Some of you may know that I am editorial assistant for the Fellowship of St. James, which publishes Touchstone Magazine and Salvo. If you are not a subscriber to Touchstone, I would like to direct you to S. M. Hutchens’ recent article that we have on our website. This article, which just appeared in the September/October issue of Touchstone, defends Russell Moore, former President of SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and now public theologian for Christianity Today.
Moore was the target of abuse from fellow Christians after raising alarm about the naïve capitulation of the evangelical church to former President Trump. In this article S. M. Hutchens, senior editor of Touchstone, observed that
“Russell’s reasons for speaking strongly against his candidacy–that Mr. Trump was morally unqualified for the presidency, and that his profession of Christian faith rang very hollow–were virtually indisputable and by no means unchristian.”
I am particularly sympathetic of Russell Moore because I also came under abuse during the Trump administration when I reported on plans of insurrection and even murder being perpetrated by Trump supporters in North Idaho. The attack against me included accusations that I was pro-socialist, pro-abortion, anti-America, and pro-Biden. So I can understand something of what Moore and his family have been through, though the abuse against him was at a far higher level of intensity than anything I endured.
If the Christian community is ever to recover from the spiritual disaster of the Trump years, we need more courageous Christians like Russell Moore. But Moore’s courage has come at a cost.
He also made many enemies within the Southern Baptist Church because of his stance against sexual abuse and his views on racial harmony. His enemies were quick to make the spurious assumption that he must be a leftist.
“My family and I have faced constant threats from white nationalists and white supremacists, including within our convention,” Moore wrote.
It is a topsy-turvy world in which Russell Moore is considered a leftist and Donald Trump is considered a conservative. God help!
Postscript: when I posted this on Facebook I received the predictable set of questions about whether this means I support Hillary and Biden. Please spare me! My own political views are really beside the point, or at least this point concerning Russell Moore. But as far as the political views of people like me or Moore are concerned, it is illogical to think that because we dissent from the leftism of Trump, we therefore must be okay with the leftism of Biden or Clinton. That is about as logical as saying that because I don’t like liver within onion and liver soup, that I must be okay with liver in chopped liver salad. Logic my friends, logic!
And by the way, if you are shocked to see me write that Donald Trump is a leftist, I must simply refer you to my earlier research on this topic at the “Further Reading” links below.
To sum, let me just say thank you to Russell Moore and for speaking out against the leftism of Donald Trump and his anti-Christ agenda.
Further Reading