I just this article about a Christian backlash against Franklin Graham’s support of Trump,
Over 16,000 Christians Want Franklin Graham Fired for ‘Helping Incite’ Capitol Riot (msn.com)
…and I was wondering if there was more than this going on behind the scenes because, when it comes to the number of self-proclaimed Christians in this country, “over 16,000” Christians" just isn’t that big a number. Are there other Christian organizations out there that used to support Trump but have (please excuse the term) “seen the light”?
My conservative Christian friends have been remarkably silent since January 6, except for telling us all to pray for the U.S. Sort of the same reaction people have when their prediction the world will end on X date doesn’t happen.
A lot of Christian outlets, like Christianity Today, have condemned the January 6 events.
Were they supportive of Trump before that?
This group that launched the petition never supported Trump afaik. Faithful America is a left of center action group that happens to be Christian.
Christianity Today, no, in fact they had run an op-ed against Trump that went viral a year prior to that.
Which means that even their small group isn’t much of a backlash at all. I wonder if there are any Christian roups out there that have said basically “We supported Trump, but enough is enough”?
Why do you wonder about Christian groups specifically?
Because I just saw that article and the question came to mind, like I said in the OP.
But the article made it pretty obvious these guys never supported Trump. They wanted Graham fired for speaking at the Republican convention in August.
My strong suspicion is that the Christian churches and groups which have supported Trump up until now (predominantly Evangelicals and Fundamentalists) are also likely to believe that the election was stolen from Trump, and have a fairly high overlap, mindset-wise (if not membership-wise), with the militias and other groups who were willing to do whatever it took to “stop the steal.”
Many of them are likely convinced that Biden will outlaw, or seriously curtail the epression of, religion, fight to make abortion even more available and acceptable, etc. If so, they probably also feel that fighting against that by any means necessary is appropriate.
I hope this isn’t a threadjack, but …
Was talking about 1/6 with my sainted mother last night. She asked if I’d seen the New Yorker footage with the ‘organic prayer session.’ I had.
One thing I mentioned to her is that ISTM to be intuitive that, for these kinds of misguided shenanigans (ie, coups d’etat), you really have to have/cultivate a significant cohort of thoroughly brainwashed people, people for whom deep faith is a significant component of their lives, or people who’ve been profoundly … er … schooled in extreme versions of right and wrong (dramatic black/white thinking).
When it comes to military and religious extremists, the likelihood of many of those who were first through the Capitol windows ‘seeing the light’ and having second thoughts mid-coup is – shall we say – slim.
Most prosecutors don’t want educated people on their juries. Neither do demagogues.
So many of these threads – at least from my POV – come back to demand: how do we fix that problem ? How do we better educate the masses to become critical thinkers ? How do we require Logic and Statistics – maybe debate and fluency in a foreign language – when we can barely manage the Three R’s ?
And how do we do that in a milieu that has demonized formal education (and the very Scientific Method) with such admirable and horrifying success ?
#Murica
Yeah, you already pointed that out, but the the question still came to mind when I saw the article for some reason. Deal with it.
Ok. Have any atheist groups who previously supported Trump changed their minds? I bet the answer will be surprisingly similar.
Good point, but a bit over-broad when it comes to this topic, I think.
I’m sorry, what exactly is the debate topic? The OP looks like just a mostly factual question.
So start your own thread already. This one is about Christian backlash.
What is being debated? Whether any Christian organizations changed their mind about Trump? Are Christians more obliged to oppose Trump? Are they more likely to like Trump? What?
Read the title.
Along the lines of what kenobi said, it’s important to note the difference between “Biden did not steal the election” and “Biden stole it, but violence at the Capitol is the wrong approach for us to take.”
Both categories of Christians may oppose the Capitol violence, but it’s still very different.