‘It Is the Estimation of These Men That Ralph Drollinger Is Not Biblically Qualified for Spiritual Leadership’ His Own Board Members Charged

A large number of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet Secretaries attend a weekly bible study group led by a right wing extremist pastor whose own ministry declared him “not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership.” The group is sponsored by Vice President Mike Pence.

“Health Secretary Tom Price, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Agriculture Secretary Sunny Perdue, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo are just a few of the regulars,” Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reports Monday. “America’s top cop, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also attends the study.”

“Nearly all Cabinet officials attend Bible lessons with [a] right-wing pastor who compares Trump to biblical heroes,”Â Sarah K. Burris at Raw Story adds.

The pastor, apparently sourced by Vice President Pence, is Ralph Drollinger of Capitol Ministries.Â

In 2009 California’s Capitol Weekly reported “five board members resigned from Capitol Ministries,” of which Drollinger isÂ president.

“This group included John Anderson, a Grace Church member who is now on the Board of Directors of Capitol Commission. In communication with current or former CapitolÂ Ministries board membersÂ and others, Grace officials noted on Sept. 24 ‘It is the estimation of these men that Ralph Drollinger is not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership.'”

If Drollinger’s own board members deemed him “not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership,” why is he in the White House leading some of the most powerful people in America in Bible study?

On May 21, 2004, the L.A. Times reported Drollinger “wrote in a Bible lesson that women lawmakers with young children at home are sinners.”

Three days later Church Central reported Drollinger “claimed that the Bible says God has given men and women different roles. ‘Man’s is, primarily, to be a breadwinner, and women’s is to be at home nurturing their children,’ he said.” It also reported that when Drollinger called Catholicism a false religion, then-Governor ArnoldÂ Schwarzenegger, who is Catholic, kicked Drolliniger out of the governor’s offices.

Theologian Diana Butler Bass calls Drollinger “anti-women, anti-Catholic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Jewish.”

and teaches God demands borders to keep nations separate w/distinct categories: “citizens, immigrants, foreigners.” https://t.co/8jZUCYUJic â€” Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) August 1, 2017

And adds:

These are the things that, according to CBN, amount to “spiritual awakening”?? #notinmybible â€” Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) August 1, 2017

Insisting the “Trump Cabinet Bible study is making history,”Â CBN claims a “spiritual awakening is underway at the White House.”

Journalist Amy Sullivan (who tweeted about the above stories) offers this interesting push back:

Hey, you know who was in a weekly Bible study for nearly all eight years in the White House and nobody cared?

Hillary Clinton https://t.co/9oCl7yysle â€” Amy Sullivan (@sullivanamy) July 31, 2017

CBN,Â which is Fox News for far right wing Christian evangelicals, also claims Trump’s cabinet has “been called the most evangelical Cabinet in history.” CBN does not cite any source for that ludicrous claim.Â

But CBN does cite Drollinger himself, speaking about the cabinet members who attend his bible study.

“These are godly individuals that God has risen to a position of prominence in our culture,” the pastor who has been calledÂ “not biblically qualified for spiritual leadership” tells CBN.

Drollinger says Attorney General Sessions will “go out the same day I teach him something and I’ll see him do it on camera and I just think, ‘Wow, these guys are faithful, available and teachable and they’re at Bible study every week they’re in town.'”Â

This is one of Drollinger’s Member Bible studies — on same-sex marriage. Note Pence is a sponsor: https://t.co/xscFRtnbzs â€” Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) August 1, 2017

CBN also reports Drollinger “teaches weekly studies in the U.S. House and Senate and now leads about a dozen members of President Trump’s Cabinet in weekly studies of the scriptures.”

At Raw Story, Burris notes “Drollinger sees Pence as a character like biblical stars Joseph, Mordecai and Daniel, all of whom rose to stand beside heads of government in history. Though Joseph is known for always doing the moral thing. Mordecai almost pushed his cousin into slavery. And DanielÂ committed crimes to avoid committing biblical sins.”

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