I wrote the paragraphs below several months ago. I kinda forgot about the post. Then yesterday Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, nudged my memory.
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Among the saddest moments of my life have been those times of realization that one I admire, or even love, is not who I thought him/her to be. The nomination of Donald John Trump by the party of Lincoln and the resulting campaign and then the coup of 2016 and his illegitimate reign as president of our former republic uncovered some very dark recesses in our society and, lo and behold, there were some folks I never expected to see in a sewer. Because so many of those were members of the evangelical community —the community that raised me — I was devastated and horribly disappointed. It seemed for a while that virtually all evangelicals had drunk the fetid Kool-Aid.
Recently I returned to the very small village where I attended an evangelical college from 1965 to 1969, for the fiftieth reunion of my graduating class. I almost dreaded it, figuring I would find few kindred spirits.
I am thrilled to report to you that among the serious evangelicals in my class and on that campus are, perhaps a minority but, sizable numbers of folks who oppose the evil of Trump as adamantly as I, if somewhat more quietly.
Even in the sixties my college was largely Republican. When during a trivia time at the reunion that weekend the "Young Republicans’ campaign for Nixon in ‘68" was the answer to a question, I had to interrupt and stand to remind the gathered throng that our YD group may have been small but we were enthusiastic in that campaign too. We opened a HQ in that tiny town. We ventured to larger cities in the region to campaign for RFK and later HHH. I personally met RFK and HHH and Katie Peden (running for Senate) and heard Muskie.
Afterwards a classmate quietly came across the room to thank me and to talk of the struggle of those of us who cannot imagine reconciling belief in a God of Love with support for the evil of the Rapist-In-Chief’s campaign and his cruel and ruinous presidency. She was far from the only one. Those holding true to their beliefs to oppose Trump included some (even a YR leader) who adamantly opposed my political choices fifty years ago.
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Among the saddest moments of my life have been those times of realization that one I admire, or even love, is not who I thought him/her to be. The nomination of Donald John Trump by the party of Lincoln and the resulting campaign and then the coup of 2016 and his illegitimate reign as president of our former republic uncovered some very dark recesses in our society and, lo and behold, there were some folks I never expected to see in a sewer. Because so many of those were members of the evangelical community —the community that raised me — I was devastated and horribly disappointed. It seemed for a while that virtually all evangelicals had drunk the fetid Kool-Aid.
Recently I returned to the very small village where I attended an evangelical college from 1965 to 1969, for the fiftieth reunion of my graduating class. I almost dreaded it, figuring I would find few kindred spirits.
I am thrilled to report to you that among the serious evangelicals in my class and on that campus are, perhaps a minority but, sizable numbers of folks who oppose the evil of Trump as adamantly as I, if somewhat more quietly.
Even in the sixties my college was largely Republican. When during a trivia time at the reunion that weekend the "Young Republicans’ campaign for Nixon in ‘68" was the answer to a question, I had to interrupt and stand to remind the gathered throng that our YD group may have been small but we were enthusiastic in that campaign too. We opened a HQ in that tiny town. We ventured to larger cities in the region to campaign for RFK and later HHH. I personally met RFK and HHH and Katie Peden (running for Senate) and heard Muskie.
Afterwards a classmate quietly came across the room to thank me and to talk of the struggle of those of us who cannot imagine reconciling belief in a God of Love with support for the evil of the Rapist-In-Chief’s campaign and his cruel and ruinous presidency. She was far from the only one. Those holding true to their beliefs to oppose Trump included some (even a YR leader) who adamantly opposed my political choices fifty years ago.
So, my friends, when you speak of evangelical involvement in the graft and perversion and lies and cruelty of the Great Grabber, please remember to modify the term “evangelical”. It is certainly more than “some", OK, still “most”, but it is not “all”.
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Later Note: The President and CEO of Christianity Today wrote about the responses to the Mark Galli article. Those responses included some that resonated with my own discovery of like-minded evangelicals at my college reunion:
"... We have received countless notes of encouragement from readers who were profoundly moved. They no longer feel alone. They have hope again. Many have told us of reading the editorial with tears in their eyes, sharing it with children who have wandered from the faith, rejoicing that at last someone was articulating what they felt in their hearts. They felt this was a watershed moment in the history of the American church—or they hoped it would prove to be. Stay strong, they told us, knowing we were about to reap the whirlwind..."
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Later Note: The President and CEO of Christianity Today wrote about the responses to the Mark Galli article. Those responses included some that resonated with my own discovery of like-minded evangelicals at my college reunion:
"... We have received countless notes of encouragement from readers who were profoundly moved. They no longer feel alone. They have hope again. Many have told us of reading the editorial with tears in their eyes, sharing it with children who have wandered from the faith, rejoicing that at last someone was articulating what they felt in their hearts. They felt this was a watershed moment in the history of the American church—or they hoped it would prove to be. Stay strong, they told us, knowing we were about to reap the whirlwind..."
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