Christianity Today Lays Responsibility For Violence at Feet of ‘White American Church’

Christianity Today, the progressive rag known for giving a platform to every weird and liberally insidious bent, has come out swinging against the violence at Capitol Hill yesterday, laying the responsibility for the mayhem at the feet of the “white American church” and any leaders who voted for and supported the President.

This is not new ground for the magazine, who released editorials calling Trump voters “jobless” and “uneducated,” with that same Editor-in-Chief writing that he didn’t even know any Trump Supporters (yes, he was the same guy who was a Roman Catholic for the last two years and no one there even cared).

These guys brought us such wonderful articles recently like the new Editor-in-Chief likening any churches being open during Covid to engaging in “snake handling.” Last year, they ran an article saying that polyamory provided an “attractive alternative” and that churches should be affirming. A few months ago they accused white Christians of being inherent racists who were committing acts of spiritual violence against black people by voting GOP.

That’s who we’re dealing with.

But in a new article We Worship with the Magi, Not MAGA, author Tish Harrison Warren contrasts epiphany with the dark deeds done by Trump supporters – categorically anti-epiphany.

She explains that Trump has engaged in an unrestrained defilement of any standard for decency over the last 4 years, with a single-minded goal of shoring up power. Then she takes her first shot, somewhat tentative at first:

Though it saddens me deeply, it must be clearly admitted: Yesterday’s atrocity was in large part brought to us by the white, evangelical church in America.

And then lest there be any doubt, she lays the blame again squarely on white evangelicals and those who voted for and supported Trump, even if they did so not out love for the man, but to stop the even worse monster of a Democrat government with majorities in the House and Senate.

I have at times tried to dismiss these leaders and events as fringe, as the crazy cranks and bizarre displays we ought to ignore. I have instead focused on how, day in and day out, pastors and Christian laypeople are seeking to faithfully follow Jesus, to love their neighbor, and to serve the poor, to embody the truth we proclaim this season. But I cannot overlook the reality that millions of evangelicals are swayed by those who proclaim untruth and ugliness in the name of Jesus.

The responsibility of yesterday’s violence must be in part laid at the feet of those evangelical leaders who ushered in and applauded Trump’s presidency. It can also sadly be laid at the feet of the white American church more broadly.

Naturally, this post was co-signed by a host of fellow progressives, with Beth Moore being no exception.

That’s what it has come down to.

There was chaos at the rally, undoubtedly so. There was violence and terror, and for some unrestrained destruction. Four people died. One woman was shot in the head by police and three other attendees were killed, with at least one woman believed to be trampled to death.

What Christianity Today, Beth Moore, and all the Christian leaders co-signing this screed are saying is this: if you were more or less pleased with Trump’s presidency, if you voted for him and wanted him to win a second term, and if your skin is white, you go to church and you love Jesus while doing all of those things, then “thou art the man.”

You might as well have been there smashing glass, breaking chairs, stealing podiums, pulling the trigger that sent bits of bone and blood splattered across the wall and stepping on spines that crushed the innocent underfoot, the head smashing repeatedly against the marble floor with every unintentional kick and step of the crushing mob.

You are guilty. You are culpable. You are responsible.

And they will not let you forget it.

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