Donald Trump’s Jerusalem move sparks Christian disputes
CHRISTIAN leaders reacted with strong emotion to the news that President Donald Trump has recognised as capital of Israel the city where their faith’s foundational events unfolded. Some (especially American evangelicals) were passionately in favour, and others (especially Christians with deep roots in the region) were passionately against.
Paula White, a megachurch pastor from Florida who is a member of the president’s faith advisory council, said: “Evangelicals are ecstatic, for Israel is to us a sacred place and the Jewish people are our dearest friends.” She has repeatedly hailed Mr Trump as a man uniquely sensitive to God’s “divine plan” and willing to take counsel from Christian leaders like herself as to how that plan should be helped along.
Those sentiments are typical of an inner circle of evangelicals that helped to bring Mr Trump to power and that has pressed him to keep his Israel-friendly promises.
Meanwhile Pope Francis spoke of his “deep concern” about the situation created by...Continue reading