Evangelist scalds fellow pastors for abandoning their 'moral core' to support Trump and the GOP in brutal op-ed

Pastor Doug Pagitt, the executive director of Vote Common Good, on Sunday published an op-ed in USA Today encouraging fellow an evangelical Christians to rethink their support of Trump, warning they “are trading their moral core for anti-abortion gains.”

“Religious leaders have given up moral ground at every renewed show of support for this administration and Congress,” Pagitt warned calling their support of policies like family separation or the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh “antithetical to what Jesus preached.”

Pagitt explained that many evangelicals have fallen in line for one reason and one reason only: abortion.

“The Republican Party has used the issue of abortion as a tool to manipulate religious leaders across the country,” Pagitt wrote. “These leaders’ highest concern is self-preservation. They fear God’s wrath and want impunity. But in their fear, they have become blinded and desensitized to all other injustices and inhumanities: children separated from parents, refugees refused safety, women denigrated and abused, and health care denied to the vulnerable.”

“These conservative leaders are willing, at all costs, to make a moral trade — anti-abortion laws and court decisions in exchange for basic human dignity,” Pagitt explained, noting leaders like Franklin Graham turned “a blind eye to women who raised accusations against Kavanaugh.”

“Many of us are shocked by Republicans' unwillingness to challenge this bullying administration,” Pagitt wrote. “We are shocked to find ourselves aligned with a party that supports abusers. Some of us have voted Republican most of our lives and find ourselves unable to continue.”

Pagitt, who noted that oftentimes evangelism relates to Republicanism, warned his fellow Christians against blindly supporting the GOP.

“With the midterms just a couple of weeks away, we face a critical juncture in our country: restore some power to those who would govern with compassion, or continue ceding moral ground for the sake of abortion,” Pagitt wondered.

You can read the full op-ed here.