How long will evangelicals stay with dt?
Estimates are that 80% of them voted for him in the 2016 election, according to the Washington Post.
But there are major divisions developing among members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest religious denomination in the US.
In fact, the head of SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, is under fire for criticizing SBC leaders who support 45. He may be forced to resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/03/13/could-southern-baptist-leader-russell-moore-lose-his-job-churches-threaten-funding-after-months-of-trump-controversy/?utm_term=.50c468022127
Last fall, Moore accused church leaders who supported dt of "normalizing an awful candidate" and said they had "drunk the Kool-Aid."
After the Hollywood Access tapes came out, Moore "tweeted outrage at leaders who still continued to back the candidate," according to Washington Post religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey. He apologized after the election.
Candidate dt even tweeted against Moore in May, 2016.
One hundred Southern Baptist churches have threatened to leave the denomination if Moore stays on as head of the ERLC.
Abortion has been an important issue for the SBC, noted Larry Mantle today on Airtalk, a program of KPCC, an NPR radio station in Los Angeles. "For many of the Southern Baptists, they supported Trump even though they may have had personal distaste for him, because of the Supreme Court vacancy, the view that he would nominate someone who would uphold the view that life is sacred upon conception."
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2017/03/14/55601/is-backlash-over-southern-baptist-leader-s-critiqu/
"Eight of the 10 policy priorities recently highlighted by Moore’s team touch on abortion, but last year, the ERLC first prioritized religious freedom, an area where tensions have been building among evangelicals," according to Bailey
As a part of religious freedom, Moore with the ERLC and SBC's International Missions Board "filed an amicus brief in support of a Muslim community’s right to build a mosque in New Jersey. Earlier this year, a trustee of the IMB resigned over the move, saying that Islam is not a religion and does not deserve protection. The trustee’s megachurch also pulled funding from the SBC," writes Bailey.
Other reasons Moore is disliked by some:
Another point that Bailey makes: Moore has "called on younger evangelicals in particular to reject the old idea of a 'moral majority' and embrace a role as 'prophetic minority.'"
She reports that he is "enormously popular" among younger Southern Baptists and among the 10% of the denomination who are African-American.
I'm delighted to hear that this SBC leader has reservations about Trump in relation to his sexual immorality, his racism, and his first executive order on refugees.
Russell Moore is a man to keep an eye on and to support.
Christianity Today and some important evangelical leaders came out against candidate dt last fall. We need to remember that and not paint all conservative Christians, certainly not all Christians, with the same brush. See my post last fall:
http://marthaymaria.blogspot.com/2016/10/evangelicals-against-gop-nominee.html
Another group whose members were not Trump supporters is the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus -- Christian Feminism Today. www.eewc.com
These outliers need more public attention--the groups who form a prophetic minority among Christians in the US today.
Estimates are that 80% of them voted for him in the 2016 election, according to the Washington Post.
But there are major divisions developing among members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest religious denomination in the US.
In fact, the head of SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, is under fire for criticizing SBC leaders who support 45. He may be forced to resign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/03/13/could-southern-baptist-leader-russell-moore-lose-his-job-churches-threaten-funding-after-months-of-trump-controversy/?utm_term=.50c468022127
Last fall, Moore accused church leaders who supported dt of "normalizing an awful candidate" and said they had "drunk the Kool-Aid."
After the Hollywood Access tapes came out, Moore "tweeted outrage at leaders who still continued to back the candidate," according to Washington Post religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey. He apologized after the election.
Candidate dt even tweeted against Moore in May, 2016.
One hundred Southern Baptist churches have threatened to leave the denomination if Moore stays on as head of the ERLC.
Abortion has been an important issue for the SBC, noted Larry Mantle today on Airtalk, a program of KPCC, an NPR radio station in Los Angeles. "For many of the Southern Baptists, they supported Trump even though they may have had personal distaste for him, because of the Supreme Court vacancy, the view that he would nominate someone who would uphold the view that life is sacred upon conception."
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2017/03/14/55601/is-backlash-over-southern-baptist-leader-s-critiqu/
"Eight of the 10 policy priorities recently highlighted by Moore’s team touch on abortion, but last year, the ERLC first prioritized religious freedom, an area where tensions have been building among evangelicals," according to Bailey
As a part of religious freedom, Moore with the ERLC and SBC's International Missions Board "filed an amicus brief in support of a Muslim community’s right to build a mosque in New Jersey. Earlier this year, a trustee of the IMB resigned over the move, saying that Islam is not a religion and does not deserve protection. The trustee’s megachurch also pulled funding from the SBC," writes Bailey.
Other reasons Moore is disliked by some:
- He met with black SBC leaders, who were not happy that the SBC chose to ignore dt's comments on race as a presidential candidate.
- He's against public display of the Confederate flag.
- He denounced 45's first executive order on refugees, though polls say that 76% of evangelicals approved of it.
Another point that Bailey makes: Moore has "called on younger evangelicals in particular to reject the old idea of a 'moral majority' and embrace a role as 'prophetic minority.'"
She reports that he is "enormously popular" among younger Southern Baptists and among the 10% of the denomination who are African-American.
I'm delighted to hear that this SBC leader has reservations about Trump in relation to his sexual immorality, his racism, and his first executive order on refugees.
Russell Moore is a man to keep an eye on and to support.
Christianity Today and some important evangelical leaders came out against candidate dt last fall. We need to remember that and not paint all conservative Christians, certainly not all Christians, with the same brush. See my post last fall:
http://marthaymaria.blogspot.com/2016/10/evangelicals-against-gop-nominee.html
Another group whose members were not Trump supporters is the Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus -- Christian Feminism Today. www.eewc.com
These outliers need more public attention--the groups who form a prophetic minority among Christians in the US today.
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