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Monday, Mar 13, 2017 6:03 PM UTC

Silencing dissent: Evangelical reverend may be fired from Southern Baptists post because of his anti-Trump stance

The reverend has been praised by for challenging the political approach of evangelicals

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Topics: Baptists, Church, Culture, Donald Trump, Evangelical, Religion, religious liberty, russell moore, Southern Baptist Convention, ,

Silencing dissent: Evangelical reverend may be fired from Southern Baptists post because of his anti-Trump stanceRev. Russell Moore, director of the Southern Baptist’s Ethics and Religious Liberty (Credit: AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The Rev. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm, was an emerging leader among young evangelicals because, in part, of his anti-Trump message he preached during the presidential campaign. But now many white Southern Baptist leaders are questioning whether Moore can function in his role, which will require him to lobby before the new Trump administration.

Moore, who said he would not vote for either major party candidate in 2016, was a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and the evangelical leaders who endorsed him. He accused his colleagues of “normalizing an awful candidate” and refused to drink the Trump “Kool-Aid.”

The 45-year-old reverend is feeling backlash for his blunt opposition the president, according to The Washington Post. One megachurch pastor and Trump supporter, Jack Graham, said after a meeting with Moore that his congregation would withhold $1 million in donations to the Southern Baptist Convention’s umbrella fund. The move has Baptists wondering if Moore will be replaced by someone cozier with the Trump administration.

In May, just before the clinching the Republican nomination, Trump attacked Moore in a tweet, insisting that he was “truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals.”

Results from the election appear to support Trump’s theory that evangelicals would rather side with him than a man of the cloth. More than 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump in the election, according to exit polls.

But since Moore was elected to his position in 2013, he has steadily become a beloved leader among younger evangelicals, who may not be as receptive to conservative politics. Moore is also very popular among evangelicals of color, who have welcomed his promotion of racial justice, according to the Post.

Unafraid to deliver public lashings, Moore wrote in December that a “handful of Christian political operatives” were “excusing immortality and confusing the definition of the gospel.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a fellow Southern Baptist, responded to Moore’s commentary by telling TownHall that he was “utterly stunned that Russell Moore is being paid by Southern Baptists to insult them.”

Taylor Link is a news writer at Salon. You can find him on Twitter at @taylorlink_ More Taylor Link.

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