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Defending evangelicals

Michael Gerson’s “A political failure of massive proportions”

(Commentary, May 30) demands a positive response correcting his negative misrepresentation of evangelical Christians. He wrote, “Evangelicals insist on the centrality and inerrancy of Scripture and condemn society for refusing to follow biblical norms — and yet, when it comes to verse after verse requiring care for the stranger, they not only ignore this mandate but oppose it.” Wrong! Evangelicals support Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse ministering to poor of the world; missionaries give their lives to strangers far and near. Evangelicals feed, clothe, house and educate the poor. Evangelicals are among first responders to strangers devastated by natural disaster. Social justice of evangelicals is endless!

Gerson’s column was primarily about Washington’s national day of prayer and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s response to President Trump’s immigration policy. Both men assume a common misunderstanding of Christianity. The assumption is that Christianity (especially evangelism) is just another cultural (far right) wing of the Republican Party. Wrong again! The heart of Christianity is forgiveness of sin and freedom from guilt through faith in Jesus Christ. The more believers mature in their faith, the more sensitive they become to social justice apolitically. Evangelicals disagree with each other on all kinds of political issues, but have in common what Gerson correctly describes as, “the centrality and inerrancy of Scripture … requiring care for the stranger.”

C. Dale German, Bethany