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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEditor of The Christian Post resigns: I can't be an editor for Team Trump
Announcement: Today, rather abruptly, I was forced to make the difficult choice to leave The Christian Post. They decided to publish an editorial that positions them on Team Trump. I can't be an editor for a publication with that editorial voice. ...I'm saddened by what happened for many reasons. I've been with CP for over 8.5 years, made many friendships, and had lots of exciting opportunities along the way. ...
As long as I was with the company, they strived to be a place that represented the diversity of evangelicalism in the US. I even wrote about this diversity in the last published article I wrote on Sunday. ...
When the editors had disagreements, we would work through them, letting those discussions and debates inform and improve our coverage. Now, CP has chosen to go in a different direction. Like so many other media companies, they've chosen to silo themselves. ...
They've chosen to represent a narrow (and shrinking) slice of Christianity. That might be a good business decision, short term at least. But ...
... it's bad for Democracy, and bad for the Gospel. It means there will be one more place where readers can go for bias confirmation, but one less place where readers can go to exercise their brains on diversity of thought. {end}
Link to tweet
Rorey
(8,445 posts)Well expressed!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Well, I'm assuming it's belated because they hadn't already fired him for talking moral politics, but good for Mr. Nazworth.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)And a discussion three years overdue seems to be happening at long last. Nazworth is taking his stand, at personal and professional risk, to follow the teachings of Jesus as he reads them. It's tough being cast out; it's scary as hell to cast yourself out.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)hurt others around him. A lot of people have become actively vicious, and no one is hated more passionately than an "apostate."
Best wishes to him and his.
summer_in_TX
(2,739 posts)Trump, subsequent to the one in Christianity Today last week.
Convict Trump: The Constitution is more important than abortion
By Paul D. Miller, Voices Contributor| Sunday, December 22, 2019
President Donald J. Trump waves as he boards Air Force One Saturday, Dec. 14 2019, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. for his flight to Philadelphia, Pa., to attend the 120th Army-Navy football game. | Official White House Photo/Joyce N. Boghosian
Christians should advocate for President Donald J. Trumps conviction and removal from office by the Senate. While Trump has an excellent record of appointing conservative judges and advancing a prolife agenda, his criminal conduct endangers the Constitution. The Constitution is more important than the prolife cause because without the Constitution, prolife advocacy would be meaningless.
The fact that we live in a democratic republic is what enables us to turn our prolife convictions from private opinion into public advocacy. In other systems of government, the government does not care what its citizens think or believe. Only when the government is forced to take counsel from its citizens through elections, representation, and majoritarian rule do our opinions count.
Our democratic Constitution adopted to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans is what guarantees that our voice matters. Without it, we can talk about the evils of abortion until we are blue in the face and it will never affect abortion policy one iota. The Constitution with its guarantees of free speech, free assembly, the right to petition the government, regular elections, and the peaceful transfer of power is the only thing that forces the government to listen to us.
Trumps behavior is a threat to our Constitutional order. The facts behind his impeachment show that he abused a position of public trust for private gain, the definition of corruption and abuse of power. More worryingly, he refused to comply with Congresss power to investigate his conduct, a fundamental breach of the checks and balances that is the bedrock of our Constitutional order.
(more at link)
https://www.christianpost.com/voice/convict-trump-the-constitution-is-more-important-than-abortion.html
Guess the editor got forced out for allowing this kind of opinion piece in the Christian Post.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,664 posts)or are the usual band of suspects that rotate through the TV market.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)robbob
(3,531 posts)Re-iterating tropes more commonly found on Breitbart or parroted by Rush; progressives hate America, tRump wants to restore traditional American values (like locking kids in cages?), and all that. Disgusting what Christianity has come to represent in America.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)localroger
(3,628 posts)We know the CT editorial has been eating him alive because he is toast without Evangelical support. And when he pushed on them they pushed back instead of folding. I would easily believe that Trump told his minions to find him another Christian rag that would give him a proper blow job and shore up the damage.
TheBlackAdder
(28,208 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)... Germany? Well, you're doing it now."
There were pastors who opposed the Nazis, at great risk to their own lives.
Then there were the others.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)Last edited Tue Dec 24, 2019, 01:05 PM - Edit history (1)
"In 1939 he sailed to the United States, and once again to New York. But war was imminent. He chose to return to his own country, knowing what costs may lie before him, and remarking that the victory of Nazism in Europe would destroy Christian civilization.
