Evangelical Trump supporters bash Christianity Today for calling for removal from office

Two prominent evangelical leaders are slamming the flagship evangelical magazine “Christianity Today” after it called for President Trump to be removed from office in an editorial.

“Less than 20% of evangelicals supported @HillaryClinton in 2016 but now @CTmagazine has removed any doubt that they are part of the same 17% or so of liberal evangelicals who have preached social gospel for decades! CT unmasked!” wrote Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of evangelical Liberty University.

Less than 20% of evangelicals supported @HillaryClinton in 2016 but now @CTmagazine has removed any doubt that they are part of the same 17% or so of liberal evangelicals who have preached social gospel for decades! CT unmasked! https://t.co/O7WjyZSwiW

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) December 20, 2019

“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.”

Christianity Today, which was founded by Graham’s father, the prominent evangelical leader Billy Graham, in 1956, on Thursday called for Trump’s removal from office in an editorial by its editor-in-chief.

“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,” wrote Mark Galli.

The editorial mentioned Billy Graham in the context of the magazine’s founding principle to “help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith.”

“Yes, my father Billy Graham founded Christianity Today; but no, he would not agree with their opinion piece,” Franklin Graham wrote, before revealing that his father was a Trump supporter before his death in 2018. “My father knew Donald Trump, he believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump. He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation.”

Trump also criticized the magazine on Friday, tweeting that it is “far left” and “has been doing poorly.” 

“No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close,” he added.

….have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019

Eighty-one percent of self-described white, born-again or evangelical Christians voted for Trump in 2016, and 78 percent said they approved of his job performance as of March 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

The magazine addressed those evangelicals in its editorial: “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.”