President Donald Trump may still have the support of conservative evangelical leaders, but many evangelicals are not only turning their backs on Trump, but they are also shaming evangelical leaders for failing to do the same.
When Christianity Today published a scathing editorial in support of removing Trump from office as a matter of moral justice, over 100 evangelical leaders signed a letter attacking the publication founded by Billy Graham, all while professing their loyalty to Trump despite his immoral and illegal behavior.
Christianity Today had spoken out for the first time against Trump after the full House passed two articles of impeachment against him.
But these evangelical Trump loyalists are not the only ones writing letters. Ordinary evangelical Americans are doing the same, only they are condemning evangelical leaders for not rejecting Trump.
In a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday, Esther Nieves slammed Trump and shamed evangelical leaders.
“On any given day, Donald Trump attacks, vilifies, ridicules, mocks, taunts or lampoons any person (dead or alive) or any ethnic, racial or social group,” she wrote. “Whatever Trump’s reasons (political expediency, bias, an above-the-law attitude, an out-of-control ego or simple bullying), Trump does not embody the teachings of Jesus Christ or, for that matter, any spiritual deity known to humankind. Trump is driven by a life of exorbitant privilege, an attitude of revenge-and-vanquish, and a drive to amass wealth by any means possible.”
“As someone born and reared in an Evangelical Christian household, where the teachings of Jesus centered on love, reconciliation, and compassion, I reject the ill will and multiple layers of prejudice and divisiveness Donald Trump has wrought,” she continued. “What would Jesus do? First, Jesus would not use Twitter to serve up daily doses of crude comments and hate-filled attacks on private citizens and public figures.”
“History will point to the shameful moral stain of Evangelical Christian leaders and of congregations who succumbed to Trump’s shrewd hypocrisy, Nieves concluded. “They will be depicted as having compromised their spiritual path, moral compass and prophetic voices to a charlatan. Let’s pray and work to change this reality, and to transform the nation into one of just, humane and equitable democratic principles and values. This is what Jesus would do.”
If this is any indication of how members of evangelical flocks feel right now, Trump could very well see some losses among this key voting group in 2020, and evangelicals could watch their congregations shrink. Evangelical leaders sold out their faith when they supported Trump in 2016, and now they have apparently sold their souls completely, and there is just not enough forgiveness in the world to wash away that sin.
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