This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:
Friday, December 20, 2019
Trump Should Be Removed from Office with Mark Galli
It’s time to say what we said 20
years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.
Mark Galli
December 19, 2019
In our founding documents, Billy
Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical
Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The
impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our
republic. It requires comment.
The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow
Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the
public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their
convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We
want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political
spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our
being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate
our homepage.
That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our
own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing
so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we
love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the
political aisle.
Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out
for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud
of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts
in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious
opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on
impeachment.
But 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.
The reason many are not shocked about this is 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 relationship 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.
Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court
nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy,
among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the
president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear,
in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that 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.
This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:
The President's failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips
at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all,
social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your
grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your
bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters,
clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are
notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a
fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.
And this:
Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those
close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.
Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years
ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should
be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a
matter of prudential judgment. 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?
We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have
criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of
another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give
evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of
view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have
made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a
spade, to say that 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.
Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity
Today.
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