We Interrupt This Program for an Important News Bulletin: Christianity Today magazine and Trump

We Interrupt This Program for an Important News Bulletin: Christianity Today and Trump

In an editorial written by Christianity Today’s chief editor Mark Galli and dated December 19 (2019) the magazine calls for President Trump’s removal from office. It’s a powerful editorial that every person convinced that all evangelicals support Trump must read or else shut up.

CNN, MSNBC, FOX, PBS News, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, are you all listening? Will you be fair and publish this news? There is no more influential “mouthpiece” of evangelicalism than Christianity Today. CT was founded in the 1950s and its board chairman was Billy Graham for many, many years.

(Yes, yes, I see that some of the news outlets mentioned above have already mentioned the editorial in their online editions. What I’m looking for is a major emphasis in articles and editorials about the significance of this CT call for Trump’s removal–that it proves not all evangelicals support Trump.)

I know CT well as I served it as a consulting and then contributing editor for many years and I have written numerous articles published in its pages.

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the “Note to commenters” at its end.*

I know for a fact, with utter certainty, that this editorial took courage to write and publish. And, as an editorial, it cannot reflect only Mark Galli’s opinion. CT editorials speak for the magazine even if not for every one of its board members or editors. I do not believe this editorial could have been published without the permission, if not agreement, of CT’s publisher and board of directors.

How many readers does CT have? Well, I don’t know for sure because it has many more readers than subscribers. My best guess is that at least a quarter of a million people read the magazine. And, among non-fundamentalist evangelicals, it is generally considered the only remaining thing holding the now disintegrating American evangelical movement somewhat together.

If the national news media do NOT sit up and pay attention to this CT editorial, it will prove what I have been saying all along—that the national news media has a bias against evangelicals. They equate being evangelical with being a supporter of Trump while occasionally acknowledging that there are exceptions. This is no mere “exception.”

I read the editorial online. I hope you can, too. I don’t include hyperlinks here. Use an internet search engine to find the editorial. Or look for it at CT’s web site. But all you really need to know is that I read it and it is moderate in language, irenic in tone, but forthright. The author (who I know personally) points out that the magazine also called for the removal of President Clinton when he was impeached by the House of Representatives. So its present call for the removal of President Trump is not partisan.

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