Yesterday, I blogged about Christianity Today‘s editor-in-chief Mark Galli having published an article the previous day in which he, representing CT‘s editorial board, calls for President Trump’s removal from office. (CT is the foremost evangelical magazine in the U.S.) This article is now getting widespread coverage in the media, including by major television networks. Galli now says he had no idea the piece would garner this much attention.
The main reason is that it made President Trump angry and he tweeted about it at length. He called CT “a far left magazine” that was failing economically. Galli rightly responded that both allegations are not “factual.” Trump defended himself by claiming he has done more for evangelicals than any president, which may be true.
Galli argues there is a tradeoff for evangelicals who support Trump, it being the casting aside of morality and injuring the defense of the Christian gospel before the world.
(It should be understood that sometimes writers include Pentecostals among Evangelicals. But authorities usually distinguish between them. Pentecostals have been just as supportive of Trump as president as Evangelicals have, if not more so. Trump recently made Pentecostal/Charismatic preacher Paula White–who preaches the “prosperity gospel” which Evangelicals reject–his “personal pastor” in the White House.)
Christianity Today was founded by famed evangelist Billy Graham and its first editor-in-chief Carl Henry back in 1956. Billy Graham’s son, Franklin, also a Christian minister, has been very vocal in his support of Donald Trump as U.S. president. (See my posts on this: “Franklin Graham Discredits Himself about Trump’s Charlottesville Remarks;” “Franklin Graham Defends President Trump;” “Did Franklin Graham Put Donald Trump in the White House?“) Yesterday, on Franklin Graham’s Facebook page, he criticized Galli’s article, further alleging that CT no longer represents Graham family ideals. Franklin also revealed that his father, who passed away last year at age 99, voted for Trump as president in the 2016 election. This development is causing further discussion about whether or not CT has recently been representative of most evangelicals.
White House aids reportedly have cautioned President Trump about further criticizing the Galli article in CT. Yet Trump knows better than anyone that older, white evangelicals are such a significant portion of his political base. If the dam cracks there, a flood may engulf the president. Most pundits, however, are saying the CT piece won’t hurt Trump’s base.
Mark Galli is retiring from CT at the end of this year. He sure is going out with a bang!
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