Christian group expresses support for Donald Trump
A Christian organization has shown support for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, a view that not every Christian leader shares.
According to The Washington Post, American Renewal leader David Lane sent an email to 100,000 pastors on Tuesday, expressing that, given the options on who will stand as the next U.S. president, Trump is the obvious choice. He said that it's not a matter of "the lesser of two evils" but rather on "who will inflict the least damage to freedom and liberty."
"Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, this is an easy choice. What and how will Mr. Trump do? I don't have a clue," he wrote. "But with Hillary we do know, the progressives that she will stack on the Supreme Court alone will set-back America for a century. ... Codifying transgender bathrooms rights will only be the beginning of nine unelected and unaccountable justices imposing a godless agenda, tearing America apart brick-by-brick."
This is in high contrast to other church leaders' view that Trump is not the right choice. According to the report, almost 60 of them signed an open letter last week denouncing the business mogul and urging Christian voters to reject him. Russell Moore, the president of Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, has been vocal about his stance regarding the U.S. presidential hopeful.
"As of this week, the nation faces a crazier election season than many of us ever imagined, with Donald J. Trump as the all-but-certain nominee of the Republican Party," Moore wrote in an article on The New York Times. "Regardless of the outcome in November, his campaign is forcing American Christians to grapple with some scary realities that will have implications for years to come."
Lane thinks otherwise. He reportedly said in his letter that Trump could be "one of the top four presidents in American history," although he deems that the 69-year-old candidate needs to go back to former president Ronald Reagan's model of "running and governing on 'principle' and 'moral absolutes.' "
Some Christians who have initially shown opposition to Trump have softened somewhat, such as Family Research Council's Tony Perkins who told The Christian Post that he is open to Trump if he, in turn, is "open to working to gain the support of the evangelical community."
Trump, according to CP, already has the support of some evangelical leaders, including Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, and Pastor Robert Jeffress of a Dallas megachurch. He had also shown openness to work with the Heritage Foundation.
