（《今日基督教》杂志社论，2019-12-19）
（翻译：吴京宁 来源：美国华人）
在我们的创刊文件中，葛培理牧师（Billy Graham，1918-2018，美国现代福音派运动的著名领袖人物——译者注）申明，《今日基督教》将帮助福音派基督徒，以反映其信仰的方式对新闻进行诠释。对于唐纳德·特朗普的弹劾，是我们这个共和国正在经历的一个重大事件，对此我们必须做出评论。
（翻译：吴京宁 来源：美国华人）
在我们的创刊文件中，葛培理牧师（Billy Graham，1918-2018，美国现代福音派运动的著名领袖人物——译者注）申明，《今日基督教》将帮助福音派基督徒，以反映其信仰的方式对新闻进行诠释。对于唐纳德·特朗普的弹劾，是我们这个共和国正在经历的一个重大事件，对此我们必须做出评论。
CT（《今日基督教》的缩写——译者注）对于社会政治事件的典型处理方式，是不卷入争论，允许持不同政治信念的基督徒在公众空间发表自己的见解，鼓励大家按照自己的信念寻求公义，同时对待政治对手要尽量大度。我们想让CT处于一个位置，能够欢迎来自政治光谱不同频段的基督徒，并提醒每个人，政治并不是我们人生的终极、目的。譬如，我们可以引以为傲的一点是，政治内容没有充斥我们的主页。
尽管如此，我们还是时常感到有必要在某些政治事务上表明态度。而在这样做时，总要按照葛培理牧师鼓励我们的那样，既要表明信念，又要秉持爱心。我们爱我们的总统，并为他祷告，就像我们爱政坛两方的领袖（以及普通公民）并为他们祷告一样。
有一点我们是同意总统的。那就是从他就任的第一天起，民主党人就在尽力找他的毛病。因此，他们所做的每一件事都会罩上党派之争的疑云。这会使很多人不仅怀疑他们的动机，而且质疑最近听证会所呈现的事实。特朗普先生也确实没有真正的机会在众议院的弹劾听证会上讲述他一方的故事。
但是，有一件事情上，事实是毫不含糊的：美国的总统想利用他的政治权势，胁迫一位外国领导人去骚扰、抹黑总统的某位政治对手。这一举动不仅仅是违反了宪法，更重要的是，它是极其不道德的。
很多人之所以对此并不感到吃惊，是因为这位总统在他执政期间，已经将道德标准一再压低。他雇用然后又开除的不少人，现在已是被定罪的罪犯。他自己也承认在商业活动和与妇女的关系方面的不道德行为，但却引以为荣。光是他的那些推特发言，习惯性地使用一连串的歪曲、谎言和诽谤，就已是位道德失丧、混乱之人的一个近乎“完美”的范本。特朗普的福音派支持者会举出他的最高法院大法官提名、对宗教自由的保护、经济领导力，以及其它方面他们所认为的成就，来为自己对这位总统的支持进行辩解。
我们相信，弹劾听证会已经以穆勒调查没有做到的方式，清楚地表明，特朗普总统为了私利滥用职权，背叛了他遵守宪法的誓言。弹劾听证会将总统的道德缺陷呈现在所有人眼前。这些缺陷损害了总统职位，损害了我们国家的声誉，损害了我们人民的精神和未来。他的那些正面之举，并不能抵销我们在这样一位道德品格极为恶劣的总统领导之下所要面对的道德与政治危险。
CT对于我们的国家领导人品格的关注并非第一次。在1998年，我们这样写道：
“即使事实摆在面前，总统还是不讲实话，这一行为对我们国家的社会体系造成一种撕裂。这绝不是件私事。因为从根本上讲，社会交往是建立在信任假设之上的：信任你的杂货店主卖给你的牛奶是健康、纯净的；信任你存入银行的钱能够取得出来；信任你的保姆、消防员、神职人员、救护车司机能够尽他们的全力。尽管政客们素有违背竞选许诺的恶名，但在职期间他们有义务捍卫我们对他们的信任，并按法律行事。”
还有这句：
“总统及其周围的人所进行的不正当交易和不道德行为，使这一届总统班子无法在道德上起领导作用。”
不幸的是，二十年前我们对克林顿先生的指责几乎可以一字不差地套用到现任总统身上。特朗普先生是应当被参议院解职，还是该在下次选举中以投票方式选下去，这是需要做出审慎抉择的一件事。但是我们相信，最终将他解职，不是出于党派效忠，而是对那赐下十诫的造物主的忠诚。
对于不顾特朗普先生恶劣的道德记录，依然支持他的那许多福音派基督徒，我们要这样说：要记得你是谁，服事的是哪个主。想一下，你为特朗普先生所做的辩解，将怎样影响你为你的主、你的救主所做的见证。想一下，如果你为了政治上的便利，继续忽略特朗普先生的不道德言语、行为，那不信主的世人将如何说。如果我们现在还不改弦更张，在未来的几十年里，对于我们就公义、正义所说的任何话，还会有人当回事吗？我们能一方面严肃地声称堕胎是不可容忍的大恶，另一方面却又同样一本正经地说，我们国家领导人那扭曲、败坏的品格最终并无大碍？
几年来，我们在对于特朗普先生做论断方面一直比较谨慎。尽管有人对我们的谨慎提出批评，但是当指责他人的行为时，耐心、大度确实是必要的。因此，对于特朗普的支持者，我们会尽力从好的方面去想他们，试图理解他们的观点，对于他们就特朗普先生做出的许多政治决定，试图看到其审慎的本质。但是，借用一句老话，现在是实话实说的时候了。在这场政治扑克游戏中，不论我们已经赢了多少手牌，我们玩的是一摞极不道德、伦理有缺陷的牌。当我们觉得应该把筹码都推向牌桌中间时，那将是我们输得一塌糊涂的时候。输得一塌糊涂的，将是福音派信仰的声誉，和整个世界对于福音的理解。输得一塌糊涂的，将是这个国家的男男女女，而他们的福祉也是我们所关心的。
Trump Should Be Removed from Office
It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.
MARK GALLI
（Christianity Today）
In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment.
The typical CT approach is to stay above the fray and allow Christians with different political convictions to make their arguments in the public square, to encourage all to pursue justice according to their convictions and treat their political opposition as charitably as possible. We want CT to be a place that welcomes Christians from across the political spectrum, and reminds everyone that politics is not the end and purpose of our being. We take pride in the fact, for instance, that politics does not dominate our homepage.
That said, we do feel it necessary from time to time to make our own opinions on political matters clear—always, as Graham encouraged us, doing so with both conviction and love. We love and pray for our president, as we love and pray for leaders (as well as ordinary citizens) on both sides of the political aisle.
Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion. This has led many to suspect not only motives but facts in these recent impeachment hearings. And, no, Mr. Trump did not have a serious opportunity to offer his side of the story in the House hearings on impeachment.
But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.
The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.
Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character.
This concern for the character of our national leader is not new in CT. In 1998, we wrote this:
The President's failure to tell the truth—even when cornered—rips at the fabric of the nation. This is not a private affair. For above all, social intercourse is built on a presumption of trust: trust that the milk your grocer sells you is wholesome and pure; trust that the money you put in your bank can be taken out of the bank; trust that your babysitter, firefighters, clergy, and ambulance drivers will all do their best. And while politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises, while in office they have a fundamental obligation to uphold our trust in them and to live by the law.
And this:
Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead.
Unfortunately, the words that we applied to Mr. Clinton 20 years ago apply almost perfectly to our current president. Whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office by the Senate or by popular vote next election—that is a matter of prudential judgment. That he should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments.
To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?
We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.
（Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today）
