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‘This Is Not of God’: When Anti-Trump Evangelicals Confront Their Brethren
The New york times ^ | May 23 2018 | Laurie Goodstein

Posted on 05/29/2018 4:03:32 AM PDT by Cronos

The night before Shane Claiborne came to town to preach at a Christian revival, he received a letter from the chief of police at Liberty University warning that if he set foot on the property, he would be arrested for trespassing and face up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

...to the leaders of Liberty, he was a menace to their campus. He and his national network of liberal evangelicals, called the Red Letter Christians, were holding a revival meeting to protest in Liberty’s backyard. Their target: Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty’s president and a man who has played a pivotal role in forging the alliance between white evangelicals and Donald J. Trump, who won 81 percent of their vote.

Mr. Claiborne and his group are the other evangelicals. The Red Letter Christians, a reference to the words of Jesus printed in some Bibles in red type, are not the evangelicals invited for interviews on Fox News or MSNBC. They don’t align neatly with either political party. But they have fierce moral and theological objections to those evangelicals who have latched onto Mr. Trump and the Republican Party.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: electionbias; godgap; jerryfalwelljr; liberalevangelicals; redletterchristians; religiousleft; sojourners; soros
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I'm not really sure where these anti-Trump evangelicals stand on key-note (to ME) issues like abortion, lgxbtabc "marriage". The NY Times seems to focus only on their disagreement with Trump on immigration.
1 posted on 05/29/2018 4:03:32 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

non-political my ass.

The fact that they were only formed after Trump’s election and not during Obama’s term or to fight against gay marriage or abortion tells me all I need to know.

The leftists are successfully hijacking the churches and twisting God’s word.


2 posted on 05/29/2018 4:13:43 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: Cronos

If you are looking for Godliness, I suggest you do not look to politicians at all.


3 posted on 05/29/2018 4:16:54 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (robert mueller is an unguided missile)
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To: Cronos

Seem moderate to left in these pieces

https://www.redletterchristians.org/unbalanced-fox-news/
My Disappointment in Obama and the Unbalanced Reporting of Fox News
Tony Campolo October 2, 2011

https://www.redletterchristians.org/troubles-decision-2016/
What Troubles Me Most: Decision 2016
Tony Campolo October 24, 2016

he was disappointed that Obama “caved” to Republicans and his only trouble with Hillary was the difficulty in swaying Evangelicals to vote for her because of abortion but on the other side, “Trump”, so...


4 posted on 05/29/2018 4:19:07 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ads for Chappaquiddick warn of scenes of tobacco use. What about the hazards of drunk driving?)
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To: Cronos
I'm not really sure where these anti-Trump evangelicals stand on …

"At this point, what difference does it make?" -- some Dead White Bit##

Really, it's too late now to analyze their issues. The anti-Trump people of any category at this point are enemies of human civilization.

D5 avalanche rating - Could gouge the landscape. Largest snow avalanche known.

5 posted on 05/29/2018 4:19:35 AM PDT by meadsjn
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To: Cronos

If they have to boast of following Jesus more than others by over dramatically proclaiming themselves “Red Letter” I immediately distrust them.


6 posted on 05/29/2018 4:21:22 AM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: Skywise

You got that right — where were they on babykilling?


7 posted on 05/29/2018 4:22:03 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

A critique of evangelical Christianity written by a liberal Jew for a paper with one of the most misinformed and biased Religious Affairs departments ever? Seems legit to me.


8 posted on 05/29/2018 4:22:44 AM PDT by JusPasenThru (We have a mental health problem disguised as a gun problem.)
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To: Cronos

I know what is of God:

- protecting unborn children is required by scripture,
- following the law (including for illegal invaders) is required by scripture,
- armed self-defense is at least endorsed, if not required by scripture,
- working as a prerequisite to receive charity is required by scripture,
- judging individuals based on their actions and their hearts rather than their ethnic origins is required by scripture,
- rejecting the idea that marriage can include two men, two women, or some other combination other than one man and one woman is required by scripture,
- rejecting the far-left politics of envy is required by the Ten Commandments and by scripture in general.

Nope. while there are several issues on which the republican establishment deviates from scripture, I cannot find a single issue on which conservatives are in the wrong.