By then he and members of his own family had for some time been on the fringe of circles that were opposed to the Nazi regime. To Bonhoeffer, true discipleship now demanded political resistance against this criminal state. He wrote that the Christian must live maturely and responsibly in the world, and live by God's grace, not by ideology."
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/dietrich-bonhoeffer
(My father studied with Herr Bonhoeffer at Union Theological Seminary in New York, befor his return to Germany.)
LAS14
(13,783 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)narcissistic.
phandancer917
(145 posts)We are through the Looking Glass at this point....
CanonRay
(14,104 posts)robbob
(3,531 posts)Instead of enabling and supporting it.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)The so called 'christians' who are enabling and supporting Trump are a loud and obnoxious cult that is turning people off with their anti-gospel ways.
Gospel based Christians, similar to Jimmy Carter, tend to not be the flashy loud money hungry types that the MSM loves since it's actually against what Jesus taught in the Gospels. The work they do, often in the background and in their local communities, however is invaluable.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)It was a long slog, but good ultimately prevailed over evil; silly me for growing up believing we had put it to bed.
Here's hoping a 'New and Improved' Barmen Declaration surfaces in the near future.
The Barmen Declaration, 1934, was a call to resistance against the theological claims of the Nazi state. Almost immediately after Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, Protestant Christians faced pressure to "aryanize" the Church, expel Jewish Christians from the ordained ministry and adopt the Nazi "Führer Principle" as the organizing principle of church government. In general, the churches succumbed to these pressures, and some Christians embraced them willingly. The pro-Nazi "German Christian" movement became a force in the church. They glorified Adolf Hitler as a "German prophet" and preached that racial consciousness was a source of revelation alongside the Bible. But many Christians in Germanyincluding Lutheran and Reformed, liberal and neo-orthodoxopposed the encroachment of Nazi ideology on the Church's proclamation. At Barmen, this emerging "Confessing Church" adopted a declaration drafted by Reformed theologian Karl Barth and Lutheran theologian Hans Asmussen, which expressly repudiated the claim that other powers apart from Christ could be sources of God's revelation. Not all Christians courageously resisted the regime, but many who didlike the Protestant pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Roman Catholic priest Bernhard Lichtenbergwere arrested and executed in concentration camps. The spirituality of the Barmen Declaration profoundly influenced many of the first generation of pastors and laypeople who formed the United Church of Christ in 1957.
dalton99a
(81,515 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,208 posts)Girard442
(6,075 posts)Either you're deep into the territory of one side or the other, or you're in no-man's-land taking fire from both sides.
In the same sense that the Allies included Stalin's Russia to defeat Hitler, we have to make common cause with these people to defeat Trump.
If you're not against us, you're with us.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)... won't-stand-with-Trump Christians to show some understanding of the other "won't stand" Christians who are on the "other side" theologically. Some of this good, Christian behavior is beginning to get some sunlight.
TNNurse
(6,927 posts)What made you say this now? Did it take the impeachment to give you the strength?
What about the racism, the lies, the cruelty, the ignorance, the hatred, the dangers to the environment, the allegiance to foreign governments, the caging of children and of course the deaths of all those at the border, and in cages and those who cannot afford their insulin anymore.....WERE YOU OK WITH ALL OF THAT????
dalton99a
(81,515 posts)but, after the GOP convention:
PatrickforO
(14,576 posts)What's a Christian to do?
Well, how about researching the positions and record of each candidate. They'd find out then the Clinton would have been fine for someone trying to be genuinely Christian (NOT the Falwell brand).
Wounded Bear
(58,664 posts)Equating Dems with Commies, etc.
They declared war on us.
dalton99a
(81,515 posts)TNNurse
(6,927 posts)since I do not think of them as Christians. You know because of their behavior.
Traildogbob
(8,748 posts)Think how rich Jesus could have been with Sat TV and 40+ channels of 24/7 religious propaganda.
AND Fox. Franky Graham, Jorl Olsteen, the whole Swaggert klan, as his wing men.
Mariana
(14,858 posts)Let's not pretend it was only the white Evangelicals. 58% of Protestants, 52% of Catholics, 61% of Mormons who voted in 2016 cast their ballots for Trump.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/ft_16-11-09_relig_exitpoll_religrace/
summer_in_TX
(2,739 posts)These are people who believe deeply that abortion is a great sin and the murder of innocent babies created by God.
