Falwell and Jeffress defend Trump on Hannity

Two of Donald Trump’s leading evangelical supporters were on Sean Hannity’s FOX News program Friday night to urge conservative Christians to vote for the GOP candidate.

Trump’s cadre of religious advisers and endorsers includes cast of characters pretty far outside the evangelical mainstream. A lot of evangelical insiders think that preachers like Mark Burns Paula White are prosperity-gospel hucksters that should be dismissed and ignored. But the New York billionaire has lined up a substantial list of evangelical endorsers that are so well-loved and respected that they cannot easily be dismissed as low-class hacks uncritically shilling for a faux Christian candidate.

The segment with Liberty University President Jerry Falwell and Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress follows Hannity’s interview with actor John Voight. It begins around the 4:30 mark in this video.

Falwell demonstrates once again that he is a total amateur when it comes to Christian political engagement. Just seconds into his praise of Trump, right after agreeing with Hannity that Jerry Falwell, Sr. would be “very proud” of Trump’s flattering speech to the Values Voters Summit in Washington on Friday, Falwell, Jr. touts the Johnson Amendment and says it’s “very important for us at the university where I work.”

This is interesting for a few reasons. First, very few conservative evangelicals I know are clamoring for a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a provision in the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 that allows for the tax-exempt status of churches to be challenged if they engage in overt partisan political activities. Second, Falwell should not be talking too much about Liberty University, as he supposedly wants to emphasize that he has endorsed Trump in his personal capacity. In his mind, his endorsement carries a lot weight apart from the fact that he inherited the presidency of the world’s largest Christian university from his world-famous father, an architect of the religious right.

It would be great to to hear from others at Liberty University — administrators, faculty, or students — who can affirm their president’s claim that repealing the Johnson Amendment is a priority for the school.

I won’t hold my breath, though. So far, even though it seems certain that many at Liberty are disgusted with Falwell’s pro-Trump politicking, no one there is speaking up about it. Please correct me if I’m wrong. But I have not heard one Liberty professor or administrator publicly oppose Falwell on this matter or even question the wisdom of his endorsement.

To Falwell’s credit, he does not pretend to be a faith leader. His background is in law and management. He gives no evidence of ever having thought or read deeply about the theological or historical foundations for Christian political engagement. He just follows the campaign’s marching orders and goes around talking about the Johnson Amendment.

Don’t believe that Falwell is leading some groundswell of urgency to politicize churches and nonprofits. Journalist Sarah Posner, who interviewed Falwell this summer, points out that Trump is the one who brought it up to Falwell.

@onesarahjones @jlupf Falwell told me Trump brought it up to him.

— Sarah Posner (@sarahposner) July 25, 2016

Not to be outdone, the Reverend Dr. Robert Jeffress delivered quite a performance on the Hannity show, too. After highlighting the singular importance of pro-life Supreme Court justices (which Trump promises to nominate), Jeffress says he is “getting tired of these namby-pamby, pantywaisted, weak-kneed Christians” who would prefer not to cast their ballot for a race-baiting narcissist. Jeffress thinks any evangelical who declines to vote for Trump is “a hypocrite and a fool.”

Less than 2 days after his Hannity appearance, the Rev. Dr. Jeffress began a new sermon series at First Baptist Church of Dallas. Maybe if he helps get Trump elected and the Johnson Amendment repealed, he can do his politicking right there in the pulpit instead of having to give up his Friday nights talking to bloviating gasbags like Sean Hannity.

Tomorrow at @firstdallas, I begin a new series I’ve never preached before. Join me for, “A Place Called Heaven.” https://t.co/9lEtwH5B6a

— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) September 10, 2016

Here is Trump’s speech at the Values Voters Summit last week.