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This astounding editorial, by one Clay Cane, appeared on the CNN website on Friday:<\/p>\n
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\u201cKaren and Mike Pence\u2019s astonishing moral hypocrisy\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It seems that the wife of the Vice President of the United States is about to begin teaching art at a Christian school in Virginia, and that some folks in our country are going to be needing their smelling salts, a large supply of sedatives, and perhaps some artificial resuscitation in order to cope with the horror of it all.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Now, first, let me say \u2014 for those who may have missed my saying so the first twenty-two thousand times \u2014 that I\u2019m not a fan of President Donald J. Trump. \u00a0A lifelong and very serious conservative, I didn\u2019t vote for him, and I find many things about him revolting. \u00a0Accordingly, therefore, I haven\u2019t been altogether positively impressed by Mike Pence\u2019s excellent imitation of a lapdog. \u00a0(Of course, I realize that Vice Presidents are properly intended to be more or less invisible, without stances or personalities of their own, their chief function being to wait around quietly while attending the occasional funeral, in case the President dies or is incapacitated. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the reasons that I\u2019ve never aspired to be Vice President or even an ambassador. \u00a0I prefer speaking for myself rather than for others. \u00a0I\u2019m inclined to agree with the statement attributed, perhaps not quite accurately, to Vice President John Nance Garner, who is said to have described the Vice Presidency\u00a0as \u201cnot worth a bucket of warm spit.\u201d)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So I\u2019m sympathetic to the charge of hypocrisy that this article levels against the Pences and, by extension, against many of their fellow Evangelical Protestants, who are horrified by the grinning sexual amorality of Bill Clinton but who seem serenely indifferent to, even defensive of, the unashamed life-long promiscuity and infidelity of Mr. Trump:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor all their professed beliefs, Pence, and his wife, show unwavering support for a man who has been married three times, divorced twice, has had five children with three women and who has been accused of (though denies) paying a porn star and a Playboy model hundreds of thousands of dollars to conceal affairs he\u2019d had with them. . . . \u00a0It comes down to this: If the Pences love their God so much, then they would not sit in a White House with a man who shows no moral compass and said he\u00a0never asks for forgiveness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Quite so.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But the author of the article, Mr. Cane, isn\u2019t content to point out the obvious double standard manifested by many Evangelical and other supporters of Donald Trump. \u00a0He goes further, attacking traditional Christian morality altogether:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLike a real-life setting for The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>, Immanuel Christian School insists applicants initial a pledge to \u2018live a personal life of moral purity.'\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Can you imagine the sheer revolting monstrousness of such a thing? \u00a0\u201cPersonal moral purity\u201d? \u00a0Self-discipline in matters sexual? \u00a0How awful! \u00a0It should be illegal.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n (I note in passing that, in such contexts as this, reference to The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> appears to be legally required by some federal agency or other. \u00a0It almost never fails to appear.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cListen to what else the pledge says: \u2018I understand that the term \u201cmarriage\u201d has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive covenant union as delineated in Scripture.\u2019 It asserts that God intended sexual acts only between \u2018a man and a woman who are married to each other.\u2019 It identifies \u2018moral misconduct\u2019 that would disqualify employees as premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex, homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It scarcely needs to be said that such ideas are anathema to all right-thinking people.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis language is disgusting and insults millions of taxpaying American citizens, many who have served their country. That it is acceptable to the wife of the man who is a heartbeat away from the presidency should horrify and alarm all Americans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, Mr. Kane admits, this might still be considered constitutional:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe school where Karen Pence will work \u2014 and indeed she has taught there in the past, for 12 years \u2014 does have a legal right to its brand of hate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This, friends, is a foretaste of the new world into which we\u2019re entering. \u00a0It\u2019s a world of intolerant demands for tolerance and baseless but hateful accusations of hate.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKaren Pence, Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, Part of a Christian Ministry? \u00a0On the intolerant critics of the second lady\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLove Is Not Hate:\u00a0Just because you disagree with Christians doesn\u2019t mean they harbor animus against you.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Granted, the items below concern Canada. \u00a0But I found this decision of Canada\u2019s Supreme Court troubling just a while ago, and even a bit horrifying:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada\u2019s Supreme Court Rejects Country\u2019s Only Christian Law School:\u00a0Trinity Western University\u2019s loss over its LGBT stance is seen as a blow to religious freedom.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrinity Western loses fight for Christian law school as court rules limits on religious freedom \u2018reasonable\u2019:\u00a0Supreme Court of Canada says 7-2 decision will ensure open access for LGBT students\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n You can read Trinity Western University\u2019s \u201cCommunity Covenant Agreement\u201d here\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCommunity Covenant Agreement: Our Pledge to One Another\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n