For many years Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has been among the keenest minds in the orbit of evangelicals in the United States. Whether one agrees with all of his positions, he has stood out among Southern Baptists as a voice of theological acumen who is aware of Christian history and scholarship and who avoids the typically peculiar exegetical practices of his SBC siblings.
One of Mohler’s most important contributions to evangelicalism in the past decades is his prophetic stance against what he considers to be an impending post-truth age in the “western” world, which he warned would undermine American culture. Though he too often confused post-truth with “postmodern,” demonstrating a facile understanding of that philosophical movement, Mohler was correct to warn of what might occur if US culture abandoned truth as a feature of reality and what might become of a theological tradition if it likewise dispensed with any notion of truth.
What Mohler got right about the trouble with a post-truth world, he had wrong about the source of the sure-to-come scourge about which he warned. That is, Mohler assured us that the post-truth horde would descend upon us from the ranks of the “secular” left and theological liberals. Little did Mohler realize that the most insidious and powerful movement of the post-truth age would come from within evangelicalism itself.
But indeed this is the case. The likes of Jerry Falwell, Jr, Franklin Graham, and Robert Jeffress, just to name a few of many evangelicals, want us to believe that down is up, that evil is good, and that Donald Trump is a divinely appointed ruler, an almost-if-not-certainly messianic figure come to save America from its sins. And in the process, these evangelical leaders want the world to believe unrighteous is righteous, cruelty is Christ-like, hatred and indifference are love, and lies are truth. Evangelicals like Falwell, Graham, and Jeffress have long expressed belief systems that are sub-Christian and heterodox. They are more American than Christian, to be sure. Their love affair with Trump has just made their aberrant views clearer to us all.
But we wonder what Mohler makes of all this. We wonder why his warnings about the post-truth world and its corrosive effects upon Christianity are not so pronounced toward this threat when it comes from within evangelicalism rather than without. We hope that Mohler will reprise his warnings about the demise of truth before the destruction about which he once seemed so concerned takes its ultimate toll. That the purveyors of un-truth happen to be evangelicals, and not the “liberals” who are so often the targets of evangelical ire, should matter not one bit. The danger is no less real because it comes from one source rather than another.
We hope, and in fact we challenge Mohler to regain his voice against the post-truth scourge. And, like the apostle Peter, we hope Mohler will proclaim that it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. You see, to allow the continued support of the post-truth icon that is Donald Trump doesn’t just signal the destruction of the United States; the support of Trump by evangelicals is a capitulation to relativism and an exercise in hypocrisy that undermines the witness of evangelicals for generations to come.
We suspect Mohler realizes this, as do many other evangelical leaders. Yet, like many Republicans in Congress, the cost of speaking prophetically at this time seems just too costly. We are not surprised when politicians fail to act courageously. It is just as likely that a politician acts from cowardice as courage. But we should expect more of Christian leaders. Courage, along with wisdom and justice and mercy and love, should mark Christian leaders.
We are hopeful that Dr Mohler will be courageous and employ his bright mind and clear voice to speak truth to and about the crisis of the current evangelical moment. It is a moment of considerable peril, but one that could turn to considerable promise—if evangelicals will remember the gospel their name heralds. That gospel means nothing if there is no truth. To mix gospel truth with such profound and disturbing error as to herald a man who peddles injustice, cruelty, and lies is plain revelation that within the evangelical Christian movement, truth is in grave danger.
This is your time, Al Mohler. We hope you will speak the truth, and do so in love.
One of Mohler’s most important contributions to evangelicalism in the past decades is his prophetic stance against what he considers to be an impending post-truth age in the “western” world, which he warned would undermine American culture. Though he too often confused post-truth with “postmodern,” demonstrating a facile understanding of that philosophical movement, Mohler was correct to warn of what might occur if US culture abandoned truth as a feature of reality and what might become of a theological tradition if it likewise dispensed with any notion of truth.
What Mohler got right about the trouble with a post-truth world, he had wrong about the source of the sure-to-come scourge about which he warned. That is, Mohler assured us that the post-truth horde would descend upon us from the ranks of the “secular” left and theological liberals. Little did Mohler realize that the most insidious and powerful movement of the post-truth age would come from within evangelicalism itself.
But indeed this is the case. The likes of Jerry Falwell, Jr, Franklin Graham, and Robert Jeffress, just to name a few of many evangelicals, want us to believe that down is up, that evil is good, and that Donald Trump is a divinely appointed ruler, an almost-if-not-certainly messianic figure come to save America from its sins. And in the process, these evangelical leaders want the world to believe unrighteous is righteous, cruelty is Christ-like, hatred and indifference are love, and lies are truth. Evangelicals like Falwell, Graham, and Jeffress have long expressed belief systems that are sub-Christian and heterodox. They are more American than Christian, to be sure. Their love affair with Trump has just made their aberrant views clearer to us all.
But we wonder what Mohler makes of all this. We wonder why his warnings about the post-truth world and its corrosive effects upon Christianity are not so pronounced toward this threat when it comes from within evangelicalism rather than without. We hope that Mohler will reprise his warnings about the demise of truth before the destruction about which he once seemed so concerned takes its ultimate toll. That the purveyors of un-truth happen to be evangelicals, and not the “liberals” who are so often the targets of evangelical ire, should matter not one bit. The danger is no less real because it comes from one source rather than another.
We hope, and in fact we challenge Mohler to regain his voice against the post-truth scourge. And, like the apostle Peter, we hope Mohler will proclaim that it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. You see, to allow the continued support of the post-truth icon that is Donald Trump doesn’t just signal the destruction of the United States; the support of Trump by evangelicals is a capitulation to relativism and an exercise in hypocrisy that undermines the witness of evangelicals for generations to come.
We suspect Mohler realizes this, as do many other evangelical leaders. Yet, like many Republicans in Congress, the cost of speaking prophetically at this time seems just too costly. We are not surprised when politicians fail to act courageously. It is just as likely that a politician acts from cowardice as courage. But we should expect more of Christian leaders. Courage, along with wisdom and justice and mercy and love, should mark Christian leaders.
We are hopeful that Dr Mohler will be courageous and employ his bright mind and clear voice to speak truth to and about the crisis of the current evangelical moment. It is a moment of considerable peril, but one that could turn to considerable promise—if evangelicals will remember the gospel their name heralds. That gospel means nothing if there is no truth. To mix gospel truth with such profound and disturbing error as to herald a man who peddles injustice, cruelty, and lies is plain revelation that within the evangelical Christian movement, truth is in grave danger.
This is your time, Al Mohler. We hope you will speak the truth, and do so in love.
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