Wheaton College faculty and staff have spoken out about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and … [+]
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Hundreds of staff and faculty members at Wheaton College, a prominent Evangelical institution in Wheaton Illinois, released a statement earlier this week that strongly condemns the violent riot and insurrection on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
The statement, first reported in the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, is noteworthy because not only does it denounce the “abuses of Christian symbols” that many of the rioters displayed as they attacked the Capitol, it specifically criticizes President Donald Trump for what it calls “wicked leadership.”
“The January 6 attack on the Capitol was characterized not only by vicious lies, deplorable violence, white supremacy, white nationalism, and wicked leadership—especially by President Trump—but also by idolatrous and blasphemous abuses of Christian symbols. The behaviors that many participants celebrated in Jesus’ name bear absolutely no resemblance to the Christian teachings or ethics that we submit to as faculty and staff of Wheaton College. Furthermore, the differential treatment displayed by those with a duty to protect in their engagement with rioters who trespassed on the Capitol grounds illegally, when compared to recent protests over police brutality in D.C. last summer, illustrates the ongoing reality that systemic racism in our country is tragically and undeniably alive and well. These realities are reprehensible. Our Christian faith demands shining a light on these evils and the simultaneous commitment to take appropriate action.”
The faculty outcry came just after the college had published its official statement on January 11 that condemned the violence but failed to specifically mention Trump or criticize his role in the events in D.C. (Full disclosure: I am a 1969 graduate of Wheaton.)
Because of Wheaton’s well-established reputation as a leading Christian college, the statement will take on a particular significance in Evangelical circles. It confronts the popularity that Trump enjoys among Christian voters, and it challenges those Evangelical leaders who have voiced support and even admiration for Trump. Just on Thursday, as reported in Newsweek, Franklin Graham, son of famed Evangelical preacher Billy Graham, tweeted:
“Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with @SpeakerPelosi & the House Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday. “After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back & betray him so quickly? What was done yesterday only further divides our nation.”
And Jerry Falwell, Jr., former President of Liberty University, reacting to news that Liberty was now the only university to not rescind an honorary degree awarded to Trump, told WSLS TV: “I’d give him another degree if I was still at LU. He’s done nothing wrong but had an election stolen from him by thugs. He said nothing to incite violence at that rally. And he fulfilled all his campaign promises as president. That almost never happened before.”
Wheaton’s faculty and staff address those kinds of sentiment head on in their statement:
“In the days and weeks preceding January 6, many more leaders, including many evangelical leaders, could have spoken truth to the disillusioned supporters of President Trump—diminishing the prospects for violence and bolstering the witness of Christian love and the call for justice in our civic life. Some did. However, many wittingly propagated lies, or were unduly silent in a just cause. Our Christian faith demands greater courage.”
In recent days, other Wheaton faculty have voiced sharp rebukes of Trump and the role Evangelical leaders have played in his influence with Christian believers in the U.S.
Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of Wheaton’s Billy Graham Center, called for a “reckoning” on Trump in a recent NPR interview with Rachel Martin: In response to one question, Stetzer said, “I’ve been one for years who was saying we need to see more clearly who Donald Trump is and has often not been listened to. But I would say that for many people, the storming of the Capitol, the desecration of our halls of democracy, has shocked and stunned a lot of people and how President Trump has engaged in riling up crowds to accomplish these things.”
At another point, he observes, “I think the scandal of the evangelical mind today is the gullibility that so many have been brought into — conspiracy theories, false reports and more — and so I think the Christian responsibility is we need to engage in what we call in the Christian tradition, discipleship. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” So Jesus literally identifies himself as the truth; therefore, if there ever should be a people who care about the truth, it should be people who call themselves followers of Jesus.”
By the way not only is Stetzer the head of the Billy Graham Center, he also holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton. The irony of those named positions when juxtaposed against the continuing endorsement of Trump and his baseless claims about the election by Franklin Graham is not easily ignored.
But more important than such irony is the possibility that an important segment of Evangelicals may be finally finding their voice in rejecting Trump extremism and the perversions of the Gospel that so often attend it.