I've read their rationales. Many weren't voting for Trump other than as the least bad of two evils.
TNNurse
(6,927 posts)Any other sin is fine with them. Except his anti-abortion stance is probably totally fraudulent.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)summer_in_TX
(2,739 posts)They've had several articles on topics such as "Seeing Immigrants with God's Eyes." It just didn't get picked up and distributed widely until they called for Trump's impeachment. Here's a link to one.
https://www.facebook.com/CTMagazine/posts/what-the-story-of-hagar-can-teach-us-about-immigrants-today-httpswwwchristianity/10157420164750421/
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)If the churches want to run political ads, then TAX THEM.
SCVDem
(5,103 posts)Agreed!
Takket
(21,575 posts)We need people in places of influence but instead they all resign when threatened by drumpf and his cult.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)He chose the honorable way out.
panfluteman
(2,065 posts)On Fox, some reporters with a shred of intellectual honesty and a conscience have not been able to go along with the party line lock, stock and barrel in supporting Trump; these include the likes of Chris Wallace, Judge Napolitano and Shep Smith, who has now left the network. Now, certain evangelical Christians of conscience are standing up and saying that they have had enough of the brazen immorality of this president. In the politically oriented side of conservative media, many Trump supporters are now starting to abandon Fox as being too soft and liberal, and going to other new networks that have sprung up that are more hard line and enthusiastic in their support of Trump. It seems like the same thing is now happening in the evangelical media - the hardliners are moving on to stronger stuff. Instead of seeking out facts and objective truth, hardline Trumpers are instead seeking a more solid and bulletproof media bubble to take refuge in. Not a good media environment for democracy to flourish in.
PatrickforO
(14,576 posts)Mariana
(14,858 posts)They have simply continued doing what they have been doing all along.
SeattleVet
(5,477 posts)That was the Christianity Today, this is the Christian Post. Looks like they've been on team trump for a while.
Mariana
(14,858 posts)This is a lie. The majority of Christian voters cast ballots for Trump in 2016, and there's little or no indication that any great number of them will do differently in 2020.
maxrandb
(15,334 posts)There's a huge difference between those claiming to be Christians, and those that have actually read, understand and try to follow the teachings of Christ.
Donnie Dollhand's voters might claim to be Christians, but they haven't made it past the Book of Leviticus in the Bible yet.
ret5hd
(20,493 posts)Mariana
(14,858 posts)If these people aren't Christians, then what are they, exactly? Do you think they are atheists? Are they secretly followers of some other religion, pretending to be Christian for whatever reason? I don't think they are either. They are Christians who interpret the book differently than you do. It's reasonable to consider them to be bad Christians, but there is no basis upon which to say they are non-Christians.
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)You know, the "old testament" that was nailed to the cross with Jesus. It was part and parcel to the whole crucifixion plot line.
The "old testament" is, essentially, a history of the Jewish people. After all they ARE the chosen people, beginning in the garden of Eden.
But the story had to be expanded to include EVERYONE ELSE. Presto, the old law was done away with, and the NEW LAW (the New Testament) was in effect, which applied to EVERYONE! The Jews look at the New Testament and say, ...meh.... they look at the rest of us and say, bless their hearts (Texas style)...
The New Testament is what Christians should be living by, today, allegedly.
The New Testament IS a lot more forgiving, more about love and acceptance. But they have managed to pretzel logic it, too, to justify their behaviors. Yes, they profess to be Christians, but when they get to "interpreting" the "word", THAT is where it gets nasty. They can pretty much make shit up. And you DON'T question the interpreters.
I don't know if its true, BUT (sort of a tribute to one of Bill Maher's gimmick segments) I read that when King James was having the bible interpreted, there had been some sort of misunderstanding/disagreement between him and the interpreters, in an effort to get back at the King they mis-"interpreted" the whole "though a man shalt not lie with another man as with a woman, for it is an abomination", because King James was gay. (If true) They certainly got him, didn't they?
But how can you complain when not a word was written about Jesus until 70 years after his death, but "miraculously" they managed to "remember" every word, verbatim, of the sermon on the mount, and the beatitudes, etc.
I know, divinely inspired authors... Yeah, whatever...
I was raised in the church, baptized at age 11, but finally saw through the "light" around age 14. I am now 68.
Yet I can still recite the names of all 66 books of the bible, the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 apostles. (I just have to do it really FAST... ) They pumped us full of that 3 times a week, and EVERY day during revivals. I even remember tent revivals.
