Rick Herron

By now, we’ve all heard Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, gloating about grabbing women by their genitals. We’ve heard him talk about pursuing a married woman when his third wife was pregnant with their child. In the second presidential debate, Mr. Trump in effect claimed he had been lying about his sexual assaults (“locker room talk”). But since then, a dozen women have refuted his claims of innocence by sharing their experiences of his predatory attacks.

After all this, many Christian leaders still support Mr. Trump. How can those who proclaim the Good News defend someone who brings so much Bad News? And what will be the effect of such “Christian witness”, especially with young people, who already are leaving the church in droves?

Mr. Trump’s sex tape revelations are only his most recent rejection of Biblical values like Romans 8:6: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Even before Mr. Trump bragged about sexual assault, he was dating his second wife while still married to his first wife. He bragged about his “beautiful girlfriend, beautiful wife ... life was just a bowl of cherries.” And when Howard Stern asked if Stern could call Trump’s own daughter “a piece of a--”, Trump agreed.

Compare Trump’s words about sex with Jesus’s words about love. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus taught, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

But instead of love, Donald Trump’s campaign began with hate, calling our Mexican brothers and sisters murderers and rapists. He said an Indiana-born federal judge couldn’t be fair because his parents were born in Mexico. He called for a ban on Muslims entering this country and attacked a Muslim Gold Star family. And instead of referring to refugees as children of God or as the Bible’s the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, and the poor, Trump regularly compares them to snakes.

The ninth of the Ten Commandments demands, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Yet Mr. Trump’s lies are unprecedented in their ubiquity and audacity. The fact-checking organization Politifact reports that Donald Trump made more statements rated “Pants on Fire” than this cycle’s 21 other candidates for president combined. He’s earned over fifty “Four Pinocchios” ratings from The Washington Post — a rating they reserve, literally, for “whoppers.” And POLITICO reported that during one week last month Trump’s speeches included a lie every three minutes. In the words of 1 John 2:4, “the truth is not in him.”

Many people my age are leaving the church because they are disillusioned with it. They think it is led by bigots more concerned with political power than with standing prophetically with those Jesus called “the least of these.” When Christian leaders defend Donald Trump, those young people’s doubts about the church are confirmed. And the future of God’s church, along with its good works and ministries, is dealt a grievous blow.

Mr. Trump said he’s never asked God for forgiveness: “When I do something wrong . . . I don’t bring God into that picture.” But what happens if we do bring God into this picture? Will we defend hate and lies? Or will we stand for love and truth?

Rick Herron is a seventh-generation Tennessean who recently worked for Sojourners, a Christian non-profit in Washington, D.C.