I want to start with christianity today. An editorial calling for President Trumps removal from office. Your reaction. Euros in your editorial that this might be a watershed moment for 2020, why . Guest i came back from a 27 city book tour. Right in the middle of advent. Which, in our tradition is a season of waiting and during and longing for christ. What iting for christ is was thinking coming home. All of a sudden cover this editorial appears from christianity today, a very established evangelical credible , mark galli, who i know, says there are moral issues at stake in the selection. Not just political, but deeper. The reality of a President Trump is what he is raising. Me, what did jesus say . What did he mean . Did he mean it . Heres this person today saying these tradeoffs, these transactional deals we like what donald trump is doing on some issues therefore we will ignore the rest. He says this is a gross in rowdy aaracter we are seeing gross immorality of character we are seeing. This is a powerful statement of morality in the middle of politics. Host dusek it will have a lot of impact . Guest it happens. It is a crack in the wall of the white evangelical support for donald trump. The medialear, when says evangelical, they normally mean white evangelical because and asianhispanic evangelicals have not been supportive of trump. White event flight evangelicals have, in a great majority and yet that is changing. The crack was already there. I was on the road and i saw this. I was at evangelical colleges, churches and mega churches. White evangelical women have been really moving away from donald trump. White evangelical young people because of climate, and those issues have moved away. Now we have this watershed moment, a crack in the wall. All of a sudden white evangelical support is asking the deeper questions. Not just political ones, but moral ones. Jesus questions. We talked about jesus everywhere. Even the evangelical schools i have said, what wouldnt it be amazing if line host we do have a line for evangelical voters. Is that number. On the wrist can call in to 202 7488001. We talk about evangelical voters, can you define the term. Where does that term come from . Host great question. It comes from jesus first sermon. His First Mission statement at nazareth when he is announcing his mission he says quoting isaiah the spirit of the lord is upon me because that has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. The word good news there in greek is evangel, that is where thewe get the word from contacts i call at his manifesto. If the spirit of the lord is upon me because he is asked to bring good news to the poor. Which means if your gospel whatever it does to your life, if it isnt good news to the poor it is the gospel of jesus. In this season, i think of put down the mighty from their thrones. Of jesushe mother exalted those of low degree filled the hungry with good things. Comeent the rich, empty away. That isss the heart of mary prayer. Evangelical is supposed to poor. People say in this reaction is why do we ignore what the president has said and done about immigrants and minorities . And the racialized policies and language and words. Thehow we treat the poor as most vulnerable, is a test of the gospel. Isre evangelical comes from a powerful thing and get our in americaals known for being good news to the poor immigrants, hungry, homeless. We are not. That is a gospel issue. For me. Host coming back to that editorial, some of the concern is that that editorial is ignoring the president accomplishments. Said,in grant on facebook the list of accomplishments for President Trumps long, but the fact that he is the most prolife president in modern history is extremely important. Christianity today wants us to ignore that and say that it doesnt count. The president has been a defender of religious freedom around the world then christianity today wants us to ignore that. The president has appointed conservative judges and a record number. Christianity today how wants us to ignore that. Christianity today believes you should be removed from office because of false accusations. What we used to say to that . What would you say to that . I think franklin is wrong. Caller it doesnt ignore any of those things, but we have this transactional politics. People like fred give us these things and we will ignore the rest. He used the word ignore. Theas been ignoring president s treatment of immigrants at the border. The president plus using race the vice of and all of his politics. I understand what mark allie is saying. Yes, there are policies the president has done that we support, but modern mark galli supports it. Caller i can no longer ignore the grocery morality the gruesome reality. Whoe are evangelical women are not supporting donald trump anymore. When people say why are you ignoring life prolife . Life at we care about the border as well as life in the womb. A consistent ethic of life is necessary to take care of all of life, not just on the issue of abortion. Host you see there is an opening here. Why are to be hearing more from Democratic Candidates