During an interview with Cable News Network anchor Carol Costello on Monday, American Baptist Bishop Paul Morton -- who declined an invitation to attend a pastors' meeting with Donald Trump in New York City -- refused to assert that the GOP front-runner in the 2016 presidential race is not a Christian.
“As a Christian, as a kingdom representative, I care how you treat people,” the senior pastor of the Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church in Atlanta/Decatur, Georgia, stated.
Referring to the religious event, Morton noted: “There's no reason for me going. I don't care what your platform is. If you talk down to women, if you talk down to documented immigrants, calling them rapists, and then black lives, 'get them out of here,'” “you can't represent me.”
After calling Trump “a bully for the 20th century,” he added:
I don't even need to hear your platform. You may be able to build a wall with your own money. I really don't care.
I just don't respect people in that way if you don't respect me.
“But,” Costello stated, “Mr. Trump said he's a Christian. He said his favorite book is the Bible.”
“Talk is cheap,” Morton replied. “The Bible says [things] from the heart. … That's where your mouth speaks. When you speak from the heart, what comes out comes from the heart.”
Referring to Trump's words and deeds, the bishop asserted: “So if you really love, the Bible says by your fruit, you should know them. There has to be manifestation in your talk.”
“So if you are disrespecting people,” Morton continued, “you can say 'I believe in the Bible. I read it every day.' We can be hearers of the word but not doers of the word. So maybe he's a hearer but definitely not a doer of the word in this kind of situation.”
Costello then pressed the Baptist bishop by asking: “Do you believe he's a Christian?”
“That is not for me to judge,” Morton responded. “If he says he's a Christian, hey, he's a Christian as far as I'm concerned.”
“I don't even get on that level to judge who's a Christian, who's not, but I just need to see some evidence from your fruit,” he added.
Nevertheless, Trump praised the lengthy meeting with black pastors at Trump Tower, defiantly dismissing criticism from some in the African-American community that he is using racial rhetoric.
The GOP billionaire declared: “This meeting was amazing. Amazing people. The meeting went so much longer, and it went longer only because of the love. It didn't go longer for other reasons.”
Meanwhile, Soopermexican posted in a “Hypocrite Alert” on The Right Scoop website regarding the difference between Wisc. Governor Scott Walker's clashes with the press earlier this year and Morton's response to Costello's question:
He actually answered it pretty well, but it really makes you wonder why Obama’s faith is absolutely completely without question off the table, but Costello felt perfectly comfortable questioning the Donald’s faith.
I think we all know the answer. OK, most of us.
The interview was reminiscent of two earlier incidents when then-candidate Walker stated that he “doesn't know” if Barack Obama, the Democratic occupant of the White House, is a Christian.
The press hammered Walker in February after he refused to render an opinion on the president's religious beliefs.
Then, in an August appearance before 450 donors backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, he stated: “I don’t know. I presume he is” a Christian.
“You’re not going to get a different answer than I said before,” the Republican governor remarked toward the end of a question-and-answer session moderated by Politico’s Mike Allen.
Walker added that he’s never asked Obama about his faith. “As someone who is a believer myself, I don’t presume to know someone’s beliefs about whether they follow Christ or not unless I’ve actually talked with him.”
Judging from Costello's Monday interview on CNN, members of “the mainstream media” are still searching for a way to bring down Trump's poll numbers and will use virtually any tactic to accomplish that goal. This will probably continue for the next 11 months until the presidential election is held on Nov. 8, 2016.
