Prominent evangelicals are fighting over whether it's Christian to hold child migrants in awful conditions

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 26 June 2019

On Tuesday, Russell Moore, a prominent evangelical Christian theologian and president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, deplored how the U.S. is treating detained migrant children, suggesting that "we can do better than this."

Jerry Fallwell Jr., a prominent evangelical leader who heads Liberty University and is famously friendly with President Trump, decided to publicly disagree, calling Moore "a bureaucrat" who has never "made a payroll" or "built an organization of any type from scratch."

The comments on Falwell's tweet veered from the saucy — "Have you ever hired a pool boy?" asked conservative pundit Bill Kristol. "Have naked photos of your wife ever showed up on Michael Cohen's computer?" — to the serious. "How did Jesus treat children?" asked Christian journalist Elizabeth Bruenig. Brian Zahnd, founding pastor of Missouri's Word of Life Church, brought the fire and brimstone:

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Were there memes? Yes, there were memes.

Did anyone defend Falwell's thoughts on Christianity? If so, their comments were buried among questions about Jesus making payroll and how many people Falwell had just driven away from Christianity. To be fair, Falwell has pointed out that he is not an ordained minister, just a businessman who runs a Christian university. Maybe he can audit some New Testament classes this fall.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.