An evangelical pastor has made it his new mission to lead his fellow Christians away from what he believes is a self-destructive worship of former President Donald Trump.
In an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail, Pastor Caleb Campbell revealed that he decided to make wooing Christians away from the MAGA movement his personal cause after he attended a Christian event hosted by Turning Point USA, the right-wing activist group founded by Charlie Kirk.
During the event he attended, says Campbell, Kirk misappropriated quotes from the Bible in order to make it sound like God wanted Christians to be armed to the teeth with firearms.
"I was absolutely terrified and horrified," Campbell tells the Globe and Mail.
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He then elaborated to describe how disturbed he was by Kirk taking people's deeply held religious faith and welding it directly to a hardcore right-wing political agenda.
“What was shocking to me was the people in the room raising their hands and saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah,'" he said. "They were having a religious experience."
Although American Christians advocating for conservative policies is nothing new, Campbell believes that this new Trump-led evangelism is more dangerous in that it evokes the spirit of white nationalism.
"This is a mean-spirited, vulgar grab for power with violent rhetoric," he said. "I’m familiar with what it means to be enculturated toward violent behavior."