Democrats, Republicans, & Evangelical Hacks Line Up to Lynch Roy Moore

By Shane Kastler

The race for the Alabama Senate seat has heated up, and (as if on cue) the women bringing allegations against Roy Moore have been coming out of the Alabama woodwork.  Is Moore guilty of sexual misconduct?  Or rather, WAS he guilty of misconduct forty years ago?  It will be nearly impossible to determine that.  But this hasn’t stopped Democrats, Republicans, and even CHRISTIAN leaders from demanding Moore remove himself from the race.  I’m not declaring Moore innocent of all charges, but I do offer a few considerations for people to think about, before they publicly lynch the man.

1. The timing of these accusations is EXTREMELY dubious. As is so often the case, once a man closes in on a powerful national office (such as U.S. Senator) accusations start to fly. If Moore was “groping” teenage girls in 1977, why was nothing said at the time?  Of why was nothing said when he was serving as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for all those years?  One of the women who made the allegations offered her yearbook as proof that she had a relationship with Moore.  My question is this:  Did he chase her down the high school hall and forcibly sign her yearbook?  I assume the only way he could have signed the yearbook was for her to bring it to him and request he sign it.  He was not a high school student or teacher at the time, but rather the District Attorney.  If she felt he was a sexual predator, why did she pursue him with a request to sign her yearbook?  This accusation doesn’t make sense.

 2. A 30-year-old single man, dating teenage girls was not uncommon in the 1970s. Nor in many other generations.  In an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler declared that if the accusations about Moore were true, “We couldn’t image charges more severe” than a 30-year-old man “having anything to do with a 14-year-old girl.”  Lemon clarified by stating, “Or a 16 or 17-year-old” to which Mohler gushed, “Absolutely!”  So, let’s get this straight in our minds.  Mohler is saying there is nothing more severe in terms of immorality, than a 30-year-old man “having anything to do” with a 16 or 17-year-old girl?  While no one would argue against sexual assault being a serious matter, does asking a girl out on a date constitute “sexual assault”?  It didn’t used to, but it seems that today it does.  As for the age issue, Mohler is condemning a relationship that probably describes Mary and Joseph.  While the Bible doesn’t give us their ages, Mary is depicted in Scripture as a young maiden, which in the Jewish culture of the first century usually meant teenaged.  And Joseph is depicted as a carpenter with an established business, very likely in his early 30s.  For from being frowned upon or considered, “the most severe possible charges” this was once considered normal.  Mohler’s boot-licking of Lemon continued when Lemon suggested, “Moore should not be a Senator he should be an inmate!”  Mohler’s response was a gleeful, “I agree with you!”  This is not cool-headed Biblical discernment.  This is an evangelical “leader” pouring gasoline on the fire of a smear campaign, taking no consideration for innocence or guilt, nor for the statute of limitations on an accusation that supposedly occurred forty years ago.  Mohler’s conduct was embarrassing. 

Furthermore, Mohler said that since Moore had not "confessed" these alleged sins then he would not be forgiven in God's eyes.  This is an extremely odd thing for a Protestant to say.  Even one who is desperately trying to kiss up to a CNN anchorman.  Is Mohler suggesting that every individual sin committed must be individually confessed in order for forgiveness to be granted? Or would he say that sinners should confess their very NATURE as enemies of God to gain forgiveness? And if every sin must be confessed individually, to whom does Mohler believe they should be confessed? To the media?  To a priest? To a Southern Baptist denominational leader? Or to the Lord?  I KNOW that Mohler KNOWS the Biblical answers to these questions; but his desire to appease Lemon and trash Roy Moore clouded his judgment when he made these statements.  This is what happens when Christian leaders try too hard to be "friends with the world." It backfires and leaves a cloudy and muddled gospel presentation in it's wake.

3. Regardless of whether the accusations against Moore are true, the way the whole thing went down has all the markings of a set up. As soon as the very first woman came forth to accuse, the Democrats were already lined up to condemn Moore, the Republican establishment lined up right next to them, and even the evangelical Christian leaders (so-called) bellied up to the trough like hogs waiting for slop. Constant cries for Moore to remove himself from the race came, long before even cursory attempts to examine the accusations could be made.  The reason?  The establishment hates Moore and never wanted him in the race to begin with.  This is not an issue of Democrat vs. Republican.  It’s an issue of Establishment vs. Outsider.  And many of the big name Christian leaders of today are more obsessed with cozying up to CNN and the New York Times than they are using Biblical, cool-headed discernment when considering accusations from 40 years ago against a man they clearly hate.  Take Albert Mohler’s partner in crime, Russell Moore (no relation to Roy). 