on the campaign trail about some of these issues you bring up . At the debate last week, according to the transcript, god came up only once and it was joe biden saying at the end, god bless you all as he ended his final statement. Caller thats a great question. When you think about the democratic partys core base, they would say it is africanamerican women. Who are the most religious population in the country. To are democrats reluctant talk about faith . It makes no sense at all. Republicans can say that they own religion in an election season. I have done several podcasts with them credit candidates asking them tell us about your faith and values. I have done cory booker, julian castro, pete buttigieg, senator warren is coming up. Reluctant. Sh to be host to think it doesnt poll well in a democratic primary . Caller i talked to a number of democrats who feel like their party in recent times has ignored the issue of faith. Many other christians say why are they ignoring my faith . The good news is that cory booker does not ignore faith at all. He is deeply rooted in black churches. Julian castros catholic, that is coming back for him. Pete buttigieg is the only candidate who talks about god even when he hasnt even when he isnt asked a religious question. Climate change as well. Losses,n, in his deep it has made him more deeply catholic. Elizabeth warren has her bible underlined around matthew 25 or jesus says as you have done to the least of these, you have done to me. We know that a number of them have a deep faith but they are, as devon as democrats, reluctant to speak. They would say we believe in the separation of church and state, and i agree but heres the key thing, the separation of church and state which i agree with does not mean the segregation of moral values from public life. The democrats need to get over that. Not impose their religion, like people want to do. No, we need to be pluralistic. Respect every faith. Religious liberty is an important value. Not just our own. I was driven here this morning by a muslim uber driver. He had ours on in the car. I was coming in for christmas even this old muscleman having his prayers. Wonderful man. Are we as christians committed to his religious liberty too . Or, just our own. Host that brings us to your book. Why is christ in crisis . What does your book have to offer for nonchristians . I started here on this set with this book several months ago. I went all across the country. My answer to your question, now having been to all of these 27 cities here is the good news, jesus has somehow survived all of us christians. There is a hunger out there to talk about jesus among people of different faiths, or no faith at all. A number of my rabbi or imam friends say they feel safer when christians talk about jesus then other things. Young people all of the country would tell me they are formally something formerly catholic, formerly this material. Yet, this jesus this brown he isewish rabbi talking about a whole new way of living. Turning the world upside down, turning power upside down. Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who are hungry for justice, blessed are the meek, the humble. Downturns the world upside and the young people and talking to, even those who left religion are still it is a time to stay it is a time to say we have to reclaim jesus. He has been politicized, he has beenotaged maybe marketed and sold. I think people have sold jesus out. I want to go back to jesus. The book is, what are his questions . What did he say . Who is my neighbor . That is important right now. Who is my neighbor is a question jesus prompted. That is critical of all of our policies. Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Hat is so critical right now jesus says the servant is the leader, not the ones who the gentiles want to just lorded over the people. Leadership for us includes serving. It includes the one who is serving. This turns the world upside down , and i feel hopeful out there that the conversation sinks. Today there was just another conversation. This is all changing now. Caller the reverend jim guest the reverend jim wallace is our guest. Four evangelical voters, 202 7488001 for all others. This is catherine out of ohio. Caller Merry Christmas. I am a bornagain christian. I have a few bones to pick with trump. Grabs women by the you who. He is a hormone group. He is an adulterer. He is a liar. He imprisons brown babies only because they are brown. Woman, these are things that christians are supposed to stand against. Is, how doesor you trump who has had many people around them who have been of great character how does he totally corrupt everybody that comes around . He is a man that does not believe in constitutional law. He does not believe in rule of law int does not believe in a higher moral standard. This is the question that i hear on the road all the time. How can these evangelical christians support donald trump when he does all of that. Guest this is where the crack in the wall is occurring. The curtain is being torn here because christians were bornagain, evangelical, are saying we