On Tuesday, writing for The Washington Post, columnist Michael Gerson excoriated the role of the evangelical movement in propping up outgoing President Donald Trump's delusions about overturning the election — and the danger it poses to the long-term legitimacy and viability of their cultural power.
"President Trump’s naked attempt to overturn a fair election — with key elements of Joe Biden’s victory vouchsafed by Republican state officials, Republican-appointed judges and even the Justice Department — has driven some Trump evangelicals to the edge of blasphemous lunacy," wrote Gerson.
As evidence, he quoted evangelical talk-radio host Eric Metaxas, who told Trump, “This is a fight for everything. God is with us. Jesus is with us in this fight for liberty," and said, “Trump will be inaugurated. For the high crimes of trying to throw a U.S. presidential election, many will go to jail. The swamp will be drained. And Lincoln’s prophetic words of ‘a new birth of freedom’ will be fulfilled. Pray.”
The problem for evangelicals, wrote Gerson, is that this is precisely the kind of behavior that has emptied the church pews.
"When prominent Christians affirm absurd political lies with religious fervor, nonbelievers have every reason to think: 'Maybe Christians are prone to swallowing absurd religious lies as well. Maybe they are simply credulous about everything,'" wrote Gerson. "If we should encounter someone who believes — honestly and adamantly believes — in both the existence of the Easter Bunny and in the resurrection of Christ, it would naturally raise questions about the quality of his or her believing faculties. It would call into question the standard of evidence being applied and muddy the meaning of faith itself."
"If Christianity were judged entirely by the quality of Christians, it would be a tough sell — and I include myself in the judgment," wrote Gerson. "Most of us are a jumble of resentments and fears. Most of us can be proud, cruel, foolish and self-deluding."
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