A Southern Baptist seminary president is among 12 people named to Faithful America’s 2024 “False Prophets” hall of fame.
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., joins Donald Trump and other notable national figures singled out by the advocacy group for promoting Christian nationalism.
This is the third annual list from Faithful America as part of its “False Prophets Don’t Speak for Me” campaign.
In explaining why Mohler was added to the hall of fame this year, Faithful America cited a long list of qualifications:
Al Mohler
- He is one of the most prominent and longest-serving leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.
- He has “underscored the Christian nationalist talking point that God saved Trump for a divine purpose.” After the attempted assassination of Trump this summer, Mohler said on his The Briefing podcast: “It was God and God alone, for God alone is the sovereign ruler of the cosmos.” Faithful America said, “Mohler also tried to point fingers at President Biden for circumstances that led to the assassination attempt.”
- “Following the historic conviction of Trump in which he was found guilty on 34 charges, Mohler falsely argued that the case against the ex-president was a political stunt before dismissing the seriousness of the situation by dabbling in transphobia: “Say what you will about Donald Trump and his sex scandals, he doesn’t confuse male and female.”
- Mohler has said Christians must vote for Republicans to be faithful: “We have a responsibility to make certain that Christians understand the stewardship of the vote, which means the discipleship of the vote, which means the urgency of the vote, the treasure of the vote. And they need to understand that insofar as they do not vote, or they vote wrongly, they are unfaithful because the vote is a powerful stewardship.”
- Mohler also has a “deeply anti-Catholic track record,” Faithful America said. “Most notably, in a 2000 appearance on Larry King Live, he said, ‘As an evangelical, I believe the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel. I believe the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office.’”
- Mohler “espouses hate-filled and harmful anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
- Mohler has called for women who obtain abortions to be jailed, calling it “criminally insane” not to prosecute them.
- He was behind the SBC annual meeting resolution opposing in-vitro fertilization.
In addition to Mohler and Trump, this year’s hall of famers are:
- Samuel Alito, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- Raymond Arroyo, News Director at Eternal World Television Network
- Luke and Angel Barnett, Dream City Church, Arizona
- Katie Britt, U.S. senator from Alabama
- Mark Harris, U.S. House of Representatives candidate from North Carolina
- Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society and funder of many Christian nationalist enterprises
- Ralph Reed, founder of Faith and Freedom Coalition
- Mark Robinson, lieutenant governor of North Carolina
- Dutch Sheets, New Apostolic Reformation leader
- Ryan Walters, Oklahoma state secretary of education
“Political and religious leaders alike use Christian rhetoric to undermine our democracy and promote an extremist Christian nationalist agenda that is counter to Jesus’ teachings of love, peace and justice,” said Karli Wallace Thompson, Faithful America digital campaigns director. “The manipulation and weaponization of faith by Christian nationalists is the driving force of the deep divisions and violence we are witnessing today, in which false prophets pursue and grasp power for themselves at any and all costs. It is imperative to expose these wolves in sheep’s clothing to protect the true essence of our faith and our futures.”
“All of us — especially those of us who seek to follow Jesus — face a critical decision this year: Will we choose kindness, joy and justice for all? Or will we choose the Religious Right’s path of violence toward dismantling democracy?” said Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America. “It is imperative that Christians across the country proclaim that these pro-Trump false prophets named to our hall of fame do not speak for Jesus and ask our friends and family to do the same.”
This year’s inductees join 32 others — Trump is the only repeat honoree — previously named as “false prophets.”
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