Some evangelicals still back Donald Trump despite lewd video

The Washington Post

Some evangelical leaders stood by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump even after a video was released on Friday containing his lewd remarks about women.

Evangelicals, who have upheld the importance of family values and traditional marriage between a man and woman, have been hugely divided on Trump’s candidacy. Many of them are split on attitudes toward race and ethnicity, candidates’ personality morality and character, religious freedom issues and how much Supreme Court appointments should matter when choosing a candidate.

Comments revealed Friday show Trump bragging about groping women. “Grab them by the p—y,” Trump said in a recording. “You can do anything.”

Ralph Reed, a conservative Christian activist and the head of Trump’s religious advisory board, said that as the father of two daughters, he was disappointed by the “inappropriate” comments.

“But people of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defend religious freedom, grow the economy, appoint conservative judges and oppose the Iran nuclear deal,” he said in an email.

He contrasted Trump with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, saying that her “corrupt use of her office to raise funds from foreign governments and corporations and her reckless and irresponsible handling of classified material on her home-brewed email server, endangering US national security, that will drive the evangelical vote.”

“I think a 10-year-old tape of a private conversation with a TV talk show host ranks pretty low on their hierarchy of their concerns,” he said.

Some evangelicals have pointed out how Reed called for the importance of character from political leaders in the past. In 1998, when he was running the now-defunct Christian Coalition, the New York Times wrote about the organization’s meeting. The newspaper wrote that the group’s leaders used former President Bill Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky scandal as “the ultimate evidence that Washington was in need of a restoration of ‘family values.’ “

“Character matters, and the American people are hungry for that message,” the Times quotes Reed as saying. “We care about the conduct of our leaders, and we will not rest until we have leaders of good moral character.”

Trump’s campaign has driven wedges between some evangelicals, who have no formal leadership or hierarchy and have been increasingly divided over who may speak for those who choose that label. A group of evangelicals released a letter on Thursday condemning Trump, saying his campaign “affirms racist elements in white culture.”

The newest poll from the Public Religion Research Institute said that 69 percent of white evangelical Protestants favored Trump while 19 percent supported Clinton. The latest Washington Post/ABC poll indicates that 52 percent of evangelicals of any race favored Trump compared to 40 percent who supported Clinton.

On Friday night, Trump released a video apologizing for his comments, calling them “foolish” and saying he pledges to “be a better man tomorrow.”

Other Christian leaders varied in their responses to Trump’s comments. Darrell Scott, a black pastor from Cleveland who supports Trump, wrote on Twitter, “I don’t condone the conversation; but I don’t condemn the man!”

Popular author Rachel Held Evans, who grew up in an evangelical home, called on evangelicals to speak out against Trump’s words.

“Evangelicals, misogyny is wrong. Sexual assault is wrong. Adultery is wrong. Calling women ‘bitches’ & ‘pieces of ass’ is wrong. SAY SO,” she tweeted.

Trump supporter Eric Metaxas, a popular Christian author and lecturer at The King’s College in New York City, called the comments “ugly stuff” in his response to Evans. “Absolutely correct. Can there be any question? Not from where I stand. Ugly stuff. God bless you,” he tweeted.

Metaxas had initially tweeted but then deleted his initial response to Trump’s comments: “BREAKING: Trump caught using foul language, combing his hair oddly. Could this be the end of his campaign?” Metaxas did not immediately return request for comment.

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and a member of Trump’s Faith Advisory Council, said in a statement that he believes Trump is “still the best candidate to reverse the downward spiral this nation is in.”

“While the comments are lewd, offensive, and indefensible … they are not enough to make me vote for Hillary Clinton,” Jeffress told the Post. He said he would “not necessarily choose Donald Trump to be a Sunday School teacher” but he still supports Trump. “To say Trump’s comments disqualify him from being president assumes that Hillary Clinton is more moral than Donald Trump,” he wrote.

David Brody from the Christian Broadcasting Network tweeted, “This just in: Donald Trump is a flawed man! We ALL sin every single day. What if we had a ‘hot mic’ around each one of us all the time?”

Tony Perkins, who leads the conservative Family Research Council, did not back down from his personal support of Trump, according to Buzzfeed. “My personal support for Donald Trump has never been based upon shared values, it is based upon shared concerns about issues such as: justices on the Supreme Court that ignore the constitution, America’s continued vulnerability to Islamic terrorists and the systematic attack on religious liberty that we’ve seen in the last 7 1/2 years,” Perkins said in an email to Buzzfeed.

Some evangelicals denounced Trump’s remarks, including Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

“To be pro-life means to say to the ethic of Margaret Sanger *and* to the ethic of Howard Stern: #Never,” Moore tweeted.

“I am humiliated by arguments about character I am hearing tonight from some evangelicals. Lord, help us,” tweeted Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

And Calvin College philosophy professor James K.A. Smith tweeted about religious freedom, one of the reasons why many evangelicals have said they support Trump.

“So the price of ‘preserving religious freedom’ is to cast your lot with someone who mocks, and makes a mockery of, your belief & practice?” Smith wrote on Twitter. “Maybe, just maybe, securing your ‘religious freedom’ isn’t worth compromising your religion?”

Other religious and pro-life leaders who have supported Trump were quieter on Friday. Calls, messages and emails placed to the following leaders were not returned: Focus on the Family founder and now Family Talk host James Dobson, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, pastor Paula White, First Things editor R.R. Reno and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr.

In September 1998, Dobson sent a letter to millions of conservative Christians saying Clinton should be impeached because his behavior was setting a bad example for our children about “respecting women.” In December, Dobson told the Post he was very wary of Trump, citing his tendency to “shoot from the hip,” his attacking those with whom he disagrees and Trump’s business in gambling. “I would never vote for a king pin within that enterprise,” he said. Dobson has since announced his support for Trump, saying his behavior was because he is a “baby Christian.”

A new poll out this week indicated that Trump may have a problem with pastors. In the past two elections, pastors have been more firmly in the GOP camp, but this election, up to 40 percent of pastors are undecided.

Trump’s comments on women revealed Friday were not the first controversial remarks he’s made on women. In his book “The Art of the Deal,” Trump bragged about having sex with multiple married women and in numerous interviews with Howard Stern, he talked about his sexual exploits. He has also called those he finds unattractive terms like “fat pig and “dog.”

Last year, Trump told CNN he does not like having to ask God for forgiveness. In an interview with columnist Cal Thomas earlier this year, Trump said he would ask for forgiveness. “I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won’t have to be asking for much forgiveness,” he said.

Video: In this video from 2005, Donald Trump prepares for an appearance on ‘Days of Our Lives’ with actress Arianne Zucker. He is accompanied to the set by Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. The Post has edited this video for length. Graphic language. (Obtained by The Washington Post)