TGC, Joe Carter lie about American Family Association

ERLC employee smears Bryan Fischer & AFA

Want to know if a writer is honest or not—check their sources. Joe Carter of the Gospel Coalition used progressive website PolitiFact in a smear of the American Family Association and Bryan Fischer.

Here is what Carter said about the AFA, “A Christian ministry, American Family Association, is promoting a conspiracy that Fauci ‘has known since 2005 that chloroquine is an effective inhibitor of coronaviruses.’”

Carter mistakes fact for conspiracy. Fischer’s column for the AFA makes a very good case that the antimalarial drug chloroquine “has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells.” And it gets better, the drug has both “both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage,” according to the 2005 study quoted by Fischer.

So, Fischer does a great job detailing that peer-reviewed medical journals established the effectiveness of chloroquine against coronaviruses similar to the present pandemic. Then, Fischer asks a legitimate question:  Why is there so much resistance to this safe, established and well-known drug?

And yet, Joe Carter declares that AFA and Fischer are spreading a conspiracy theory.

Carter is executive pastor at the Southern Baptist McLean Bible Church and communications specialist for the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, according to his Twitter bio.

His column for The Gospel Coalition is a dirty trick. He lumps the legitimate work of Fischer and reasonable questions about the US government’s response to COVID-19 with actual conspiracy theories like the association of 5G with the virus or that Bill Gates created the virus.

Despicable.

It is despicable that a good Christian ministry would be lumped in with such. But, that’s Joe Carter for you. His attack on AFA is a dishonest smear. Carter’s use of PolitiFact as judging the AFA article False is a priceless proof of his perfidy.

PolitiFact declares the AFA article false and makes sure to mention the anti-Christian hate group Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) opinion of the American Family Association. According to PolitiFact, “The source of the article is One News Now, a website operated by the American Family Association, a Christian fundamentalist nonprofit founded by Mississippi pastor Donald Wildmon. The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified the political organization as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.”

Wildmon and the American Family Association are regularly attacked by progressives.

Does Carter intend to promote PolitiFact’s smear of the AFA as an anti-LGBTQ hate group? If not, why link to it?

But there is more reason for concern.

Carter uses a known progressive group—PolitiFact—to attack good conservative Christians. Oh, you doubt PolitiFact is biased? Oh, well, The Federalist already has examined this problem. According to The Federalist, “Running The Data On PolitiFact Shows Bias Against Conservatives: Mitt Romney did not seem to be a particularly egregious liar, nor does Hillary Clinton seem the single most honest politician to run for president in the last 10 years. Yet PolitiFact says it’s true.”

What makes Carter’s article even worse is that after telling an outright lie about the American Family Association and Fischer, Carter proceeds to complain about Christians promoting falsehoods on social media.

Seriously.

Pot. Kettle. Kettle. Pot.

Carter has the audacity to smear the AFA and then pen this line: “Much needs to be said about why so many followers of Christ are spreading misinformation.”

Why is Carter spreading falsehoods about the AFA? Why is Carter relying on known liars and anti-Christian bigots in the mainstream press to justify his claim against the AFA?

Carter is one of the shrillest Never Trumpers in evangelical circles. Carter promoted impeachment of President Donald Trump. Could it be that Carter’s radical anti-Trump politics infects his view of other Christians?

Carter even attacked the statement that Donald Trump is the most Pro-Life President in history. Carter attempted to debunk what many conservative Christians have said about President Trump. In fact, none other than Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has praised President Trump’s pro-life policies.

Trump has done something no other Republican President has done—enforce the Weldon Amendment.

It had Perkins declare that evangelicals opposing Trump will have to answer for that opposition.

Perkins said of President Trump, “I don’t get it either. I am at a loss too. I am having this discussion with not a lot of people because most people who are honest and will think through this process look at what this Administration has done. The evidence is irrefutable…

“If people can’t see that and say, ‘Alright. I was wrong. This president has been doing it. I may not like his personality. I might not like this Tweets. But, I have to be honest. His policies are Pro-Life. They are pro-Religious Freedom’…

“It is everything that the people in the Christian community have looked for for years…

“Frankly, they will have to give an account for that someday. Not before me. But they will have to give an account for trying to turn people the wrong way when it comes to this Administration.”

https://capstonereport.com/2020/01/24/tony-perkins-evangelicals-opposing-trump-will-give-an-account-one-day/33802/

But for some evangelicals, opposing the President is more important than doing anything else.

Carter has demonstrated his dishonesty in the attack on President Trump. Perkins is right—these “leaders” will have to answer for their opposition to the President.

So, Christians should be aware of Carter’s dishonesty and judge everything he writes through the lens of his partisan attack on good Christian ministries like AFA.

Evangelical Elites toss around the conspiracy theory charge often. Stephen Wolfe called this a “rhetorical tool” of the Elite.

He tweeted, “The use of the ‘conspiracy theory’ accusation is an elite rhetorical tool to maintain the delusion that the elites’ public views match their private ones and that their public views are not products of private scheming and careful deliberation.”

Wolfe is right. This is a common tactic of the Elite. Recently, Ed Stetzer labeled discussion of a lab-origin of COVID-19 as a “conspiracy theory.” Of course, now we know intelligence agencies believe that a likely explanation.

Christians should mark this Elitist tactic and understand it for what it is.