know longer can accept this behavior toward women, toward immigrants, the racialized language. Using racial bigotry and division for his political purposes. So, we are asking not just a political question because we are on different sides of the spectrum. That is a good thing. Christians can have different views about politics, but it is behavior. Ps moral his lack of attention to all the things jesus said. Donald trumps policies are antithetical to the policies and thes of jesus i politics of jesus are antithetical to that of donald trump. Host instead of simply indicting evangelicals for their inconsistent moral weathervane, democrats may consider to host in 1982, we insisted that mr. Clintons behavior was not relevant to his potential as a president. Sure, we considered his marriage and fidelity, but the important thing was his vision for the future. Guest i think hes right. Days, our magazine spoke out against bill clintons immoral behavior. We said, your character does count. Moral character is important. Is in those days evangelicals, 70 said character counts. Behavior, clintons was relevant. For 30 , it didnt count. That has now been totally switch. Now evangelicals about trump, about 70 say it is a matter. Only 30 say it does. This is a fundamental moral switch among evangelicals. Of the few publications, faithbased that spoke out against bill clintons behavior. And the liberal left said, we should in fact move on, and that is how moveon was formed. We should move on. I said, no. These are moral, character issues that have to be addressed. Consistent . Clintons out against moral character and now Donald Trumps moral character, so consistency is what people are looking for from people of faith. Host the magazine you founded can be found on sojo. Net or jimwallis if you would like to follow him. Votery is an evangelical in texas. Caller good morning. Merry christmas. I wanted to say reverend so appreciate you and respected you for years and all you have done to elevate the conversation around christianity and what it means to be a christ follower. I am grateful for the christianity today article. I am not sure what Franklin Graham has happened, but i think he has vowed to the altar of power, and i would ask that you flesh out the point you made about evangelical white voters as opposed to africanamerican christians, which i am. Thieves being in the temple, which i believe is very much the case, because i believe the gop has coopted the Evangelical Church for political gain using issues constructed around righteous topics with unrighteous pretense. Sister, ibe honest, boy, i was teenage pushed out of my white Evangelical Church in detroit over the issues of race and war, and the black church took me in. I was saying, why do we live the way we do in white detroit, and what i am hearing and reading in that inrs, i was a kid, black church, life was so different. I could not get White Christians to deal with that. This is racial bigotry. It is a gospel dealbreaker. It is a dealbreaker for the gospel. For these white evangelicals who support donald trump . Your question is my question. Democrats who are reluctant to speak about faith, it does not make sense when you have voters with africanamerican women like our sister her, who are the most religious population in the country, and democrats have been reluctant to speak about faith. I hope that changes. I do not to create a religious left like there is a religious right. I do not want to i want do not want to my politics to be wrapped around my face. Faith should shape our politics not the other way around. Faith should hold us accountable. It should not be politicized or ist for access to power, think that is what has happened. Transactional politics for the sake of power. King said, the churches should not be the master of the state, the servant of the state, but be the conscience of the state. Consciencee the , and that is what i think we need in the 2020 election season. Host 10 minutes or so left with the reverend jim wallis, taking your calls. Phone lines put up by evangelical voters and all others. Barry is on the phone line for all others from new jersey. Caller good morning and Merry Christmas, cspan. My concern is that the evangelicals had traded christian values for religious power. Goy wave their hands and into a religious experience very solemn, but when donald trump is mentioned, they stand up, they wave their hands, and they cheer. Donald trump has become the evangelicals golden calf that they have created, given that they have walked away from the teachings of jesus. Thank you. Caller the teachings of jesus are the most important question, whether we will be followers of jesus or not. I think it is a question of power. Let me put it this way, i believe for some time that the religious right, the franklin junior, irry falwell believe the religious right will rise and fall with donald trump. They have risen with donald trump. He has given them tremendous access to power. That is what they seem to be most wanting, and yet, i think they will fall with donald trump. Because of not listening to what the