New Era Baptist Church’s pastor, Michael Jordan (no, not that Michael Jordan) is defending a controversial anti-Trump message displayed on the church’s front lawn. Instead of welcoming worshipers or offering information on church service times, the church’s double-sided sign delivers a punch. One side diagnoses black Trump voters as mentally ill – and the other side declares that white Trump voters are racist.

New Era Baptist Church Pastor Michael Jordan talks about his controversial message https://t.co/Gu0HONIphP — WVTM 13 (@WVTM13) August 27, 2019

The church is located in Birmingham, Alabama and Pastor Jordan is African-American. His message is, “Please do not vote for Donald Trump.” He told a local reporter that if a black voter “believes in equality, who believe in the redistribution of wealth, who believe in earned income equality” and votes for Trump, the voter is suffering from mental illness. Jordan calls President Trump a racist and a bigot and bashes his administration, too.

Jordan says he has been the church’s pastor for 27 years. If you click on the tweet and listen to all of the video clip you will hear that the pastor gets some facts wrong but his message is clear, especially as he calls the president a Klu Klux Klansman, for example. He is interrupted by a young white man who asks if he knows he is violating federal law with his political message. He goes on to read the tax code for tax-exempt churches. The young man also takes credit for the reporter being there interviewing Pastor Jordan. Apparently, he reported the sign to the local news outlet. Pastor Jordan calls the young man a bigot and a “Klu Klux Klan descendant”. Yikes.

“God motivates me to take a stand. We have normalized racism”, Jordan tells the reporter when asked why he is creating such a controversy. The video devolves into the pastor, two black men, and the white man yelling at each other over racism. One black man says he isn’t a Trump voter but the church sign’s message is racist and wrong. It all gets pretty tedious. Clearly no minds are changing during the dialogue.

It’s bad enough the liberties that politicians have taken as they campaign in churches and are given opportunities to speak during church services. It is equally bad for a pastor to promote his own political agenda to the public. Surely this is a violation of the tax code and the tax-exempt status of this church should be reviewed.

Guess who really likes this ugly divisive speech? Hollywood’s Debra Messing. She is one of the stars of Will and Grace. Not only did she weigh in with her agreement that Trump supporters must be outed by The Hollywood Reporter after fellow cast member Eric McCormack tweeted his demand for a return of McCarthyism in Hollywood, but she jumped right on this controversy, too. After the Chairman of the Democratic Coalition (We help run #TheResistance) and former Obama campaign chairman tweeted about the church’s sign, Messing chimed in.

The left is so sensitive that any difference of opinion is simply not tolerated. The election of President Trump broke many people and Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well as we approach the 2020 presidential election. I don’t recall these kinds of stories when the previous administration enforced border security laws or deported millions of people during their time in office.

President Trump’s administration has created an atmosphere for economic success across the board, across all demographics. African-American unemployment is at an all-time low. The same goes for Hispanic employment and youth employment. Criminal justice reform directly affects incarcerated African-Americans. Trump has reached out to minority voters more than past Republican candidates did. Remember when he asked “What the hell do you have to lose?” of black voters?

No one thinks the majority of African-American voters will change party loyalty. Democrats have kept their support for decades with divisive rhetoric because it benefits the party. Without African-American voters, Democrats cannot win elections. Pastor Jordan is using a very old Democratic playbook in a political cycle. He deflects his racist views onto someone else, in this case the President of the United States. This isn’t the first time the pastor has shown his own racism.

“God motivates me to take a stand for what’s right,” New Era Baptist Church’s pastor, Michael Jordan, told WTVM 13. “Read the Bible. And look in the White House. If they’re calling me a racist, look in the White House. This isn’t the first time that Jordan has used the church’s signage to speak out. In 2018, after a suburban megachurch planned to open a satellite in Birmingham to combat crime, Jordan erected a sign that read “Black folks need to stay out of white churches.” The sign sparked a social media outrage and earned a rebuke from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin (D).

If Pastor Jordan doesn’t think black folks should worship in white churches, I wonder what kind of litmus test he uses for the political affiliation of his church flock. It sure sounds like he is consumed with political ideology at the expense of religious doctrine.