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Background Briefing: December 24, 2019
Evangelical Leaders Flock to Trump’s Defense
Following an editorial in the evangelical magazine founded by Billy Graham, Christianity Today, which was critical of so-called religious leaders who support an immoral and corrupt president, we assess the spiritual health of the Religious Right with Anthea Butler, a Professor of Religious Studies and Graduate Chair in
the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. The author of numerous books on religion in America, her forthcoming book is on evangelicals and racism and she joins us to discuss how evangelical leaders refer to Trump as “God’s wrecking ball” and cynically support this thrice divorced libertine who was a close friend of the convicted child molester and sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein because Trump delivers on their political agenda. And while the celebration of the birth of Jesus is largely a commercial holiday rather than a religious observance, the majority of America’s evangelical leaders continue to cheapen and corrupt the teachings and lessons from the life and sacrifice of Jesus who dis not carry an assault rifle, did not hate gays and did not shake down poor people for money while living in mansions and flying around in private jets.
A Former Leader of the Religious Right on the Corruption of the Evangelical Movement
Then finally we investigate further the monumental hypocrisy and fraudulent morality of the so-called “Christian” leaders of the evangelical movement and speak with Frank Schaeffer, a best-selling author of fiction and non-fiction and nonfiction. His parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, were world-famous evangelical speakers and authors, and he previously worked with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. Frank Schaeffer, however, felt increasingly alienated and experienced a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure from
the evangelical movement. The author of a number of books, his latest is Letter to Lucy: A Manifesto of Creative Redemption – In the Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies. With Trump’s followers considering him God’s “Chosen One”, we examine the need for a new authentic grassroots religious revival in this country in which faith and deeds combine to bring about economic justice, reflecting the true gospel and teachings of Jesus.
A Holiday Message from Background Briefing
As a new year and a new decade begin, we thank our listeners and supporters for their donations which sustain and build Background Briefing. At this critical juncture when the year ahead 2020 will determine the fate of our country and the world should Donald Trump be impeached, voted out or, God-forbid, reelected. It is a sad irony that at the moment when we most need an alternative network in a radio landscape dominated by Rush Limbaugh and his clones, Pacifica, the network over which Background Briefing broadcasts, is teetering on bankruptcy due to factionalism and mismanagement. Your support is even more urgent as we transition to online broadcasting while trying to find a new home on the radio.
Despite Trump’s ruinous regime, we must continue our work to revive the truth, shed light in the darkness, overcome hatred with love, and spread kindness instead of cruelty. As President Lincoln said in his First Inaugural Address, “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again [we are] touched... by the better angels of our nature.”
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