Need Another Reason To Be NOT Thankful for Evangelical Leaders This Week?

Well, Tony Perkins is happy to oblige.  Last week on James Dobson’s radio show, Perkins said the following about President Obama and the Obama administration:

I have no doubt, as you look back over the last two and a half of years of this administration, that the President has used his bully pulpit—he has done public policy but beyond the public policy that he’s pushed for—that it’s created an atmosphere that is hostile toward Christianity. And we’re seeing this played out all across this culture. And the courts have been emboldened by this. And now you see the military doing it as well. There’s no end to this as long as you have someone who is the Commander-in-Chief, who is the president of this country that has a disdain for Christianity.

This was reported by Christianity Today.  As you might expect, some hateful comments toward Obama show up under the short article.  That neither surprises nor disappoints me.

But here’s what does disappoint me: The editorial board of Christianity Today, the supposed keepers of a more thoughtful, centrist evangelicalism, have not spoken out against Perkins.  While they won’t hesitate to chastise those to their left — Brian McLaren or Jim Wallis, for example — they seem loathe to drop any bad ink on Perkins, Piper, Driscoll, or anyone to their right, regardless of how offensive and antithetical to the gospel are the words or action of these leaders.

Here’s hoping that CT will use this coming election year to call the far-right wing of evangelicalism to a more civil rhetoric.