The important political issue for “conservative” Christians, Muslims, Jews, and even “conservative” atheists is religious freedom. But religious freedom has far reaching consequences even for those liberals who are rather indifferent with respect to religious liberties.
Find a country that does not allow religious freedom, that still has strong civil liberties. Religious liberty is incompatible with the socialist state… hence China’s attempt to wipe out the Uighur Muslims and Russia historical anti religious stance.
The reason religious liberty is a threat to socialism is because it beliefs hold that there are “unalienable” rights given by someone with more authority than the State and this is intolerable when the State claims authority over everything.
Specifically with respect to “Christianity Today” is it was probably wrong for an editor on his way out the door to take a political stance on a sitting President. But so what… Media that purports to report the news often colors it to reflect their bias… so what would a Christian publication be insulated from such bias?
For those that are not disciples of Protestant history, the famous joke illustrates Protestant opinions… What does it take to start a new protestant denomination? Two people arguing theology.
It is no surprise that our Constitution declares a separation of Church and State, but does not imply that there is no God. Written and signed off by Protestants, who were well aware of the division in theological beliefs of various Protestant groups, the Constitution was there to protect the religious freedom of all Americans from being forced into supporting a State sponsored religion. When Beto suggested withdrawing the tax exempt status of religious organizations that did not comply with the government’s values, he really set off a hornet’s nest by revealing how many progressive liberals really feel about the free practice of religion.
Do Democrats have an opportunity to attract evangelical voters… sure… run a candidate committed to filling the courts with individuals that will protect religious freedom and civil rights over the State’s authority under a more socialist model to treat civil rights including religious freedom as “priviledges” and not rights. Otherwise, it is unlikely any meaningful number of evangelicals will abandon Trump… many do not like Trump’s personal flaws… but most are not stupid enough to allow their dislike of Trump’s personal flaws to undermine their commitment to religious liberty.
