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Why Christian College Presidents Should Not Endorse Political Candidates
I remember when it happened. It was a small headline on The Washington Post: ‘Falwell endorses Trump,’ or something like that. I was attending Liberty University, studying for my bachelor’s degree in information technology, and I thought from my home in Texas, You’ve got to be kidding me.
The story, at that point, was just a paragraph — a breaking announcement with no direct quotes. I decided to hold my judgment until I read or heard my college president’s own words. I knew where Falwell’s political tendencies lay. Having been raised in a conservative, Baptist family, I was no stranger to the influence of Jerry Falwell Sr. and the vaunted work of his “Moral Majority.” I fully expected Falwell to encourage evangelicals to support whoever turned out to be the Republican nominee for president. I did not expect him to endorse a candidate. If, on the off-chance he did, Senator Ted Cruz seemed to be primed to receive that blessing.
About thirty minutes later, I read Falwell’s words for myself. He wasn’t kidding.
I am proud to offer my endorsement of Donald J. Trump for president of the United States. He is a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again. (January 26, 2016)
Now, it’s 2020, and last month I got a distinct feeling of déjà vu. Another prominent Christian college president publicly stated that he would vote for Donald Trump — after stating, in 2016, that “evangelical support for Trump” was “a horrifying embarrassment, a price for possible political gain that is simply unthinkable and too high to pay.” Those words were written by Rev. R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who was also expected to be voted in as president of the Southern Baptist Convention this year. (The gathering was cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19.)
Dr. Mohler, being the scholar that he is, explained his change of mind at length in a Q&A video. He also told interviewers, “In retrospect, I made my [2016] vote of minimal importance. I don’t…
