The Christianity Today article calling for President Donald Trump's removal from office — appearing in a publication founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham and directed at an audience overwhelmingly supportive of the president — sparked a national conversation about the relationship between the president and the evangelical community.
On Saturday, the Washington Post published an interview with Katelyn Beaty, the first woman to serve as managing editor of the publication, and she weighed in on the implications.
"I was incredibly surprised ... the impeachment proceedings are so clearly a political process. And I would say way more often than not, Christianity Today tries to stay above the political fray," said Beaty. However, "Christianity Today is not a populist magazine. It’s always been oriented toward evangelical leaders and those leaders tend to be highly-educated and politically moderate. A lot of Christianity Today readers in general want to stay out of politics. They just focus on theology and the Bible and apply biblical principles to cultural issues."
"Among anti-Trump Christians and evangelicals, the editorial has been received as a breath of fresh air," she continued. "They’ve been looking for evangelical institutions to speak out about the more troubling aspects of the Trump presidency. And the fact that editors decided to take such a strong stance is almost a relief to those more moderate or liberal evangelicals who want to see more courage and conviction from the magazine. Because for them it’s not so much the pro-Trump evangelicals that frustrate them, it’s the silent evangelicals. And to a lot of people, silence looks like tacit approval. So choosing not to be silent is encouraging."
While these evangelicals have responded positively, the broader reaction among the white conservative evangelicals who support Trump has been negative. Trump himself attacked Christianity Today as "looking for Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or those of the socialist/communist bent, to guard their religion," and Franklin Graham, the son of the paper's founder, said that his father "would’ve been very embarrassed that the magazine he started would call for something like this when there are no crimes committed."
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