Almost 200 evangelical leaders across the country came together and penned a letter to Dr. Timothy Dairymple, the president of Christianity Today, for the outlet's recent editorial calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment. In the editorial, the news outlet's editor in chief, Mark Galli, argued that Trump should be impeached and removed from office because his actions are "a violation of the Constitution" and "profoundly immoral."
The group slammed Galli for making previous statements about evangelicals who voted for Trump, saying they are uneducated and have "blue-collar jobs," as if a hard day's work is something to snub.
Those who signed the letter made it clear they are not "far-right" but rather "Bible-believing Christians" who are also "patriotic Americans." They value policies the Trump administration has implemented like "protect[ing] the unborn, promot[ing] religious freedom, reform[ing] our criminal justice system, contribut[ing] to strong working families through paid family leave, protect[ing] the freedom of conscience, prioritiz[ing] parental rights and ensur[ing] that our foreign policy aligns with our values wile making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel."
One of the biggest issues the collective group had was the lack of dissenting points of view. And because the publication made it clear they do not want President Trump to be re-elected in 2020, the evangelical leaders called on Christianity Today to reveal which Democratic contender they are backing.
"The editorial you published, without any meaningful and immediate regard for dissenting points of view, not only supported the entirely-partisan, legally-dubious, and politically-motivated impeachment but went even further, calling for Donald Trump not to be elected again in 2020 when he certainly survives impeachment," the leader said. "As one of our signatories said to the press, 'I hope Christianity Today will now tell us who they will support for president among the 2020 Democrat field?'"
Below is the full letter:
Dr. Dalrymple,
We write collectively to express our dissatisfaction with the editorial Christianity Today published on Thursday, December 19, 2019 calling for the removal of our duly elected President, who was put into office at the behest of over sixty million voters.
It was astonishing to us that your editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, further offensively dismissed our point of view on CNN by saying, “Christianity Today is not read by the people - Christians on the far right, by evangelicals on the far right - so they’re going to be as dismissive of the magazine as President Trump has shown to be.” It also came to our attention, that Mr. Galli has written other statements about Americans who chose Donald Trump over Secretary Clinton in 2016, referring to them as “These other evangelicals [who] often haven’t finished college, and if they have jobs, and apparently most of them don’t, they are blue-collar jobs or entry level work” as he describes himself with pride as an “elite evangelical.”
Of course, it’s up to your publication to decide whether or not your magazine intends to be a voice of evangelicals like those represented by the signatories below, and it is up to us and those Evangelicals like us to decide if we should subscribe to, advertise in and read your publication online and in print, but historically, we have been your readers.
We are, in fact, not “far-right” evangelicals as characterized by the author.
Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our President has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel. We are not theocrats, and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike.
We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's --- our public service.
The editorial you published, without any meaningful and immediate regard for dissenting points of view, not only supported the entirely-partisan, legally-dubious, and politically-motivated impeachment but went even further, calling for Donald Trump not to be elected again in 2020 when he certainly survives impeachment.
As one of our signatories said to the press, “I hope Christianity Today will now tell us who they will support for president among the 2020 Democrat field?”
Your editorial offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations.
It not only targeted our President; it also targeted those of us who support him, and have supported you.
Some of the signatures included high-profile figures, like former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); Jerry Falwell Jr., President of Liberty University; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Alveda King, Pastoral Associate at Priests for Life and Director for Civil Rights for the Unborn; Greg Laurie, the Senior Pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship; former Rep. Bob McEwan (R-OH); author and host Eric Metaxas; Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council; comedian Chonda Pierce; Ralph Reed, the President of the Faith and Freedom Coalition; Rev. Tony Suarez, the Executive Vice President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Anthony Verdugo, the Founder and Executive Director of the Christian Family Coalition (CFC);
Even though the magazine was founded by prominent evangelist Billy Graham, the Graham family has not had anything to do with the publication in years. In fact, Franklin Graham spoke out against the publication, saying his father "would be very disappointed" in what his publication has become.
"I have not previously shared who my father voted for in the past election, but because of this article, I feel it is necessary to share it now," the younger Graham wrote in a Facebook post. "My father knew Donald Trump, he believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump. He believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation."
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