White evangelicals, Trump, and a church in crisis

as the actual Son of a Preacher Man it's hardly  a surprise journalist Tim Alberta has a personal   take on the growing intersection of faith and  politics he's talking with our Robert Costa   pretty amazing Goodwill Church in New York's  leafy Hudson Valley is a special destination   for the Atlantic's Tim Alberta there's something  so deeply familiar about this place it's hard to   describe this is where his family's Faith Journey  began you know my parents always described this   church as Holy Ground for our family Tim's Father  Richard Alberta was once a pastor on this Pulpit   after becoming a born again Christian here nearly  50 years ago I don't know where he sat I don't   know what the sermon was that day but something  happened a guy who'd been an Atheist for years   you know decided that he was going to give his  life to Jesus now that's you in Sunday school   class out here at Cornerstone with the Alberta  family later moved to Michigan where Tim's father   LED Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church  your life was Cornerstone my life was completely   wrapped up in the church it was the sun around  which we as a family revolved it was our our whole world but Tim Alberta sought a career in  journalism writing about politics his father   urged him to stay grounded including in a 2019  chat he'll never forget he keep saying to me   don't spend your whole career around these people  there are so many other stories and that was one   of the last conversations we had Days Later Tim's  dad suddenly died when I come home to my church   I'm expecting I guess um something different from  what I got well some offered consolation Alberta   also got confrontation from some conservative  church members objecting to his reporting on   then-president Donald Trump a lot of folks right  there at the viewing just they wanted to argue   about politics they you know they wanted to know  if I was still a Christian and my dad's in a box   like 100 feet away the church wasn't a sanctuary  from politics politics was now part of the church   that's right I knew that to some degree and in  fact I willfully ignored it Alberta's Reckoning   with faith and politics is the basis for his new  book The Kingdom the power and the glory Which   documents what he calls an age of extremism  for evangelicals there was a real crisis in   the American Church specifically a crisis in  the white Evangelical Church about a quarter   of American adults identify as Evangelical and as  the Republican presidential race heats up nearly   70% of white evangelicals are supportive of trump  Alberta says that reflects a shift away from Norms   in the GOP and in the church we should think about  the American church almost in parallel to American   politics when it gains enough influence when it  gains enough power The Fringe can overtake the   mainstream and that's what we've seen happen in  the church the convulsions in today's churches   come after Decades of evangelicals gaining  influence do you love God do you love him   with all your heart with all your soul from Billy  Graham Stadium Crusades to the stadium rallies of   Donald Trump but you know we have our Christian  conservatives for Trump today and they're in   the room let's go in recent years evangelicals  have had debates over the response to covid and   to Trump all while many key Republicans count  themselves as one of them what do people say   about politics that's bad that's dirty what  do they say to you about politics don't get involved while back at Goodwill Church Senior  Pastor John Torres who used to work with Tim's dad   is uneasy about the shadow of politics over his  church and others I don't want somebody in who's   sitting there listening to me preach you know  whatever their views are I want them to stay put   I want to talk to them about Jesus I don't want  to talk to them about politics I don't because I   don't really know what I can offer them in terms  of politics other evangelicals don't mind politics   and see this moment as an affirmation of hard one  power what do you say to Evangelical leaders who   might hear your argument and say you missed the  point Trump wins for Evangelical Christians he   wins for conservative America what Supreme Court  seats a seat at the table at the White House show   me where in scripture any of that matters but it  does matter to many of those standing with Trump   as he once again seeks the White House you had  millions of Evangelical Christians who voted for   Donald Trump and just sort of gleefully embraced  his terrible rhetoric and his un-Christlike   conduct why did they gleefully embrace it to use  your term power Trump campaigned for president in   2016 promising that if he was elected Christians  would have power and he gave it to them he gave   it to them in ways that arguably no American  president has in modern history and when you   have power you can very quickly lose sight of  your principles your values even your beliefs   how's your faith you know honestly it's never  been better Tim Alberta's faith in reporting is   also strong and he says that is his own calling  you and I were reporters that's right we're not   supposed to be the story I never wanted to  be the story once you see this you can't look away

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 769,815

Keywords: Evangelicals, Donald Trump, Sunday Morning, Politics, CBS Village Religion

Id: GE4XSS8szwM

Length: 6min 31sec (391 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 26 2023