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Donald Trump‘s removal from office is about “loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments”, a leading Evangelical magazine has claimed.
Christianity Today published a story yesterday calling for the US President to be sacked and urged people of faith not to support him.
The op-ed, written by the influential publication’s editor-in-chief Mark Galli, said the impeachment process “illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies”.
He wrote: “Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment.
“That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.”
Mr Galli continued: “We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see.”
“None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.”
It is not the first time Mr Trump has been the focus of criticism by the website which has previously come down hard on the President for issues including his immigration policies.
Mr Trump faces a trial before the Senate in the new year following his impeachment and the article has stoked rumours of dissent among a key faction of the Republican party.
Mr Galli added: “To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve.
“Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency.”
American news websites reported problems with the magazines website due to volume of traffic after the op-ed was published.
One of the US’s most prominent liberal evangelical leaders Jim Wallis said the op-ed was a “huge, watershed event”.
He said: “What CT is saying in their editorial is removing Donald Trump from office is now a matter of faith, not politics, and I agree.”
Mr Wallis also accused American Christians of making a “Faustian” bargain with the President, supporting him in exchange for his appointment of their preferred federal judges.
He went on to say he believes the article will hit the hardest suburban white women and younger evangelicals who already feel jaded by older evangelicals who embrace Trump.
