A long-simmering debate between liberal and conservative Christian faith leaders came to a head during a panel session at a Religion News Association conference on Thursday (April 22), with a former Obama White House faith adviser blaming an evangelical Christian adviser to former President Donald Trump for quickening the rise of Christian nationalism and setting the stage for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The online panel, titled “Unpacking the Role of a Faith Adviser,” was for most of its hour a discussion of religious liberty policy and practice among the Rev. Johnnie Moore, a member of Trump’s informal group of evangelical advisers; Joshua DuBois, who worked for former President Barack Obama; former Bush administration official Tevi Troy; and Melissa Rogers, the current head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
“I think the one thing we absolutely fundamentally agree upon is the central role of religion in American life — and it has to be fought to be preserved,” said Moore, who holds a seat on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and is a former vice president at Liberty University, as the session seemed to be wrapping up.
But the panel suddenly shifted gears, escalating into a passionate — and atypical — debate between Moore and DuBois over the impact of the Trump era and the moral role of a faith adviser.
In between moments of heated cross-talk, DuBois delivered a blistering litany of critiques, arguing that by supporting Trump, Moore helped to perpetuate a political and religious culture that makes people of color unsafe.
Continue reading at the Religion News Service
