Last week, evangelical Pastor Max Lucado’s blog post titled “Decency for President” evoked applause and anger, both from fellow evangelicals who are baffled by the GOP front-runner’s rise and from Trump supporters alike.
In an interview Sunday with NPR‘s Michel Martin, Lucado explained why he called out the presidential candidate.
“I would not have said anything about Mr. Trump, never—I would never have said anything—if he didn’t call himself a Christian,” he said. “It’d be none of my business whatsoever to make any comments about his language, his vulgarities, his slander of people, but I was deeply troubled … that here’s a man who holds up a Bible one day, and calls a lady ‘bimbo’ the next. Here’s a man who calls himself a Christian and yet just has the audacity to make fun of a lady’s menstrual cycle.”
Lucado said it “deeply concerns” him that Trump’s behavior could create a negative image for those who know “little or nothing” about the Christian faith.
“I just felt like I should say something,” he said. “I did not expect to stir up the dust storm that this blog has stirred up.”
Lucado said it seems Trump has been given a “free pass,” and he said he was “baffled” why more evangelicals aren’t holding him to the consistent standard all Christian leaders should be expected to uphold. He said he personally holds himself to that same standard.
“If President Obama had used the language and spoken with the same disrespect that Trump has, and identified himself with a Christian, there is no doubt in my mind that I would’ve expressed the same concern,” he said. “We just have to hold ourselves to a higher standard if we’re going to be leaders and if we’re going to be Christians. I do believe that leaders have to be held to a higher standard, especially Christian leaders.”
Lucado had one final message for the unchurched who may have listened to his interview:
“[T]he way [Trump] speaks about people is not the way our Master, our Savior has taught us to speak; it’s not the way our Scriptures urge us to speak. The Bible urges us to be respectful to all people, especially people with whom we have disagreements, to never libel people, to never label people. Now, this is a huge deal in Scripture, and so I would encourage that person, and the reason I’ve gone so verbal and vocal with this is because I’m protective of the reputation of Christ and the church, and I would ask that person not to interpret the Christian faith through the words of Mr. Trump.”
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