But look at me now. You, too, can overcome.....
BunnyMcGee
(463 posts)It seems to me, as a religion-free person, that if people claim to be Christian, then they follow the teaching in the book. If they do the opposite, and actively rebuke others who try to do the right things, 'by the book', then they are not Christians, no matter how much they screech it. They would have been turned away from the right things, by either 'evil' means, or simple personal weakness of their will and succumbed to persuasion by a stronger force or will. They have allowed their weaknesses to run in hyperdrive while having their bias reinforced. So, a non-Christian can be this weak person not following the book, or a person who follows a different moral book. The term Non-Christian encompasses both unequal, opposing sets. Doesn't Jesus have some warning about these people?
maxrandb
(15,334 posts)It's not bigotry to point out that these folks who call themselves Christians are about as far away from the example of Christ as you can get.
I'm also not saying that only non Christians can be bad, or evil people.
By your "logic", if I saw someone who claimed to be a vegan eating steak, I couldn't point out they were NOT vegan.
Then again, you would probably accuse me of saying only non vegans can be vegans.
wnylib
(21,484 posts)reminds me of how Muslims have spoken out against terrorists, saying that jihadist suicide bombers twist the meaning of jihad to suit their own political biases. According to those who reject the jihadist bomber view, jihad means personal internal struggle in spiritual growth. So they say that the terrorist murderers are not true Muslims.
You're right that a more accurate term would be "bad Xtian" rather than "non Xtian." But it's natural for people to reject the views of those who give the group as a whole a bad name because they use the same name but follow very different principles.
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)facts do not matter
summer_in_TX
(2,739 posts)It was the majority of white Christian evangelical voters.
There are plenty of us who are "red-letter Christians," who follow Jesus' command to welcome the stranger, visit the prisoner, tend the sick, etc.
We were not the demographic that voted for Trump. Nor were black evangelicals.
ecstatic
(32,707 posts)Nobody outside of their deluded circle will ever take anything they say seriously, ever again. They can never claim to be the moral ones after bending over backwards for the most evil, thuggish POSp. They're done. Finished!
LAS14
(13,783 posts)Mr. Sparkle
(2,935 posts)right wind individuals who always seem to cling on for dear life. The right wingers whom love to call bias in the media are the worst for bias in the media. Yet nothing, they never reign unless forced out the door for sexual harassment or something similar!
wnylib
(21,484 posts)else is wrong. So why would they resign? The ones who do resign are the ones who can't agree so they know they don't belong there and they leave.
NCjack
(10,279 posts)it probably went much like that.
RestoreAmerica2020
(3,435 posts)...bigot, mysogynist now occupying WH, just stunning! What we've seen in the past week is a leak, crack, dent made in that support..damn what took them so long?
ProgressDiv
(31 posts)As a progressive and a Christian (UCC) I struggle with what to do about the loud-mouth self-proclaimed "Christians" whose bible seems to be the Republican Party platform and who follow the tweets of Donald instead of the teaching of Jesus. (Honestly I'd prefer to just practice my faith through quiet good works, but the thought of allowing these posers to define Christianity makes me sick.)
The label I have come up with for the sort of folks The Christian Post apparently represents is the "One Commandment Christians". Apparently their only creed is "Thou shalt force others to practice your ideas about human reproduction." This commandment is supreme: as long as you follow it, you can lie, cheat, steal, murder, hate, discriminate, commit adultry, and on and on and still be a "good Christian".
This creed is especially appealing because it allows one to demonstrate their zealotry exclusively by controlling the behavior of others. No self-sacrifice or empathy required (as it is when one actually attempts to follow the teachings of Jesus).
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)He has admitedly raw dogged it with a lot of different prostitutes, models, his rape victims, and likely sex slaves. If he has no illigitimate kids after all that, there has almost certainly been an abortion in there somewhere.
The only one of their perceived sins he hasn't broken is being not heterosexual.
ProgressDiv
(31 posts)There is an article published today in Slate that confirms that Trumpees don't even honor the "one commandment". Trump campaign official Jason Miller was alleged to have had an affair with a woman whom he got pregnant, then DOSED her (without consent) with an abortion drug. He sued Splinter for publishing the allegations and lost a defamation suit.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/delgado-former-trump-campaign-files-pregnancy-sex-discrimination-lawsuit.html?via=taps_top
StarryNite
(9,446 posts)Freddie
(9,267 posts)As a liberal Christian myself (ELCA) I love to remind them every chance I get that they dont own Christianity. And maybe some of the Evangelical types are starting to see the light that theres really more than one issue.
