200名福音派领袖联合致《今日基督教》总裁的公开信

2019年12月22日，近200名福音派领袖联合致《今日基督教》总裁提摩太•达林普博士（Dr. Timothy Dalrymple），语气強烈地批评该刊要川普下台的社论(参见此文：葛福临与福音派领袖们痛批《今日基督教》关于呼吁免职川普的社论)。以下为公开信全文。

达林普博士，

我们集体写信表达我们对2019年12月19日星期四发表的《今日基督教》社论的不满，该社论呼吁罢免我们应六千万选民要求而上任的总统。

令我们惊讶的是，您的主编马克•加利（Mark Galli）进一步冒犯了我们对CNN的观点。他说：“右派基督教徒、右派福音派信徒不看《今日基督教》，他们会像川普总统那样对本杂志不屑一顾。“同时，我们注意到，加利先生评论了其他美国人。他们在2016年选择了唐纳德•特朗普而不是克林顿国务卿。他声称：“这些其他福音派人士通常还没有完成大学学业，如果有工作 - 显然大多数人没有工作，他们是蓝领工作或入门级工作”，他自豪地称自己是一个“精英福音派”。

当然，贵出版社可以决定您的杂志是否打算表达以下签署者所代表的福音派的声音。但是，是否应订阅贵刊、是否在贵刊做广告、以及是否阅读贵社在线和印刷刊物，则取决于我们、以及像我们这样的福音派人士。过去，我们一直是您的读者。

实际上，我们不是作者所描述的“极右”福音派。

我们不过是相信圣经的基督徒和爱国的美国人。我们也不过为我们的总统就政府推进如下诸事寻求我们的建议而心存感激：保护未出生者、促进宗教自由、改革我们的刑事司法制度、通过有薪探亲假建立稳固的工作家庭、保护良心自由、优先考虑父母的权利、确保我们的外交政策符合我们的价值观、同时包括通过支持以色列使我们的世界更安全。我们不是神权主义者，我们认识到：我们不完善的政治制度是我们赖以生存的堕落世界的反映，它依赖于主耶稣基督的恩典，而耶稣的恩典是免费给予罪人、圣人的、以及諸如此類的人。

我们很荣幸能与那些前辈为伍，像耶稣一样，他们被自命不凡的人指控向收税员和罪人提供过多的恩典。我们深深地承担着个人责任，把属于凯撒的-我们的公共服务交托给凯撒。（详见经文）

您发表的社论完全不顾及反对声音，不仅支持十足党派、无法律依据、出于政治动机的弹劾，而且走得更远，竟然要求唐纳德•川普在2020年不再连任，即便他肯定在弹劾中幸存下来。

正如我们的一位签署人对新闻界说的那样：“我希望《今日基督教》现在能告诉我们，他们将会在2020年支持哪位民主党人为总统？”

您的社论是对成千上万基督徒们的灵魂正直和基督见证的冒犯质疑。他们认真对待公民和道德义务。

它不仅针对我们的总统；它也针对我们中支持他、并支持贵刊的人。

谨此！

(200位牧师与福音派领袖的签名......)

Dr. Dalrymple,

We write collectively to express our dissatisfaction with the editorial Christianity Today published on Thursday, December 19, 2019 calling for the removal of our duly elected President, who was put into office at the behest of over sixty million voters.  

It was astonishing to us that your editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, further offensively dismissed our point of view on CNN by saying, “Christianity Today is not read by the people - Christians on the far right, by evangelicals on the far right - so they’re going to be as dismissive of the magazine as President Trump has shown to be.” It also came to our attention, that Mr. Galli has written other statements about Americans who chose Donald Trump over Secretary Clinton in 2016, referring to them as “These other evangelicals [who] often haven’t finished college, and if they have jobs, and apparently most of them don’t, they are blue-collar jobs or entry level work” as he describes himself with pride as an “elite evangelical.”

Of course, it’s up to your publication to decide whether or not your magazine intends to be a voice of evangelicals like those represented by the signatories below, and it is up to us and those Evangelicals like us to decide if we should subscribe to, advertise in and read your publication online and in print, but historically, we have been your readers. 

We are, in fact, not “far-right” evangelicals as characterized by the author. 

Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians and patriotic Americans who are simply grateful that our President has sought our advice as his administration has advanced policies that protect the unborn, promote religious freedom, reform our criminal justice system, contribute to strong working families through paid family leave, protect the freedom of conscience, prioritize parental rights, and ensure that our foreign policy aligns with our values while making our world safer, including through our support of the State of Israel. We are not theocrats, and we recognize that our imperfect political system is a reflection of the fallen world within which we live, reliant upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is freely given to sinner and saint, alike. 

We are proud to be numbered among those in history who, like Jesus, have been pretentiously accused of having too much grace for tax collectors and sinners, and we take deeply our personal responsibility to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's --- our public service. 

The editorial you published, without any meaningful and immediate regard for dissenting points of view, not only supported the entirely-partisan, legally-dubious, and politically-motivated impeachment but went even further, calling for Donald Trump not to be elected again in 2020 when he certainly survives impeachment. 

As one of our signatories said to the press, “I hope Christianity Today will now tell us who they will support for president among the 2020 Democrat field?” 

Your editorial offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations. 

It not only targeted our President; it also targeted those of us who support him, and have supported you. 

Sincerely,