Russell Moore has embarrassed the Southern Baptist Convention time and time again by pandering, race-baiting, and virtue-signaling his way into denominational leadership.  He’s questioned the faith of Christians who voted for Trump.  He’s accused Christians of being blatant racists who supported Trump.  And now, he is accusing any Christians who might vote for Roy Moore of idolatry.  Why any Southern Baptist would give a dime of support to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) that Moore heads is beyond me.  He is an outspoken, progressive, leftist who has a long history of supporting the Democrat Party, while disguising himself as a conservative.  Trump’s ascendancy was simply more than Moore could handle.  Likewise, Mohler.  Sadly, lots of evangelical theologians have gladly exchanged issues of divinity to become Social Justice Warriors who do the progressives bidding.  And while they accuse their fellow Christians of idolatry for supporting a political candidate, they themselves will seemingly write or say anything necessary to stay in the good graces of the liberal press.  At the end of Mohler’s interview with Lemon, he rejoiced that “unlike the 2016 presidential election there is much more consensus this time and I’m thankful for that.”  This was an obvious swipe at Donald Trump and any Christian who dared support him in the race against Hillary Clinton.

4. Don’t claim the moral high ground if you reject Roy Moore for ACCUSATIONS of misconduct, while you support his opponent Doug Jones, who is OUT-SPOKENLY pro-abortion. Contrary to Mohler’s pious preening for Don Lemon, “having anything to do with a teenage girl” is not the most severe of charges. Murdering babies is much worse.   Jones’s policies will bring far more depravity to America than Moore’s polices would.

5. The U.S. Senate has claimed they may refuse to seat Roy Moore if he wins because he doesn’t meet their standards of ethics and morality. This may be the most laughable statement made in this entire fiasco. A Senate chamber soiled by perverts, con men, and blatant charlatans are afraid their “ethical standards” will be tainted by Roy Moore.  Preposterous.

Maybe Roy Moore is guilty of some of these charges from his past.  Maybe he’s not.  But the timing should cause all rational people to give pause before engaging in another high-tech lynching.  Do you remember the phrase, “high tech lynching?”  It was uttered by another man accused of sexual misconduct in the early 1990s.  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was on his way to the high court when Anita Hill was drug out of the woodwork with outlandish accusations against him.  Again, the timing stunk to high heavens.  Rather than attacking Thomas on his legal position, his opponents when to the gutter with checkbook in hand to find dirt on a man who had a stellar career.  Thomas eventually got fed up with the Senate hearings and walked out, telling the chief accuser (and a serial groper in his own right) Joe Biden that he would not endure a “high tech lying for uppity blacks” (which is what Thomas called the circus).  Maybe Roy Moore is guilty.  Maybe not.  We will probably never know for sure because the accusations cannot be proven or dis-proven.  But people should be able to spot the rats coming out of the woodwork to sink his campaign. The professional rats who make their living off of character assassination, and the paid off rats who do their bidding for a price.  The Dems are thrilled.  Many Republicans are too.  And many evangelical “leaders” have joined in the lynching and will no doubt be rewarded handsomely by their establishment masters.  All the while, a man’s career and reputation lay in tatters.  Maybe he deserves it. Maybe he doesn’t.  It’s too bad his rabid opponents have convinced so many people that he should be deemed guilty, with no opportunity to be proven innocent.  And that the establishment line should be toed, so the Washington corruption can continue unhindered.

Comments

[Dave]

thanks for your bold critique and calling out again Evangelicals, like Russell Moore, who are obviously gripped by the fear of man and desperate for the approval of men. I appreciate your blogposts - calling these and others out, like Piper, for being exactly the same.

[John]

Excellent post--thanks!. It seems to me that the hitjob on Roy Moore is really an establishment Uniparty attack on President Trump. When Roy Moore is sworn in, his vote will nullify John McCain's vote in the Senate. For this reason, for the first time ever, I have donated to a senate campaign in another state to support Roy Moore and the Trump agenda. I do this as a Christian with an absolutely clear conscience.