80 Evangelical Christian Leaders Denounce ‘Morally Unacceptable’ Donald Trump
‘We Are Not Those Evangelicals’
80 evangelical Christian leaders, many well known across America, have joined together to publicly denounce the “morally unacceptable” candidacy of Donald Trump.Â
Saying they “simply will not tolerate the racial, religious, and gender bigotry that Donald Trump has consistently and deliberately fueled,” the faith leaders note Trump “has fueled white American nationalism with xenophobic appeals and religious intolerance at the expense of gospel values, democratic principles, and important international relationships.”
“No matter what other issues we also care about, we have to make it publicly clear that Mr. Trump’s racial and religious bigotry and treatment of women is morally unacceptable to us as evangelical Christians, as we attempt to model Jesus’ command to ‘love your neighbors as yourself.'”
The evangelicals say they “believe that racism strikes at the heart of the gospel,” and “racial justice and reconciliation is at the core of the message of Jesus.”
ThinkProgress notes the signatories “include Rachel Held Evans, a blogger and best-selling author; Tony Campolo, a left-leaning evangelical author and activist; Lisa Sharon Harper, Chief Church Engagement Officer of Jim Wallis’ advocacy group Sojourners; and Shane Claiborne, author and founder of the Christian community the Simple Way.”Â
The faith leaders write that Trump “mocks women and the sanctity of marriage vows, disregards facts and the accountability to truth, and worships wealth and shameful materialism, while taking our weakening culture of civility to nearly unprecedented levels with continuing personal attacks on others.”
The billionaire real estate magnate, they continue, “has given voice to a movement that affirms racist elements in white culture—both explicit and implicit,” “spread racist ‘birther’ falsehoods for five years trying to delegitimize and humiliate our first African-American president, characterizing him as ‘the other’ and not a real American citizen,” and “uses fear to demonize and degrade immigrants, foreigners, and people from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.”
They also take the media to task, saying a “significant mistake in American politics is the media’s continued identification of ‘evangelical’ with mostly white, politically conservative, older men. We are not those evangelicals. The media’s narrow labels of our community perpetuate stereotypes, ignore our diversity, and fail to accurately represent views expressed by the full body of evangelical Christians.”
But despite their important stance, Christian evangelical leaders have often been slow to publicly denounce those who claim to speak for their community, including the Franklin Grahams, Tony Perkins, and Brian Browns of the anti-LGBT movement.
Their letter and the list of signatories appears in a Change.org petition.
Â
Image by Darron Birgenheier via Flickr and a CC license
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
 |
President Donald Trump continues to tease out a possible 2028 run, despite the constitutional prohibition on a third term. On Friday, the 79-year old unveiled a new “slogan,” and his new name for Trump Republican voters.
Trump has acknowledged the constitutional block on a third term, recently telling reporters that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a constitutional attorney, told him a third term is not allowed — a fact he appeared to accept.
But Trump on Friday afternoon posted an AI meme of a silver-haired, older-looking Donald Trump, holding a campaign sign that reads — not “Make America Great Again” — but, “Trump 2028, Yes!”
READ MORE: ‘For Sale’: Trump Torched Over Report He’d OK Russia Controlling Parts of Ukraine
The post, on his Truth Social website, also says, “Trumplicans!”
“There is a new word for a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, which is almost everyone,” he recently wrote. “It is, TEPUBLICAN??? Or, TPUBLICAN???”
Apparently, “Trumplicans” won out.
Health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo remarked on Wednesday that “Trump is workshopping names for his cult, while Americans struggle to afford the rising costs of groceries, healthcare and housing.”
Reporting on Trump’s musings, TIME on Thursday noted that his new MAGA moniker comes “amid high-profile divisions within the MAGA base.”
Were Trump to run for a third term, he would be 82 on Election Day in 2028.
READ MORE: Trump Order to Keep ‘Jalopy’ Coal Plant Open Costs Taxpayers Over $100 Million
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump is under fire over a report that claims he is proposing that the U.S. recognize Russian control of parts of Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia has unlawfully annexed, as a means to end the war.
