Christianity Today
Christianity Today, also referred to as CT Magazine, is an evangelical Christian magazine founded by the late Billy Graham in 1956. It is one of the largest evangelical Christian publications in the United States, and has been referred to as evangelicalism’s “flagship” publication by The Washington Post and a “mainstream evangelical magazine” by The New York Times.
Upon its founding, Graham said that he wanted to "plant the evangelical flag in the middle-of-the-road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems."
In 2023, the magazine says its mission is “To elevate the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God.” Christianity Today promises to “deliver an exceptional experience that is biblically rooted and beautifully orthodox, globally engaged and thoughtfully diverse, exquisitely crafted and surprisingly creative, always inspired by a love for Christ and his church.”
Previously, Christianity Today supported the impeachments of both Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican President Donald Trump, whom outgoing Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli described as "profoundly immoral" in a 2019 editorial.
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As the white editors of Christianity Today surveyed Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent civil disobedience on behalf of civil rights in the summer of 1964, they were not impressed. “For preachers to argue that ‘civil disobedience’ is justified helps to encourage those who would resort to violence,” CT declared that August.
A half century later, CT formally apologized for its opposition to King and the civil rights movement. By then, the magazine had published numerous pieces lauding King as an example of Christian love whose words and actions offered a needed call to repentance for white evangelicals.
But King remains an awkward figure for those of us who are both white and evangelical—two things that King was not. Many of us would like to herald him as a prophet, but when we do, we risk co-opting King for our own purposes rather than understanding him on his own terms.