Consider Howe’s argument after the jump. He is writing from an openly anti-Trump position. I doubt that he would criticize Milo’s gayness. I would think that he would laud the evangelical leaders who have been giving him a pass. But does Howe have a point anyway? Do you see an error in his reasoning? Didn’t Milo get taken down by a moral reaction?
Evangelical leaders of this stripe seemed to indicate that such petty and insignificant things as “moral depravity” were irrelevant now that the questions were raised by a Republican. . . .Yiannopoulos is simply an extension of the moral ambiguity that evangelical leadership has helped to solidify on the right. Instead of certitude or clarity, many of the national leaders who are responsible for helping to guide millions of Christians trying to navigate the muddy waters of life in American politics have opted for moral relativism. They gave Trump a pass. Will evangelicals now give Trump’s surrogates and spokespersons a pass as well?. . . .But where were Falwell, Graham, and the scores of evangelicals who had given cover to this president’s moral deficits as the Yiannopoulos unfolded? Silent.
They remained silent precisely at the moment that their moral responsibility should have instructed them to speak loudly; the American cultural decline they promised to reverse continues, moving the country farther from resembling the Christian society they’ve often defended.
How did the gay, profane, iconoclastic Milo Yiannopoulos get to be a poster child for conservative Republicans? Was this due to a surge of pro-gay tolerance? Or have conservative Republicans lost their moral compass?Ben Howe, writing in the Atlantic, blames evangelicals, especially evangelical leaders who taught that Donald Trump’s moral failings should not prevent him from getting their followers’ support. These evangelicals used to hold politicians to high moral standards. But in their zeal to support Trump, they have become moral relativists, at least when it comes to politics. If morality and politics have nothing to with each other, Milo presents no problem.Now the question is, will evangelicals and this new breed of Republicans take the next step of separating morality from government? Have they already?
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In