For the sake of clarity, here is what Pope Francis actually said about Donald Trump a few days ago.
Trump “is not Christian” if he calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants and pledges to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
In response to a reporter’s question, the Pope went on to say, “As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”
He also said that since he did not know precisely what Trump’s exact stance on illegal immigration was, he would give him “the benefit of the doubt” until he knew for sure.
The next day I read a story with headlines that said, “Religious Leaders Rush To Trump’s Defense.” Anxious to know who they were and what they had to say I opened the article.
Turns out the “religious leaders” (some headlines said “Christian” leaders) were Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, and Robert Jeffress (1st Baptist Church, Dallas).
Hmm. Not religious or Christian leaders I have any respect for or pay any attention to.
In fact, that there was a story at all about what they thought made me wonder if any reporters who wrote about it knew anything about the things the three of them actually believe?
Did they know that all three of them believe God wrote the Bible?
Did they know they reject evolution as a fact?
Did they know that each of them believes the earth is only 10,000 years old or that a man named Jonah actually lived for three days in the belly of a big fish?
Did they know they believe heaven is up and hell is real, that Jesus will come floating down from heaven on a cloud someday soon?
Did they know they believe because Muslims use the word “Allah” and Christians use the word “God” that Muslims don’t believe in the same God Christians believe in?
If they didn’t or they did, either way suggests they didn’t think the intellectual credibility, or lack thereof, of someone they were quoting mattered.
At the very least they could have used an honest headline such as, “Fundamentalist Christian leaders defend Trump.”
They didn’t so the public got to read what three fundamentalist Christians thought about what Pope Francis said about Donald Trump as if their views mattered.
In the process Christianity once again suffered damage.
Why? Because many people who read or hear stories like this don’t know that fundamentalists don’t represent what the majority of Christians truly believe.
They don’t know that most Christians don’t believe God wrote the Bible.
They don’t know that most Christians don’t believe only Christians will go to heaven.
They don’t know that most Christians don’t believe Islam is an enemy of Christianity or that most Muslims are terrorists.
They don’t believe the U.S. should build a wall between us and Mexico or send the twelve million undocumented immigrants who have been here for years back to their country of origin.
They don’t believe our country should admit only Christian refugees seeking asylum or tag all Muslims living in this country, including Muslim citizens.
I don’t know what motivated Pope Francis to make his comments, but I took his words as a warning to all non-fundamentalist Christians that this is not a time to play nice.
Our faith is under assault by Christians like Falwell, Graham, Jeffress, and Trump who prove day in and day out that with friends like them, Christianity doesn’t need any enemies.
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