The first break in the fever of Evangelical devotion to the personality cult of Donald Trump

Televangelist Reverend Billy Graham came to regret that he had “sometimes crossed a line” into politics.

His son Reverend Franklin Graham has had no such qualms about giving his full-throated support to President Donald Trump.

An early advocate of Trump’s candidacy, he has remained stalwart even as multiple scandals have piled up. The Reverend Franklin Graham Offers an Evangelist’s View of Donald Trump:

Graham tells the New Yorker staff writer Eliza Griswold that Trump’s critics have forgotten that “he’s our President. If he succeeds, you’re going to benefit.” Of Trump’s many personal scandals, Graham says only, “I hope we all learn from mistakes and get better. . . . As human beings, we’re all flawed, including Franklin Graham.”

On this we can agree: Franklin Graham is deeply flawed. He has made a Faustian bargain with the devil: as long as the Christian Right gets to stack the federal courts with anti-abortion judges, televangelists like Franklin Graham will overlook Trump’s many sins and complete lack of moral character, even as too many Evangelical Christians have morphed their religiosity and conservative politics into a personality cult of Donald Trump. The heretical Trump has even claimed that he is “the Chosen One” in appeals to this religious base.

The first break in the fever of Evangelical devotion to the personality cult of Donald Trump comes from the Reverend Billy Graham founded publication Christianity Today. Christianity Today editor calls for Trump to be removed from office:

Christianity Today, the flagship Evangelical magazine, called for President Trump to be removed from office in a new editorial.

The piece, attributed to Christianity Today Editor in Chief Mark Galli, notes that the magazine’s “typical approach” is to “stay above the fray,” allowing readers 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.”

But the editorial criticized Trump, saying “[T]he 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.”

Galli continued, noting that the president has, in his opinion, lowered the standard for presidential decorum, openly admitted to unsavory interactions with women and has worked with a “number of people who are now convicted criminals.”

“The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration,” Galli said.

“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,” he added.

The editor went on to say that the findings from an investigation conducted by former special counsel Robert Mueller were not enough to impeach the president, but that the recent impeachment hearings made it clear that Trump abused his power and betrayed his oath of office.

“We believe … 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.”

Galli opined that none of the president’s positive qualities outweigh the “moral and political danger” America faces under Trump’s leadership, before calling on lawmakers to impeach and remove the president.

The editorial continued, reading, “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.”

The editorial implored “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,” Galli wrote. “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.”

You know that the devil Twitter-troll-in-chief was not going to let this go without attacking anyone who disagrees with him and especially if they call for his removal from office. Trump attacks Christianity Today over bruising editorial:

President Trump on Friday went after Christianity Today after it published an editorial calling or his removal from office, saying the flagship Evangelical magazine was “far left” and claiming it has been “doing poorly.”

No one in their right mind believes that Christianity Today is a “far left” publication. Tht is, quite literally, insane.

“A far left magazine, or very ‘progressive,’ as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather … have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President,” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.

Trump added that “no president” before him has done more for the Evangelical community and said he wouldn’t be reading the publication again.

I assure you, Donald Trump has never read Christianity Today. Add this one to his more than 15,000 lies since he has been president.

Reverend Billy Graham’s fallen from grace son, Reverend Franklin Graham, said in an interview with the New York Times that he believed his father would have been “embarrassed” by the editorial. Graham also insisted that it wouldn’t change “anybody’s mind about Trump.”

Franklin Graham gave license to Evangelical Trump supporters to bash Christianity Today for calling for removal from office:

“It’s obvious that Christianity Today has moved to the left and is representing the elitist liberal wing of evangelicalism,” wrote Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical relief organization. Graham accused the magazine of being “used by the left for their political agenda.”

Note: It is important to note that Evangelical Christians are not a monolithic constituency who are all far-right extremists devoted to the personality cult of Donald Trump. There is a vibrant Progressive Evangelical movement, see The Progressive Evangelical Institute, Sojourners, and Evangelicals for Social Action for example.

The “lamestream” media only reports on right-wing televangelists as representative of “all” Evangelicals because the Christian Right has undue influence in the Republican Party. But these charlatans do not speak for all Evangelical Christians.

Televangelist Jerry Falwell, Jr. tweeted:

So for right-wing televangelists, anything goes, any criminal misconduct is justifiable, including betrayal of your country and disloyalty just so long as you are a Republican: IOKIYAR. These charlatans have forfeited any pretense to calling themselves the “Moral Majority.” This is not morality, nor is it any principled way in which to live.

What the division in Evangelical Christianity is really all about is that these divergent philosophies are chasing after the same hearts, minds and dollars. The Christian Right in particular has large corporate interests worth millions of dollars that make these televangelist ministers wealthy and politically powerful in Republican Party politics.

These right-wing televangelists are driven only by the accumulation of their wealth and power, a decidedly un-Christian pursuit. Evangelical Christians should reject these self-serving charlatans who have been fleecing their flocks for years. Evangelicals would better do God’s work by giving their financial assistance directly to those most in need, and cut out these middle-man grifters taking their cut off the top.