{"id":12731,"date":"2018-01-03T11:10:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T16:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=12731"},"modified":"2018-01-03T11:10:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T16:10:24","slug":"evangelical-christians-uncritical-support-trump-uk-bishop-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/01\/evangelical-christians-uncritical-support-trump-uk-bishop-says","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Christians ‘Uncritical’ in Support for Trump, UK Bishop Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"584688341_1280x720\"<\/a>A senior Church of England bishop has lambasted conservative evangelical Christians in the US for their \u201cuncritical support\u201d of Donald Trump, urging them to reflect on how their endorsement of the president relates to their faith.<\/p>\n

Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said \u201cself-styled evangelicals\u201d risked bringing the word evangelical into disrepute, and added there was no justification for Christians contradicting God\u2019s teaching to protect the poor and the weak.<\/p>\n

Bayes told the Guardian: \u201cSome of the things that have been said by religious leaders seem to collude with a system that marginalises the poor, a system which builds walls instead of bridges, a system which says people on the margins of society should be excluded, a system which says we\u2019re not welcoming people any more into our country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever people say those kinds of things, they need to be able to justify that they\u2019re saying those things as Christians, and I do not believe it\u2019s justifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he regretted that \u201cpeople who call themselves evangelical in the US seem to be uncritically accepting\u201d positions taken by Trump and his allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome quite significant so-called evangelical leaders are uncritically supporting people in ways that imply they are colluding or playing down the seriousness of things which in other parts of their lives [they] would see as really important,\u201d Bayes added.<\/p>\n

He stressed that not all evangelicals were Trump supporters, saying there were \u201cmany, many Christians who are trying to proclaim the gospel as we\u2019ve received it, even if that means political leaders have to be challenged\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last month, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said he could not comprehend the strength of support for Trump among conservative evangelicals in the US. \u201cI really genuinely do not understand where that is coming from,\u201d he told ITV\u2019s Peston on Sunday programme.<\/p>\n

In his Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Welby criticised \u201cpopulist leaders that deceive\u201d their people, in comments interpreted as being aimed at Trump.<\/p>\n

According to the Washington-based Pew Research Center, 80% of self-identified white evangelical Christians said they voted for Trump in the 2016 election, and three-quarters have since said they approve of his presidency.<\/p>\n

Bayes, who has been bishop of Liverpool since 2014, said: \u201cIf people want to support rightwing populism anywhere in the world, they are free to do so. The question is, how are they going to relate that to their Christian faith?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if what I believe are the clear teachings of the gospel about love for all, the desire for justice and for making sure marginalised and defenceless people are protected, if it looks as though those teachings are being contradicted, then I think there is a need to say so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayes was speaking to mark the launch of a new Christian charity, which he is chairing, aimed at eliminating discrimination based on sexuality or gender.<\/p>\n

The Ozanne Foundation will work with religious organisations around the world on LGBTI, gender and sexuality issues, as well as conflict resolution and education. It will be led by Jayne Ozanne, a prominent campaigner for equality within the C of E. Along with Bayes, the charity\u2019s trustees and advisers include David Ison, the dean of St Paul\u2019s Cathedral, Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, and Martyn Percy, the dean of Christ Church, Oxford.<\/p>\n

Bayes has previously called for far-reaching change in C of E attitudes to LGBTI people, saying he had been \u201cprofoundly changed\u201d by encounters with lesbian and gay Christians, including within his own family. \u201cI have come to believe that we need to change the church,\u201d he said last year.<\/p>\n

The Ozanne Foundation would provide \u201cstrong and clear advocacy, not only for LGBTI inclusion, but against other forms of discrimination and hurt in the church\u201d, he said. \u201cThere is room in the church for people who strongly and clearly advocate for change, and I want to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s \u201cinstitutional inertia\u201d needed to be countered, Bayes added. \u201cThere is no doubt that the church at the moment is on a journey, and that journey needs to arrive at a place of inclusion further on than we are at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters to me in terms of my own responsibility and my own advocacy is that we don\u2019t settle for second best, that we keep trying to move the organisation forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feature originally seen on The Guardian<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A senior Church of England bishop has lambasted conservative evangelical Christians in the US for their \u201cuncritical support\u201d of Donald Trump, urging them to reflect on how their endorsement of the president relates to their faith. Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said \u201cself-styled evangelicals\u201d risked bringing the word evangelical into disrepute, and added there…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEvangelical Christians 'Uncritical' in Support for Trump, UK Bishop Says<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul Bayes, bishop of Liverpool, accuses some religious leaders of \u2018colluding with a system that marginalises the poor.\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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