More than 13,000 Christians have signed a petition urging all “anti-prosecution MAGA pastors” to condemn threats against Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis and other prosecutors who prosecuted former President Donald Trump .
The petition, started by the online community Faithful to America, was first posted on Tuesday. According to the website, the group initially targeted 10,000 signatures, but later raised that to 15,000.
“Nearly everyone involved in the 91 felony charges brought against Donald Trump … is dealing with escalating threats of terrorism and violence,” the site reads.
“However, the far-right pastors who have denounced and politicized the indictment — including Franklin Graham, Mike Huckabee, and “Trump’s top pastor” Mark Burns — appear to be wary of these threats. Not a word was said, even though they helped create an atmosphere of alleged violence,” it continued.
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Graham and Burns are evangelical pastors in the United States, while Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is a Baptist pastor. The trio have been staunch supporters of Trump since he first ran for president in 2016 and have dismissed numerous allegations against the former president as an attempt to disenfranchise him for re-election in 2024.
“Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and those who live by the sword die by the sword,” wrote Faithful America, a group dedicated to fighting Christian nationalism, on its petition page. “These pastors who have angered Trump’s Republicans are now ignoring the atmosphere of violence they helped create. It is irresponsible and wrong. Let us unite as Christians and demand that Trump’s pastor friends immediately condemn these dangerous threats. “
Willis sued Trump, accusing him and 18 others of trying to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, and even before announcing the charges against the former president, she made public about the racism and sexism she received threaten. In an email to Fulton County leaders in late July, the black female district attorney shared a copy of one such threat with county commissioners, in which Willis was referred to as “Jim Crow Democrat Whore”.
A woman in Texas also faces federal charges accused of threatening to kill U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 actions taken by the building. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused the former president of falsifying business records in several 2016 hush money schemes, just days before his 34-count indictment against Trump. To death threats.
The former president has regularly threatened those connected to his investigations on his social media accounts, prompting him to secure a strict bail deal in his Georgia case and a protective order in his Jan. 6 case.
Trump has historically enjoyed strong support from American Christians. In 2020, a majority of white voters who regularly attend religious services voted for the former president over President Joe Biden, according to the Pew Research Center. The group showing the greatest support for Trump is white evangelical Protestants.
A Reuters report in April found that Trump still has the support of a “substantial portion” of conservative Christians in the current presidential race.
Weekly newspaper Trump’s news team was reached by email Friday evening for comment.