“The Telegraph understands that Donald Trump has sent his peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to make the direct offer to Vladimir Putin in Moscow,” the news outlet reported. “The plan to recognize territory, which breaks US diplomatic convention, is likely to go ahead despite concerns among Ukraine’s European allies.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin “on Thursday said Washington’s legal recognition of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as Russian territory would be one of the key issues in negotiations over the US president’s peace plan,” according to The Telegraph.
READ MORE: Trump Order to Keep ‘Jalopy’ Coal Plant Open Costs Taxpayers Over $100 Million
Critics are blasting President Trump.
Shaun Pinner, a former British soldier who served as a contracted Marine fighting in Ukraine’s armed forces, responded to the report:
“I’ve lived through the cost of losing ground. I’ve seen the bodies, the destroyed homes, and I’ve been tortured by Russia like so many others. Land is never ‘just land.’ It’s people. Families. Lives shattered.”
“So yes, watching Trump casually bargain away territory that isn’t even his to give feels like a deep betrayal,” he added. “It’s a lesson I wish none of us had to learn the hard way, and one far too many are being forced to relive again because one of our so-called allies is now suggesting we reward genocide.”
READ MORE: ‘Total Authoritarian Population Control’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Immigrant Attack
Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, remarked, “Trump would be rewarding imperial conquest, thereby encouraging other autocrats to do so, resulting in a very unstable world.”
Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, co-founder of the Renew Democracy Initiative, issued a warning:
“If the US recognizes territory taken by force, just replace ‘leader of the free world’ with ‘for sale’. Xi can come up with more cash than Putin for Trump and his pals to do the same for Taiwan.”
Marko Mihkelson, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, remarked, “If this is true, then we have a major problem, Houston.”
READ MORE: Republicans Scuttled Trump Health Care Fix Because They Felt ‘Left Out’: Report
Image via Reuters
A Trump administration order to keep an aging and unneeded Michigan coal-fired power plant open and online reportedly is costing taxpayers about $615,000 per day, or $113 million to date. Closing the plant would save taxpayers about $640 million by 2040.
“The Trump administration in May ordered utility giant Consumers Energy to keep the 63-year-old JH Campbell coal plant in western Michigan, about 100 miles north-east of Chicago, online just as it was being retired,” according to The Guardian.
“The costs of unnecessarily running this jalopy coal plant just continue to mount,” Michael Lenoff, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is suing over the order, told The Guardian.
READ MORE: ‘Total Authoritarian Population Control’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Immigrant Attack
President Donald Trump signed a national energy emergency order on his first day in office this year, rolling back regulations.
In court documents, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said that the administration’s latest order is “arbitrary and illegal.”
Consumers Energy, the operator of the plant, did not ask the Trump administration for the order to keep the coal plant running, and the Trump administration did not consult local regulators, a spokesperson for the Michigan public service commission (MPSC), told the Guardian in May.
“The unnecessary recent order … will increase the cost of power for homes and businesses in Michigan and across the midwest,” the chair of the MPSC, Dan Scripps, said in a statement at the time.
Reporting on what it called Trump’s “pro-fossil fuel agenda,” The Guardian in January quoted the president:
“We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it – let me use it,” Trump said in his inaugural address. “We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”
READ MORE: Republicans Scuttled Trump Health Care Fix Because They Felt ‘Left Out’: Report
Image via Reuters
Trump Teases 2028 ‘Campaign’ With New Slogan
‘For Sale’: Trump Torched Over Report He’d OK Russia Controlling Parts of Ukraine
Trump Order to Keep ‘Jalopy’ Coal Plant Open Costs Taxpayers Over $100 Million
‘Total Authoritarian Population Control’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Immigrant Attack
Trump Vows Not to Invite South Africa to G20 in 2026, Citing Conspiracy Theory
News2 days agoTrump Teases 2028 ‘Campaign’ With New Slogan
News2 days agoTrump Order to Keep ‘Jalopy’ Coal Plant Open Costs Taxpayers Over $100 Million
News2 days ago‘Total Authoritarian Population Control’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Immigrant Attack
News2 days ago‘For Sale’: Trump Torched Over Report He’d OK Russia Controlling Parts of Ukraine
