the stock market’s free-fall today.
Today Anthony Fauci told Congress that the country is failing in its attempt to test for the virus.
Less than an hour later, Trump said that “testing has been going very smooth…if you go to the right area you get the test. We are very much ahead of everything.” This, of course, is not true.
Also today, the president said that all Americans coming back to the country from Europe were being tested for the coronavirus. That is not true. Some of these travelers are getting screened, but they are not getting tested for the virus at the airport.
The criticism of Trump’s handling of the virus is coming from some unlikely places.
After a briefing with senators, conservative Republican Jim Lankford of Oklahoma said, “We couldn’t get a good, clear answer on when we are going to get commercial testing out there, labs that can get faster responses.” He said that the president’s claim that anyone who wants a test for the virus can get it is incorrect.
Here is Trump’s court journalist (at least among evangelicals) David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network:
On Friday March 6th, @realDonaldTrump said, “Anybody that needs a test gets a test.”That is 100% FALSE. Full stop. He was wrong then and it’s wrong today too. Many American citizens want a #coronavirus test right now but can’t get access to one. This is a MAJOR FAILURE. @POTUSpic.twitter.com/fvAUqQzf1f
Trump’s speech did not go well. But that did not stop some of the court evangelicals from praising it:
Here is Robert Jeffress:
President @realDonaldTrump delivered a strong, pitch-perfect address to the nation tonight! Thank God for a leader like Donald Trump at a time like this.
Dallas-area megachurch pastor Jack Graham was comforted by the speech.
The President brought a clear and calming address to the nation tonight. His confidence is comforting. We should all be Americans and support one another. America will beat this and God will help us overcome
I don’t know about you, but whenever I see Christian leaders talking about “majorities” I am reminded of Jesus’s words: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,and many enter through it.” Mt. 7:13
Here is Reed again. This time he is responding to a tweet from Roland Martin:
False. The only person I fear is God. As Christians, we are to fear no man.
(Psalm 118:6) https://t.co/jpsbvOtfqg
Actually, Ralph, I am not sure history bears this out. As I argued in Believe Me and here, the Christian Right has been afraid for a long, long time.
And here is a tweet proving my point that this picture was taken for political purposes in the hopes that court evangelicals would share it with their constituencies.
A touching & powerful photo of @VP@Mike_Pence & the President’s Coronavirus Taskforce praying when they met last week in his office. Thank you VP Pence and each one who is serving. Let’s join them in asking God for His wisdom, direction, & help in the response to this virus. pic.twitter.com/9tbMhSWe7d
Jack Graham believes in the Southern Baptist Convention.
He’s a former president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and once traveled the country drumming up support for the Cooperative Program, the church giving program that funds much of the convention’s missions.
Yet, after three years, Graham’s congregation, Prestonwood Baptist Church, which claims 45,000 members, started to withhold money from the SBC. At issue: Graham’s disagreement with Russell Moore, Southern Baptist ethicist and Never Trumper, who once referred to Donald Trump as “an arrogant huckster.”
Graham, one of the president’s evangelical advisers, felt that Moore’s criticisms of Trump and his evangelical supporters was out of bounds. He didn’t want his church’s dollars to support Moore’s work at the denomination’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Prestonwood eventually starting sending money to the SBC again. But it has opted out of funding the ERLC, which Graham thinks has outlived its usefulness.
“The focus of the ERLC is not the focus of the mainstream of the SBC in terms of its approach to politics, to conservative thought and theology,” Graham told RNS in a phone interview this week.
Graham is not alone. About 100 of the denomination’s 46,000 churches said they would withhold funds from the Cooperative Program because of the ERLC back in 2017, according to published reports. Since that time, more churches have threatened to do the same, according to leaders of the SBC’s Executive Committee.
Mike Stone, chair of the Executive Committee, said this week that committee members have heard anecdotal evidence that churches are displeased with the ERLC and withholding money. So the committee voted to launch a new task force to review the ERLC to see if it is fulfilling its “ministry assignment” or if its actions have threatened donations to the cooperative program.