brother says the teachings of jesus. If i am a christian, that means i am a follower of jesus. Didwhat jesus said, what he has to be foundational for me. This book is just all about what are his questions. Whatdid he ask of us, and did he prompt others to ask, and how do we follow him in 2020 is the most important question. Right,ot political left, and i am saying, dont go left, dont go right, go deeper into what jesus said and did. That is what this debate is all about. Host justin is an evangelical voter. Caller Merry Christmas. Guest to you too. Caller say Merry Christmas, i have not heard you say that. Christmas, it is my favorite season every year. Caller you are telling me that if i vote for trump, i am going to hell. Guest no, no, no. I trust your integrity, your faith. I am saying we have to bring our allh into our politics so of us have to look at what we believe. Voting for imperfect candidates we cannot vote for the kingdom of god. The kingdom of god is not running this election. We have to make choices. What are values, what is our faith, and what does that mean . For example, i think when jesus says, how you treat the immigrants, how do you treat that stranger is how you treat me. A candidates policies towards immigrants are a christian question. How we apply our faith i am going to apply mine, you will apply yours, and i would never say how you apply your faith will take you to hell. Host staying in texas, this is lynn, an evangelical voter. Caller good morning and Merry Christmas you. To you. I am a veteran going back to the vietnam war in the middle 1960s. I have something to say and ask you. Do you remember the 10 commandments . Who would be our moses today . That is all i have to say, Merry Christmas to you. You and i are from the same era, my brother. The black churches talked about ands and people rising up finding their liberation and freedom. I will go back to him calledoment when he the church to be not the servant or master of the state but to be the conscience. To me, that is raising the moral issues. I do not look for a moses in our politics. I look for people trying to do their own policies and values and i try to say, here are my christian values, here is what jesus requires me to do, and i look at their policies, and i try to make an imperfect decision about which candidate i will vote for for whatever office in the country. Faith to come first and not politics first that wraps around faith and controls it. Say as theyople to are saying that the only vote you can make is for donald trump. That is foolish. I dont want to say that on the other, either. Ands apply jesusteachings, this book, christ in crisis will be used around pastors around the country and i went blackandwhite pastors to come together and say, who is jesus here . Seeuld love to blackandwhite churches together studying what does it mean to follow jesus in 2020. Host where are you headed next on your book tour . Is to a lotood news of places, it is the flyover country. The midwest, the south, rural areas who want to have this conversation. Do a pastors conference in nebraska, missouri, kansas, and they will say, thanks for not flying over. [laughter] ,uest i go to lots of cities about 40 in the next year, and try to have a conversation and are generationally enter lookationally but lets at what jesus said. Past the get politicizing of religion and how our faith can reshape our politics. I believe democracy is at state. I think the rule of law is at stake. The separation of powers is at stake. Mostly, the poor and vulnerable are at stake. How do we become people of faith and not just politics first . Faith first, not politics, first. I will be doing it all over the country. Host come back and talk to us again. The book christ in journal live every day with news and policy issues. The authory morning, of the price we pay talks about efforts to fix the u. S. Health care system. Be sure to watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern. Join the discussion. Watch authors week all this week starting at 8 00 a. M. Here is a look at some of our featured programming this holiday week on cspan. On christmas day, at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, this years white house decorations with first lady melania trump. Plus a look back at previous years decorations by hillary clinton, laura bush, and michelle obama. A discussion about Global Technology issues. The 00 p. M. Eastern, history of journalism and fake news at the liberty forum. On thursday, at 5 45 p. M. Eastern, a joint Economic Committee hearing on the high cost of raising a family. Constitutional litigator Justin Pearson talks about occupational licensing requirements at the federalist society. Watch this holiday week on cspan. This holiday week, book tv is on cspan2 every day with primetime features each night. Wednesday at 8 30 p. M. Eastern, indepth with naomi klein. Eastern,at 8 00 p. M. The problem of democracy. Farrow and his book catch and kill. Watch this special airing of book tv. The wall street journal ceo counsel held a discussion on robotics with the founder and ceo of boston dynamics