Hypocritical Christians Cite Ten Commandments & Story of Joseph and Mary To Defend Roy Moore

The original reports of sexual molestation of a fourteen year old girl committed by  Roy Moore are bad enough. The responses by some on the right in defense of Moore present another story of the hypocrisy of many on the right. For example, see the attempt to defend Moore on religious grounds as reported by Religion News Service:

Conservative Christian supporters of Roy Moore are defending the U.S. Senate candidate against allegations of molesting a teenager decades ago — and one of them used the biblical story of Mary and Joseph to rationalize an adult being sexually attracted to a minor.

These supporters don’t expect voters will abandon Moore — a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice and darling of a segment of the American religious right, in the Alabama race for a seat in the U.S. Senate — for the same reason they didn’t turn away from Donald Trump when several women came forward during last year’s presidential campaign with allegations he had sexually assaulted them.

“It comes down to a question who is more credible in the eyes of the voters — the candidate or the accuser,” said Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of evangelical Liberty University who has endorsed Trump and Moore, both Republicans.

“The same thing happened to President Trump a few weeks before his election last year except it was several women making allegations,” Falwell told RNS in an email. “He denied that any of them were true and the American people believed him and elected him the 45th president of the United States.”

…American Family Association President Tim Wildmon, who has endorsed Moore, told RNS in an email the report “does not change our support for Roy Moore.”

“I don’t think this kind of story will change support for him among Christians since he has categorically denied it. Most will see it as dirty politics,” Wildmon said.

Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver also continued to back Moore, saying, “Having personally known Roy Moore and his wife of 32 years, Kayla, I know him as a man of integrity who respects women.”

Conservative radio host Sean Hannity invoked the Ten Commandments to suggest the women who spoke to the Post could be lying.

“We do have 10 commandments. One of the commandments is, ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness.’ We know human beings break, with regularity, the other nine commandments. Did they break this one? I mean, it’s something to think about,” Hannity said on his show.

And Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler used the biblical account of Jesus’ birth in Moore’s defense.

“(T)ake Joseph and Mary,” Zeigler told the Washington Examiner. “Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.”

While the article quotes several conservatives defending Moore, it also includes a number of conservative politicians criticizing Moore, along with conservative religions leaders:

Ed Stetzer, the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, made clear in a blog post on Christianity Today’s website: “THIS IS NOT WHAT EVANGELICALS BELIEVE.”

“Bringing Joseph and Mary into a modern-day molestation accusation, where a 32-year-old prosecutor is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl, is simultaneously ridiculous and blasphemous. … Even those who followed ancient marriage customs, which we would not follow today, knew the difference between molesting and marriage,” Stetzer wrote.

Many other conservative Republicans, including Jonah Goldberg, have also condemned Moore beyond those quoted in this article.

Beyond these attempts to defend Moore, there was a rather disgusting attempt by one Alabama State Representative to blame the victims to the point of wanting to bring charges against the women making the accusations against Moore:

Republican Alabama State Representative Ed Henry said on Friday that he wanted someone to bring charges against the women who accused GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of making sexual advances on them when they were teenagers.

In an interview with The Cullman Times, Henry raged that the women interviewed in the Washington Post’s bombshell report about Moore’s sexual behavior waited so long to publicly accuse him of having improper relations with them when they were teens.

“If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years,” Henry fumed. “I think someone should prosecute and go after them. You can’t be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion.”

I do not think it is necessary to comment on the various reasons that women, especially teenage girls, are often in a poor position to report abuse.

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