Graham said that the Executive Committee made the right move. He has long believed that Southern Baptists should “address the direction of the ERLC and the disposition of its leader, Russell Moore.”
Graham says that Moore is outside the “mainstream of the SBC in terms of its approach to politics, to conservative thought and theology.” Last time I checked, Moore believes in the Baptist Faith and Message, a 2000 doctrinal statement adopted by the SBC in the wake of the fundamentalist takeover of the denomination in the 1980s and 1990s. The Baptist Faith and Message requires Southern Baptist leaders to believe, among other things, in the inerrancy of the Bible and a complementary view of gender roles.
But this is apparently not enough for some Southern Baptists. What does Graham mean when he says that Moore’s politics are outside the mainstream? Is this a reference to the fact that Moore is a vocal critic of Donald Trump? This is significant in the sense that politics is now dividing the largest Protestant denomination in North America, a denomination that has historically championed the separation of church and state.
And what about Graham’s reference to “conservative thought?” Does one have to believe that the Bible and conservative political ideology are compatible in order to hold a leadership position in the Southern Baptist Convention? If Graham represents the mainstream of the Southern Baptist Convention, then I think it is fair to say that the thoughts of Southern Baptists are is no longer captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), but captive to a Trumpian brand of conservative GOP politics. It looks like the SBC is ready for another rupture.
ADDENDUM: February 21, 2020 at 11:23:
A helpful correction from a Twitter follower. I changed the title of this post:
John, the southern baptist “church” is not investigating the ERLC. It’s not the convention either. It’s the executive committee. The convention overwhelmingly supported the ERLC and Moore back in 2018. When we say the convention, it the delegates that meet in June.
They can learn something about moral clarity. They can learn something about doing the right thing. They can learn something about patriotism.
“If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost.”
Here is what Fox News had to offer in the wake of Schiff’s speech.
There is nothing here on the content or the merits of the House defense. They are talking about television ratings and CNN. They are making vague references to our “Constitution.” Is this all the Fox News crowd has to offer–gotcha lines and sarcastic jokes? I am guessing we will see more of this on Saturday when Trump’s defense lawyers take the stage. Will Cipollone and Sekulow be able to present a counter-narrative to the one presented by the House Managers over the last several days? Will they even try? Is there a fact-based alternative narrative?
It is only a matter of time before Robert Jeffress gets on Fox News with Lou Dobbs to trumpet the court evangelical defense of Trump. Expect multiple appeals to Trump’s visit to the March for Life. They are already weighing in:
Today President @realDonaldTrump becomes the first president in history to participate in the March for Life while every Dem candidate worships at the shrine of Planned Parenthood. I’ll discuss on “@LouDobbs Tonight” at 7 and 10pm ET on @FoxBusiness.
President Trump has made protecting the innocent unborn one of his top priorities. @realDonaldTrump becoming the 1st @POTUS to address the March for Life is dramatic proof he is a champion for life and richly deserves the support of pro-life & evangelical voters.
allowed him to attend a religious revival at Bay Side, some eight miles from St. Michaels. This classic country Methodist camp meeting left indelible images in Douglass’s fertile memory. People came from all over Talbot County; two steamboat loads of pilgrims also arrived from Baltimore. The gathering lasted a week, and slaves relieved of work for a few days could hardly resist the excitement of hundreds of campfires roasting meat, a veritable tent city with a preacher’s stand in the middle and a “pen” marked off for “mourners” to enter and make their confessions, embrace the Lord, and be saved. A recent convert himself to Christian faith, although now struggling to understand whether God intended any justice on earth, Frederick witnessed the spectacle of master Thomas’s wrenching emotional breakdown and confession in that pen. Blacks were not allowed in the pen, nor in front of the preacher’s performances, but Douglass tells us that he imposed his way close enough to hear Auld “groan,” and to see his reddened face, his disheveled hair, and a “stray tear halting on his cheek.” Here festered the dark heart of the moral bankruptcy of slaveholders that the future abolitionist would make his central subject.
Let’s think about what has happened in the last 24-48 hours.
