Syndicated columnist John Calvin (“Cal”) Thomas, a right-wing fixture for decades, has written a column that appears in the Religion section of the Washington Post. The headline: It might be time to suspend the National Prayer Breakfast. Cal claims that, for 68 years, “… the National Prayer Breakfast has been a respite from politics, a chance for Republicans, Democrats, national and world leaders to assemble and pray for each other and the nation.”
But not this year.
In gentle terms, Cal goes on to describe Trump’s (my word) unhinged behavior at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, and how it departed from the teachings of Jesus that we should love our enemies, reach out to others, and reaching back into the Book of Proverbs, feeding our enemies and giving them water to drink if they are thirsty.
He concludes:
Trump clearly missed a grand opportunity. It would have cost him nothing to shake Pelosi’s hand. Perhaps it is time to suspend this annual event, or to hold it without this president attending if he can’t accept the nonpartisan theme that has been its tradition for nearly seven decades.
Now, there’s a lot that one can say about Cal Thomas, a lot of it negative. To cite just two examples... He has called for a moratorium on the construction of mosques in the U.S. He has spoken against “legitimizing” sexual orientation other than the heterosexual one, etc.
In this case, I am not going to give Cal Thomas a round of applause. I could easily write a letter to the editor criticizing Thomas for having helped to create the monstrous situation in which we now find ourselves. His column has already drawn many such comments at the Washington Post web site.
However, I will give Cal Thomas a slight nod of the head. The column is not the kind of jeremeiad that Trump so richly deserves, but it is notable nonetheless. It is, albeit in gentle terms, criticism of Trump. I take its appearance as a sign that at least some quarters of the so-called Religious Right have come to the conclusion that Trump is hardly Christian, that his behavior is counter to what they teach their children, and that continued adulation of him is harmful to their cause, especially among younger people.
Trump’s margin of victory in 2016 was so thin that he cannot afford any defections. It may not be that professing Christians who voted for Trump in 2016 will start voting for his Democratic opponent in 2020, but perhaps this year, some of them either will vote third-party, or will simply stay home.
So, I hope that Cal Thomas’ column gets wide exposure.
And as far as I am concerned, there should never be another National Prayer Breakfast. Trump’s outrageous behavior at the most recent one is only one reason why.