Trump Attacks Head of Southern Baptist Policy Arm

Donald Trump may have actually hit a new low, if that is even possible, in this campaign. I’m not surprised by this because he simply can not help himself. Trump must attack those who he deems a threat. It is his modus operandi. In his crosshairs early Tuesday morning was Dr. Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who has had the audacity of opposing his candidacy on moral grounds.

I’ll confess that I haven’t read everything that Moore has published on Trump, and I don’t agree with every position he has taken. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a a presidential candidate attack religious leaders like he has.

He launched a statement at Pope Francis when he criticized Trump so it’s not surprising he would attack Moore.

.@drmoore Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2016

First I don’t need Trump of all people to tell me who is a good representative of evangelicals.  Secondly, exactly what makes Moore “nasty”? Trump’s tweet is in response to an opinion article Moore wrote for The New York Times entitled “A White Church No More.”

Moore points out the nativism that has taken root in Trump’s campaign.

This election has cast light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all over the country. There are not-so-coded messages denouncing African-Americans and immigrants; concern about racial justice and national unity is ridiculed as “political correctness.” Religious minorities are scapegoated for the sins of others, with basic religious freedoms for them called into question. Many of those who have criticized Mr. Trump’s vision for America have faced threats and intimidation from the “alt-right” of white supremacists and nativists who hide behind avatars on social media.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech did not envision that more than 50 years later “Go back to Africa” would be screamed at black protesters or that a major presidential candidate would tweet racially charged comments. Some American Christians may be tempted to ignore these issues, hoping they are just a wave of “political incorrectness” that will ebb in due time. That sort of moral silence shortchanges both our gospel and our future.

He finished with this point:

This has gospel implications not only for minorities and immigrants but for the so-called silent majority. A vast majority of Christians, on earth and in heaven, are not white and have never spoken English. A white American Christian who disregards nativist language is in for a shock. The man on the throne in heaven is a dark-skinned, Aramaic-speaking “foreigner” who is probably not all that impressed by chants of “Make America great again.”

Instead of addressing the criticism, Trump instead personally attacks Moore as a “nasty guy with no heart,” and Moore, according to Trump is “a terrible representation of Evangelicals and the good that they do.”

Why? Because he doesn’t like Trump. Outrageous. Somebody needs to tell Trump it doesn’t really help him to attack people like Moore, but he can’t help it because Moore and people like him represent evangelicals who could protest Trump’s nomination by voting 3rd party.