McKim
(2,412 posts)I am grateful for this! As a Left Wing Liberation Theology Christian I am glad that other Christians are standing up for the true meaning of the Gospel! Some are giving Christianity a bad name.
Just remember, Duers, that there are many good main line churches out there who are not going along with the Trump program.
DaDeacon
(984 posts)I am a Black-Southern-Gun-owning-Christian from Decatur Ga! and I can tell you that many for many of us in the faith community we've known for a long time that white mainstream "evangelicals" have long lost their damn minds. We know that talking to them from scripture is useless, they just ignore anything that conflicts with what they believe about "THE WORLD". Our founding fathers understood the dangers of mixing religion and politics. Hell, Christ knew (Matthew 22:21). We need to be honest and remember they can't be reasoned with, only lead like the good sheep they wish to be.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)If any Christian is educated in the most basic tenants of their faith, they can't support him and be an honest Christian.
I know the bible is full of loopholes and contradictions, but this is 10 Commandments stuff. I don't see how any kind of remotely comprehensible theological argument can be made to excuse a man who has unapologetically and publically broken at least 9 of them. Even terrorist and cult leaders put in more effort to appear to be on the side of their God.
StarryNite
(9,446 posts)And like you said, the Bible is full of loopholes and contradictions so it makes it pretty easy for them to do that.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)It's "nobody's perfect". Or "fake news".
onlyadream
(2,166 posts)My mother is a born again Christian (but doesn't identify as an Evangelical, although she does believe the bible is 100% factual and error free. She doesn't go to any churches, but does listen an awful lot to Christian Radio and gets the Epoch Times (gag). She likes Trump, and it took her over a year to admit to me that she voted for him. Anyway, we absolutely will not discuss politics (anymore), however, during Thanksgiving she said that the Christian community is very upset with the Evangelicals. I didn't want to ask why because of the possibility of it leading to a political conversation, so I let it go, but I wonder if it's because of Trump.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,492 posts)speaks volumes relating to our very divided society of today.
I appreciate this fellow sticking to his basic principles......
Canoe52
(2,948 posts)Donald loves me this I know,
Cause the Bible tells me so...
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)I presume the far far gone religious people will never see the light.
But, come on, they are equating t-rump to Jesus?
Hekate
(90,714 posts)I have not checked on him lately, but he was strongly opposed to Dubya's admin and war and wrote "God is Not a Republican ... Or a Democrat."
I doubt he has been silent about Trump.
LAS14
(13,783 posts).... for the Christmas present of shining a bright light on evangelicals who are refusing to follow the pack.
Skittles
(153,169 posts)seriously, you CANNOT
napi21
(45,806 posts)Not that I care about the Evangelicals, but because he had a lock on their vote for 2 1/2 years and if he looses even a few % of them, he can't win reelection! I keep hearing some of this group & some of that group have turned against him, but I've not heard even ONE group say they used to be against him but changed their mind. We've got to remember, he won the presidency by a very few votes. Just a few deserters and no gains means we WIN!
lees1975
(3,860 posts)You have to go a little deeper than the big money, fame-seeking self-appointed "leaders" to find out exactly what's going on. Evangelicalism is a hard place for people to dissent because the churches and leaders are not accountable to a single denomination and once a specific leader, pastor, para-church organization leader gathers a following, they become an almost absolute authority and people tend to equate their word with something prophetic spoken by God himself. They have become so caught up in the power that Trump is throwing their way they are having trouble seeing who he really is and are blind to the reality of what he has done. They exist in a media bubble of conservative media outlets and are blind to reality. But their support for Trump is creating backlash that is causing an awakening of sorts among them that it is costing them when it comes to their main mission and purpose. Over the three years of his presidency, Trump's true character has come out many, many times, nothing worse than in his attempts to cover up the truth about foreign interference in elections. The reality is dawning on many among Evangelicals that supporting Trump is seen as an abandonment of principle and a reliance on "worldly power" instead of on God to accomplish their mission.
Unfortunately, many of them will remain blind to reality, but I think his support among Evangelicals has diminished enough to cost him the 2020 election.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)welcome to DU.
I truly hope eyes and minds continue to open and Trump loses enough supporters to cost him re-election by a landslide.