Christianity Today Editor Leaves After Backlash Over Editorial Advocating For Trump's Removal
What does Mark Galli, the now retired editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, make of the response to his call for Trump’s removal from office? We ask him.
Guests
Mark Galli, former editor-in-chief of Christianity Today. (@markgalli)
Richard Land, executive editor of The Christian Post. President of the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College. (@ChristianPost)
From The Reading List
Christianity Today: Editorial: “Trump Should Be Removed from Office” — “In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.
“The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.
“That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.
“Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.
“But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.”
The Christian Post: “Christianity Today and the problem with ‘Christian elitism’” — “Christianity Today editor Mark Galli’s ‘lofty’ op-ed last week calling for President Trump’s removal from office touched off a firestorm of criticism and dissent from scores of evangelical leaders, and the backlash and debate have reached ‘critical mass’ since its publication. Meanwhile, secular media immediately seized upon the CT editorial to argue that evangelical support for the president was finally crumbling under the weight of impeachment by the House of Representatives.
“After all, when Christianity Today, the ‘flagship’ magazine of evangelicals, founded by Billy Graham himself, turns against the president, then the long hoped for evangelical exodus from Trump must surely have finally commenced.
“In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, as made clear by the Graham family itself. The great evangelist’s son, Franklin, divulged that his father ‘knew Donald Trump, believed in Donald Trump, and he voted for Donald Trump.’ He then went on to say that his father ‘believed that Donald J. Trump was the man for this hour in history for our nation.’ ”
The Hill: “Trump to rally evangelicals after critical Christianity Today editorial” — “President Trump will spend Friday evening in Miami rallying a group of evangelical supporters, just weeks after a leading evangelical magazine issued a bruising editorial calling for his impeachment and removal from office.
“The piece by Christianity Today’s now-outgoing Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli stoked divisions among evangelical supporters for Trump, who have overlooked some of Trump’s personal foibles while focusing on some of his policies and his judicial picks.
It sparked fierce condemnation from Franklin Graham, the son of the publication’s founder Billy Graham, and caused a number of evangelicals to flock together and publicly express support for the president.
The Trump campaign announced the “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition one day after the editorial declaring that Trump had “abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath.”
The New York Times: “Christianity Today Editor Laments ‘Ethical Naïveté’ of Trump Backers” — “People have been upset with Mark Galli before. As the editor in chief of Christianity Today, a prominent evangelical magazine, he has printed some controversial editorials. But the people he irks usually do not include the IT department of his own publication.
“That is what happened when Mr. Galli published an explosive editorial on Dec. 19 arguing that President Trump should be removed from office. So many readers flocked to read the editorial online that the website crashed, overwhelming those whose job it was to keep it running.
“Mr. Galli had been working for Christianity Today for two decades after being a Presbyterian pastor for about 10 years, first in Mexico City and later in Sacramento, Calif., but the response to the editorial was like nothing he had ever seen. The traffic to the website was 50-fold what it is on a typical day.
“Mr. Galli’s last day with the magazine will be Friday. He had announced his retirement in October, long before the editorial and the response to it.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
