He was a top church official who criticized Trump. He says Christianity is in crisis
..."What does the Bible say about fake news?"
August 8, 20231:29 PM ET
By Scott Detrow, Gabriel J. Sánchez, Sarah Handel
People pray during a "Evangelicals for Trump" campaign event in 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
He criticized Donald Trump and the Southern Baptist Convention's response to a sexual abuse crisis. Then he found himself on the outside.
Who is he? Russell Moore was one of the top officials in the Southern Baptist Convention.
* When Donald Trump came on the scene, Moore criticized him publicly and found himself ostracized by many other evangelical leaders who embraced the former president.
* Moore also criticized the Southern Baptist Convention's response to a sexual abuse crisis, as well as what he viewed as an increased tolerance for white nationalism within the church.
* Suddenly, in 2021, Moore found himself resigning from his post and on the outside of a denomination that had, up until that point, defined his life.
What's the big deal? According to Moore, Christianity is in crisis in the United States today.
* Moore is now the editor-in-chief of the Christianity Today magazine and has written a new book, Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call For Evangelical America, which is his attempt at finding a path forward for the religion he loves.
* Moore believes part of the problem is that "almost every part of American life is tribalized and factionalized," and that has extended to the church.
* "I think if we're going to get past the blood and soil sorts of nationalism or all of the other kinds of totalizing cultural identities, it's going to require rethinking what the church is," he told NPR.
* During his time in office, Trump embraced a Christian nationalist stance — the idea that the U.S. is a Christian country and should enforce those beliefs. In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Republican candidates are again vying for the influential evangelical Christian vote, demonstrating its continued influence in politics.
* In Aug. 2022, church leaders confirmed the Department of Justice was investigating Southern Baptists following a sexual abuse crisis. In a statement, SBC leaders said: "Current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future."
* In 2017, the church voted to formally "denounce and repudiate" white nationalism at its annual meeting.
What is he saying? Moore spoke to All Things Considered's Scott Detrow about what he thinks the path forward is for evangelicalism in America.
On why he thinks Christianity is in crisis:
On how he begins to address the issues he sees:
On how much he thinks politics is part of the problem: