Over at Christianity Today, Emily Belz reports on Christian sex-trafficking organizations opposed to the nomination of Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney general. Here is a taste:
Several Christian anti-trafficking organizations are publicly opposing President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US attorney general, former Republican representative Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Gaetz resigned his congressional seat last week after the nomination announcement, just days before the House Ethics Committee planned to release its investigation into accusations the lawmaker had sex with a minor. He was also investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for sex trafficking, though the DOJ did not pursue charges.
If he wins Senate confirmation, Gaetz would lead the main law enforcement agency that prosecutes sex trafficking. The DOJ is in the middle of prosecuting high-profile trafficking cases like that of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Trump, in his statement announcing Gaetz as his pick for attorney general, said Gaetz would “root out the systemic corruption at DOJ.”
Shared Hope International, a Christian anti-trafficking organization founded by Republican congresswoman Linda Smith in 1998, stated that Gaetz should not be confirmed until the House Ethics Committee could clear him of sex-trafficking allegations.
“The office of attorney general requires the highest ethical conduct and public trust,” said Smith, who serves as CEO. Shared Hope also signed a letter organized by anti-trafficking group World Without Exploitation which will be sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee from dozens of anti-trafficking organizations opposing Gaetz’s confirmation. More groups are still signing onto the letter.
The signers included faith-based anti-trafficking groups like Exodus Cry, Imago Dei Fund, Sacred Beginnings, and The Genesis Project, as well as a cornucopia of others—from more liberal feminist groups like National Organization for Women to a motorcycle group (Ride My Road) that raises money to fight trafficking.
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Victoria Fielding, a journalist at Independent Australia, seems pretty confident about the real reason Donald Trump won the presidency, It was white evangelical racism, Christian nationalism, anti-immigration and a rejection of climate change. She concludes: “What evangelical Republican voters love most about Trump and, in turn, hate about the Democrats, is that Trump opposes equality, while Democrats fight for it.” Once we get more data on the 2024 election we will see if she is right. I want to know two things. First, how much overlap exists between the working-class voter who chose Trump because they felt economically squeezed and the evangelical Trump voter? Second, was evangelical turnout higher in this year’s election? Whatever the case, I don’t think we are quite ready to say what Fielding says in her title: “U.S. Election not about economic anxiety, it’s about religious identity anxiety.”
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A Calvin University student argues that a presidential candidate does not need to be a Christian to lead the country. In fact, Levi Huizenga suggests, putting a candidate through a Christian litmus test is not the best way to do Christian politics. Here is a taste of his piece at Chimes
The Church should reevaluate its expectation that political leaders, particularly the President, share our faith. Such a reevaluation should also prompt us to rethink our politics. The collapse of Christendom (the time when the Church ruled over the West) makes possible for the Church a choice between two different politics: a democratic politics, and a politics shaped by the cross. In the ruins of Christendom we can now live lives in the knowledge that Christ rules the world, and we do not.
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Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma state superintendent of schools, is back in the news again. This time he wants teachers in the state to show a video featuring him praying for Donald Trump. Here is The New Republic:
Unfortunately for Walters, the state attorney general says that he can’t require students to watch the video, which also announces the creation of a new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism, and at least seven of Oklahoma’s school districts say they won’t show it…’
On Thursday night, Walters sent out an email to Oklahoma’s public school superintendents ordering them to show his one-minute-and-24-second video to students. The email contained several grammatical errors, with Walters writing, “We are in a dangerous time for this country. Student’s [sic] rights and freedoms regarding religious liberties are continuously under assault.”
Walters wrote in the email that the new department “will be working to thwart any attempts to disrupt our Oklahoma student’s [sic] fundamental freedoms.” The video closed with a prayer (which he said students did not have to participate in) where Walters asked for blessings on “President Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country.”
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If I had time, I would compare the way Albert Mohler writes about Democratic pro-choice politicians and the way he writes about Trump-appointed pro-choice politicians. Here is his take on RFK Jr., Trump’s appointment for Secretary of Health and Human Services:
But I must end when considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr by saying the big issue to me, and I think the big issue to Conservative Christians ought to be the fact that the question of abortion looms large over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Now, honestly, it may loom large over some other Trump nominees as well, but we are talking here about the Department of Health and Human Services. So it is particularly germane. It’s particularly relevant. It’s particularly urgent to know exactly where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands on the issue of abortion, and there are signs that this is big trouble. At least at some point in recent months, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has indicated that he believes that government should not interfere with what he characterized as a woman’s right to an abortion, basically all the way up through pregnancy. Now, that’s a radical position that we’ve criticized roundly and comprehensively when it comes to someone like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Well, it is only fair and right to offer the same criticism when it’s held by someone who may be appointed this kind of office by President-elect Donald Trump. It is the issue that matters. It’s the truth that matters. It is not the candidate, the individual, or in this case, the party that matters.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has come out squarely against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination, citing the abortion issue, and called upon other Conservatives to do the same. There are also at least some in the political structure of the pro-life movement who have given qualified support to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for this role. I would argue that for Christians, and I’m speaking here particularly to Christians who are right on the pro-life cause, Christians who contend for the dignity and sanctity of human life from fertilization until natural death. We bear the responsibility to hold every single nominee accountable on the issue of abortion, and that means that we should demand a full accounting on this issue.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must state clearly and without equivocation his defense of unborn life, or quite frankly, we are in no position to support this nomination and have every reason to oppose it.
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Let’s see what is happening at X:
Trump=Christian values. Biden=abandonment of Christian values. If it was only that simple:
The Faith & Freedom Coalition are fans of law and order:
Lance is putting the heat on U.S. Senators:
It’s not retribution:
Satan hates Christians. This explains why people are criticizing the Pete Hegseth nomination for Secretary of Defense:
The third great awakening begins in Mar-a-Lago:
Metaxas will not back down, even on Gaetz:
Praise Jesus for Elon, Donald, Don Jr., RFK, and Mike Johnson:
On the “vindication” of Sidney Powell:
Gary Bauer and James Dobson discuss the election. They believe that God answered their prayers:
SAGECons:
Perkins has a prayer request:
A “buoyant optimism”:
Franklin Graham wants to shut down the Department of Education:
Scot McKnight seems to think that there is a direct line between Wheaton and Trump. (This is behind a paywall, so I don’t quite now what he argues, although he seems to buy into Matt Avery Sutton’s argument about the history of evangelicalism.):
A “reprieve… a muscle spasm of God’s common grace” that spared societal ruin. I guess that’s one way to put it:
Meanwhile, some evangelicals are moving to BlueSky: