Leaders of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention say true believers should at least pause before jumping on the Donald Trump train. The denomination’s leaders have criticized the billionaire businessman throughout the campaign.
The head of the Southern Baptists’ flagship seminary, Albert Mohler, dedicated his
daily podcast to the question — what now that Trump is on his way to the Republican nomination?
“Many of us are going to be facing the reality that if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee and Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, we will not be able to vote in good conscience for either of the candidates,” he said.
Mohler calls the question “excruciating,” because not voting effectively gives groups with opposing views more power.
Bruce Ashford, provost at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, says the quandary should give the convention an excuse to become “something other than the religious special interest arm of the Republican Party.”
Trump does have a few fans among evangelical pastors. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist in Dallas is one of them. And he tells the
Baptist Press that “no Christian has the right to condemn other Christians for the choice they make” for president.
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