Modernists tend to lean heavily upon the Gospel of Matthew. They believe believers should not judge others too quickly, lest they be punished. The Washington Post promotes evangelical Christians who aggressively judge Christians who vote for Donald Trump.
Post columnist Michael Gerson, a former chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush, sounded like he was writing a speech for President Joe Biden in a sprawling 4,295-word Sept. 4 essay, “Trump should fill Christians with rage. How come he doesn’t?”
If you don’t rage like Gerson, you’re not a good Christian.
Many Christians have struggled to support Trump since 2016, when his public behavior was contrary to Christian humility, kindness, and compassion. But Gerson treats every Trump supporter as a “MAGA Republican,” saying that many believers are taking “perverse and dangerous liberties” with their faith, aligning with the “symbols and identity of white authoritarian populism,” a “serious, unfolding threat to liberal democracy.”
This doesn’t sound like a conservative Christian columnist. It sounds like the average Washington Post staffer mounting his hobby horse in their official “Democracy Dies in Darkness” T-shirt. Gerson’s stuck in a rut, regurgitating his righteous thunderbolts like an Episcopalian Max Boot.
A conservative Christian could offer a strong warning to fellow believers to not fall into hate, unproven conspiracy theories, or violent rioting. Christians should examine their personal and political behavior daily to determine if they are worthy of Jesus Christ. Gerson says that Trump’s threat to religious freedom has driven Christians to vote, and in particular the aggressive advance of radical feminist gender ideology.
Gerson dismisses “baseless accusations of gay ‘grooming’ in schools” and “a patently false belief that Godless conspiracies have taken hold of political institutions.” Somehow, Gerson can’t engage with the evidence pouring out from Twitter accounts like those of Christopher Rufo and “Libs of TikTok” that demonstrate a crusade to indoctrinate young children into a thicket of choosing personal pronouns and then alternative sexual expressions.
Calling that “baseless” is willful blindness.
This Post evangelist accuses Republicans of exploiting Christian defensiveness in service to “aggressive, reactionary politics.” But he can’t spend a sentence of his long jeremiad on religious freedoms being crushed. He could address the two Alaska Airlines flight attendants who were fired last year because they asked questions about the company’s support of the radical Equality Act and how it would impact people with religious beliefs. The airline argued, “Defining gender identity or sexual orientation as a moral issue … is … a discriminatory statement.”
He could claim the angst of Christians is unduly “apocalyptic” because the Supreme Court is still friendly to religious freedom, like the recent case of the high school football coach who was fired over saying prayers at midfield after games. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices to this result. He can’t acknowledge for one second the contradiction—that this thrice-married crude talker with a propensity to mangle the truth and encourage riots has become the man who has shielded religious freedom from a radical and godless onslaught.
Gerson is “surveying the transgressive malevolence of the radical right” and finding only “moral ruin” among Republicans without ever seriously addressing the transgressions of the radical left. But then, The Washington Post is one of those transgressors, routinely lobbying against any inkling of an “anti-LGBTQ backlash.”
He said, “When you choose your community, you choose your character.” Is his chosen media community the Christian model? We could ask him this question: “The Washington Post should fill Christians with rage. How come it doesn’t?”
COPYRIGHT 2022. CREATORS.COM
The Daily Signal offers a variety perspectives. This article is not meant to represent the views of The Heritage Foundation.
Do you have a comment about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Be sure to include the article’s URL, headline, and your name.
