The political fallout from Mark Galli's editorial in Christianity Today calling for President Donald Trump's removal from office continued on Monday, as more than 100 right-wing evangelical leaders penned a scathing letter to the magazine's President Timothy Dalrymple.
"Your editorial offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations," stated the letter, accusing "elite" evangelicals like Galli of looking down on the morals of other Christians.
The editorial was destined to spark controversy, as Christianity Today was founded by the influential late Rev. Billy Graham — whose son Franklin is a prominent supporter of the President.
While some evangelical writers have responded positively to the editorial, the reception by and large from white conservative evangelicals has been outrage.
Although white evangelicals almost universally acknowledge that Trump's personal conduct, from pride to adultery, is sinful, their consensus is that his imperfections are irrelevant because he is furthering their policy goals — and some even believe he has been chosen by God to do so.
This stands in stark contrast to evangelicals' attitude towards faith and politics in the Obama years, when the majority told pollsters that a politician could not deliver moral victories for America if they weren't themselves moral people in their private lives.