The Making of a Great America Where the Church and the Founding Fathers Fell Short

This is an excerpt from the chapter entitled "A Ringing Endorsement By the Church?:

The Christianity Today editorial said, “None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.” (Galli, 2019).

The letter endorsed by 200 Christian leaders said just the opposite and touted the good things the president has done and called for “grace” to be extended to the president as it is to other sinners and saints in an “imperfect political system” and “fallen world”:

“’We are, in fact, not ‘far-right’ evangelicals as characterized by the author,' the letter said. ‘Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our president has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel.’

The letter continued: ‘We are not theocrats and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike. We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's — our public service.’” (Miles, 2020)

This letter endorsed by 200 evangelical leaders implies that “tens of millions” of “believers” agree with their stance to continue to support the president and imply that it is our “civic and moral obligation.” (Miles, 2020) The letter goes on to cite Scripture and imply that supporting the president, despite his continued gross misconduct, is part of our Christian “personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s—our public service.” (Miles, 2020)

 The President of Christianity Today Magazine had a response to the letter from the evangelical leaders that I believe is a more Scripturally correct use of the concept of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. His use of the concept included in an editorial written in response to the attack on the magazine by President Trump and other evangelical leaders:

“Reasonable people can differ when it comes to the flagrantly partisan impeachment process. But this is not merely about impeachment, or even merely about President Trump. He is not the sickness. He is a symptom of a sickness that began before him, which is the hyper- politicization of the American church. This is a danger for all of us, wherever we fall on the political spectrum. Jesus said we should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. With profound love and respect, we ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to consider whether they have given to Caesar what belongs only to God: their unconditional loyalty.” (Dalrymple, 2019)