Thursday, January 09, 2020

Alternative Culture: Christianity Today and Trump

One of the more murky topics in Christianity is politics. Unlike other religions, Jesus did not established an earthly government or write a political thesis before he ascended back to heaven. Thus is it hard to argue for a political system, one way or another.

As a result, many of my Christian friends and I have differing political opinion. So it came no surprise to me when Mark Galli (editor of Christianity Today) wrote a critical article on the American President Donald Trump.

For this post, I am not arguing whether we should or should not support Trump, but to give a nuance view.


Galli's view
Galli argued that Trump should be removed for two reasons.

(A) That he illegally sought a foreign government's help to undermine a political rival

(B) His immoral behaviour while being President

Trump's supporters' view
To supporters of Trump, they argue that

(A) There was lack of strong evidence 

(B) They did not vote for Trump for morality; Trump's policies had protected the rights of the religious.

The bigger view

The most disappointing thing is that our American siblings-in-Christ have made support for Trump a "Christian" identity issue. This reminds me of what was written in 1 Corinthians 3: 4-5

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

By making support of or against Trump a religious issue, our Christian siblings have split themselves unnecessarily. We have to remember that we are united in Christ.