Al Mohler warns 'generalized charges of voter fraud' are 'dangerous to America as a nation'
Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler has urged Christians to refrain from making “generalized charges of voter fraud” while votes are counted in the presidential race, warning that such allegations will be “dangerous to America as a nation.”
As election officials continue to count mail-in votes in a race that may take days to resolve, Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, encouraged Christian voters to practice patience.
“Americans should be agreed that every single vote of every single citizen should be counted,” Mohler said during Thursday’s edition of The Briefing. “Furthermore, we must believe that an election isn't over until every single vote of every single citizen, rightly and lawfully cast, is counted. And that means also that every single American citizen should be unsatisfied if there is any question about the actual veracity of the voting process.”
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump warned about illegal voting and an attempt to "steal" the presidential election.
“We will not allow corruption to steal such an important election — or any election for that matter,” he said.
“We can’t allow anyone to silence our voters or manufacture results," Trump said, adding that many polling places wouldn’t let “legally permitted observers” watch the ballot counting.
“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election — trying to rig an election,” he said. The president has also vowed to take his case to the Supreme Court.
But on Thursday, Mohler argued that while “President Trump has pointed to what he considers to be election irregularities,” there is “no serious credible concern” about voting irregularity “that is a matter of public record.”
“If there is any credible evidence that there was some effort to commit voter fraud on any widespread effort, then that needs to be identified and investigated, and if it does change the results of the election materially, America should deal with that,” Mohler said.
Claiming voter fraud without concrete evidence, Mohler said, can put the country’s existence in danger.
“It can happen and it has happened,” he said, referencing fraud during the 1960 election, “but making generalized charges of voter fraud without specifics that can be investigated, that's quite dangerous to America as a nation.”
Mohler, who voted for Trump in the 2020 election, warned that if Americans “continue to argue the elections indefinitely,” “there is no future for this Republic.”
“We recognize that in a fallen world, a form of self-government, constitutional self-government is itself rather fragile. Indeed over history, it has revealed to be extremely fragile,” Mohler said. “... The stability of our constitutional order is indeed the marvel of the world and it is a stewardship for Americans and every generation. It's a stewardship for us now. But we have to understand that the most crucial test of a democratic form of self-government when it comes to the electoral process is what happens when there is a change of party identification at the top of the ticket.
“That is the huge question, and of course it ricochets throughout the entire political order.
"Considering where we are right now, it would have to do with whether or not there would be a respect for a change in the partisan leadership of the House or of the Senate, or for that matter, a continuation of the pattern. It has to do, more than anything else, when the party that has held the White House loses and thus must vacate the White House and acknowledge the presidency of the opposing party.”
While debates over policy must continue after an election, arguments over the election results must end, the theologian stressed.
“It is important at this stage that the vote to be counted with integrity, all votes, every vote, the vote everywhere in order that Americans can be assured of the credibility of this election,” he said. “And then we'll have to deal with how Americans decided.”
