Evangelical Christian theologian Russell Moore warned that Donald Trump is a "unique threat" to the Christian church as the former president continues to lead his Republican rivals in the 2024 primary race.
Moore, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the current editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, is a key Christian leader who has spoken out against Trump over his character, the Capitol riot, and his treatment of women. His opinions on the former president have left him divided from many Evangelical Christians, who largely supported Trump in his 2016 and 2020 presidential runs and are a key bloc of his support in the 2024 primary election.
During an interview with Semafor published Tuesday morning, Moore was pressed on his thoughts on the 2024 GOP field. While he declined to comment on or endorse a specific candidate, he issued a warning about the former president.
"I don't endorse candidates, but I believe Trump to be a unique threat, both to American institutions and to the church's witness," he said. Moore added that he has given political and spiritual advice to other candidates running in the primary, but declined to offer specifics, adding that he is "happy to talk with or to pray for anybody."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign and Moore via email for comment.
Evangelical Christians have long been a key voting group for the Republican Party, which has aligned itself with these voters through their support of socially conservative policies such as opposition to abortion. In 2020, exit polls showed that anywhere from 76 to 81 percent of white evangelical protestant voters backed Trump over Joe Biden, according to Gallup.
Despite this support, some evangelical leaders including Moore have found themselves alienated from the former president. Some have argued that his actions and rhetoric while in office did not align with their readings of the Bible.
Moore has been one of the leading anti-Trump evangelical leaders, voicing many critiques of him since he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015.
In 2019, he criticized the Trump administration's treatment of migrant children, tweeting, "Those created in the image of God should be treated with dignity and compassion, especially those seeking refuge from violence back home. We can do better than this."
Moore has further raised concerns about racism and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory in the Republican Party, telling Axios in 2021 that the conspiracy is "taking on all of the characteristics of a cult, from authoritarian gurus...to predictions that don't come true."
Trump in January rebuked "disloyalty" from Evangelical leaders during an appearance on Real America's Voice.
"I was a little disappointed because I thought they could have fought much harder during the election," Trump said. "A lot of them didn't fight or weren't really around to fight, and it did energize the Democrats. But a lot of the people that wanted and fought for years to get it, they sort of...they were there protesting and doing what they could have done.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
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