The second presidential debate took place last night, and, as expected, Trump defended his total lack of character by saying that Bill and Hillary are worse. And Hillary defended her total lack of character by saying the same thing about Trump.
While this is simply more of the politics-as-usual we have come to know all too well in America, the reactions by Christians over the weekend to the recent video revelation about Trump’s sexually abusive treatment of women is not only something we’ve never seen before, but it’s a strong indicator of how lukewarm faith has consumed American Christianity.
Up until now, Christians have used a wide range of excuses for endorsing Trump — from “we aren’t voting for a pastor-in-chief” to “Jesus isn’t on the ballot” — all in the name of electing “not Hillary.” And while you would think that this latest revelation might be the proverbial “line in the sand” that no Christian should cross, it appears to have actually fired them up to the point of openly defending sexual assault. Not much of stretch really following their defense of pornography after it discovered that Trump was involved in trying to get his second wife into the porn industry.
Michele Bachmann, former Congresswoman from Minnesota and current religion advisor to the Trump campaign–she’s on the record proclaiming that Trump was “raised up by God” to be president–is blaming the revelations of Trump’s sexual abuse on the media. Trump’s running mate Mike Pence, sounding a lot like Tim Kaine defending abortion, said he was personally “offended” over Trump’s comments and he doesn’t defend or condone them, but he didn’t condemn him either.
As troubling as it is that Christians within the campaign would defend Trump’s sexual assaults, it’s the responses of some of the national voices of the Evangelical community that I find the most disturbing. Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council, defended his support of Trump by saying his decision wasn’t based on “shared values.” And Ralph Reed, who once ran the now-defunct Christian Coalition–perhaps it’s defunct for a reason–and condemned Bill Clinton in 1998 after the Monica Lewinsky affair because “character matters,” dismissed the video revelations as a non-issue compared to real issues like the economy.
Other stalwarts of the Evangelical movement choosing Trump over character are: Franklin Graham, Eric Metaxas, Robert Jeffress, James Dobson and David Brody of CBN.
The failure of the Christian community to hold Trump accountable for his complete absence of character, along with choosing to defend him when it is openly displayed, has permanently removed character and integrity as criteria to be president.
And in the end, Christians lose the ability to be salt and light to a lost America.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.
Podcasts of his daily radio commentary are nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.
