At the request of evangelical activist and author Deidra Riggs, I’m asking my evangelical friends and readers, especially the white evangelicals, to join me in holding the pastors on Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory council accountable.
Trump failed to immediately condemn the hate speech and violence of nazi, racist, and white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, VA. When he did eventually criticize the nazi and racist groups, he inserted caveats and false equivalencies that helped assure their support.
Evangelicals who preach a message that is “good news for all people,” cannot fail to critique those who would marginalize any group or remain associated with any leader who fails to unequivocally condemn their messages. Keep in mind, assuming Trump is allowed to keep his phone, he can contact these people any time, whether or not they are officially on this council if he legitimately needed to pray with a pastor.
Below I’m providing social media and email messaging templates for contacting pastors on Trump’s evangelical advisory council, and then I’ll list public contact information for each pastor as well as additional steps.
Here are three guiding principles for this action:
- I am prioritizing pastors who have remained silent or openly supported Trump. This is based on Zack Hunt’s list of the responses from evangelical advisory board members. Feel free to use Zack’s list to urge other members to resign as well.
- I am asking for a condemnation of racist groups/ideology and of Donald Trump.
- Our messages must be gracious in order to maintain the moral high ground so that these leaders cannot dismiss our reasonable calls to action. Please do not mock or harass these pastors.
Here is a message for Twitter or Facebook:
Please: 1. Address Trump’s failure to unequivocally condemn racist groups. 2. Personally condemn white supremacy.
Here is an email message:
Subject Line: Please Condemn Racism and White Supremacy
In the spirit of the apostle Paul, who said there is “no longer Jew or Greek… in Christ Jesus,” I am asking you to do the following immediately:
- Unequivocally and publically condemn the hate speech and violence committed by racist and white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, VA.
- Directly condemn the inadequate remarks of Donald Trump that minimized the hate speech and violence of these groups.
- Resign from Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory council, which only serves as a public relations prop for this administration that has empowered hate groups.
As an evangelical pastor, your continued association with Donald Trump and failure to address his tolerance, if not encouragement, of racism betrays the Gospel message that is Good News for all people and deepens the wounds of those targeted by hate groups.
Thank you for your consideration.
Public Contact Information for Pastors
I will be updating this list with contact information as I track it down. All of the information below is available on public websites or public social media pages.
Robert Morris of Gateway Church
https://twitter.com/PsRobertMorris @PsRobertMorris
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/PsRobertMorris
Staff Email: robert@gatewaypeople.com.
http://gatewaypeople.com/profiles/robert-morris
seniorpastors@gatewaypeople.com
Mark Burns
Twitter: @pastormarkburns
https://www.facebook.com/pastormarkburns
Email: pastormarkburns@gmail.com (found on his public Facebook page)
Tom Mullins
Twitter: @coachtommullins
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Coach-Tom-Mullins-688759251208453/
Church Website: Church of the Highlands
Church Office: info@churchofthehighlands.com
James Robinson
Twitter: @RevJamesRobinson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revjamesrobison/
Ministry Email: feedback@lifetoday.org (via Facebook page)
Personal Contact Page: http://www.jamesrobison.net/contact/
Paula White
Twitter: @paula_white
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realpaulawhite
Facebook Contact: facebook@paulawhite.org
Website: Contact Page (You can report “fraud” on this page. Ha. Ha.)
“Customer Service” Form: https://paulawhite.org/email-customer-service/
Additional Action
Many pastors and other advisory council members made weak condemnations of racism or a Trump, offering false equivalencies. Others made condemnations of racism but said nothing about Trump, refused to resign, or, like Johnnie Moore, offered so many unhelpful caveats about the media that his critique was largely counterproductive. Visit Zack’s post to find their social media accounts in order to respond to their posts as well.
Ed Cyzewski: Author // Contemplative 