9 posted on 05/29/2018 4:23:52 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Cronos

Since their loss in 2004, the Democrats have tried to control the narrative of their issues and cast them in a biblical light (Jesus would be for socialized medicine, Jesus would be for open borders, Jesus would be for same sex marriage, etc. and FALSE).

https://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1026/p03s01-uspo.html
In final push, Kerry tries to close a perceived ‘God gap’
Democrats hope to draw swing voters from ranks of religious ‘moderates,’ eyeing fault lines within churches.

By Jane Lampman, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor OCTOBER 26, 2004

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/politics/09beliefs.html
In Politics, the ‘God Gap’ Overshadows Other Differences
Beliefs

By PETER STEINFELS DEC. 9, 2006


10 posted on 05/29/2018 4:25:46 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ads for Chappaquiddick warn of scenes of tobacco use. What about the hazards of drunk driving?)
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To: Pollster1

Very well stated. I’ve used all of these at one time or another in destroying the facade of liberal Christianity.


11 posted on 05/29/2018 4:27:49 AM PDT by NELSON111 (Congress: The Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog show. Theater for sheep. My politics determines my "hero")
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To: Cronos

It is a mistake to expect the secular government to be “of God”.

He doesn’t work like that.


12 posted on 05/29/2018 4:29:49 AM PDT by Jim Noble (The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers)
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To: a fool in paradise

The NY Times headline was “Kerry Tries to Close the God Gap”?? He should have started with himself - lied and orchestrated lies about “atrocities” by our soldiers in Vietnam that “made those by Genghis Khan pale by comparison”?? Used phony veterans to “testify” before Neckbrace/Swimmer Kennedy who it turned out had never set foot in Vietnam?? No, he was on the devil’s side of the NY Times’ “god gap”.


13 posted on 05/29/2018 4:30:18 AM PDT by laconic
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To: Cronos

Squish

https://www.redletterchristians.org/tag/abortion/


14 posted on 05/29/2018 4:30:56 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ads for Chappaquiddick warn of scenes of tobacco use. What about the hazards of drunk driving?)
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To: All

This is just like code pink which claimed to an anti-war outfit but was just a propagandistic anti-Bush outfit. Once Obama was in office and EXPANDED the wars, code pink disappeared. Until Trump got into office.


15 posted on 05/29/2018 4:31:22 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: laconic

Their real push on the God Gap came in the days and weeks FOLLOWING that election.

Which is why the 2006 mid-terms focused on a toe-tapper and a guy sexting a Democrat aide. Out those homosexuals in the GOP and get the evangelicals to just throw their hands up and stay home.


16 posted on 05/29/2018 4:32:44 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ads for Chappaquiddick warn of scenes of tobacco use. What about the hazards of drunk driving?)
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To: Skywise
"The leftists are successfully hijacking the churches and twisting God’s word."

Of course they are... Satan is a mighty powerful fellow..! He seems to rule in a lot of the churches nowadays...

17 posted on 05/29/2018 4:34:37 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Skywise

You got that right. This is nothing more than another lefty tactic to try to convince it is immoral to support Trump. My conscience is clear. I proudly voted against Hillary.


18 posted on 05/29/2018 4:35:20 AM PDT by Wm F Buckley Republican (?)
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To: \/\/ayne

Just another Democrat talking point group

https://www.redletterchristians.org/five-reasons-churches-need-come-lgbtq-rights/
Five Reasons Churches Need to “Come Out” on LGBTQ Rights
Christian Piatt June 26, 2014
“The Churches’ window of opportunity to be on the right side of history is closing. At the risk of sounding opportunistic, too many Christians found themselves on the rather embarrassing end of the debate about slavery, desegregation, and even women’s rights and in some cases still today.”

False.


19 posted on 05/29/2018 4:37:52 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Ads for Chappaquiddick warn of scenes of tobacco use. What about the hazards of drunk driving?)
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To: Cronos

I would love to ask these “pastors” to name me one person in scripture outside of Jesus that did not sin against God? It always seems these lefty preachers do not need God as they are perfect already.


20 posted on 05/29/2018 4:47:06 AM PDT by LukeL
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