Herschel Walker, the Republican running for the Senate in Georgia, staked out a “no exceptions” position opposing abortion. But then a report came out claiming that the pro-life football superstar paid for a girl friend’s abortion.
You would think that progressives would appreciate Walker for contributing to a woman’s health care. And that this would make Walker pick up some pro-abortion votes. But Walker is being vilified not for the evil of getting a woman pregnant and aborting his own child but for hypocrisy.
His opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, is arguably inconsistent in the other direction, a Baptist minister with an apparently pristine personal life who is in favor of abortion.
Walker denies that he has ever paid for an abortion. Fabricated charges have become staples of today’s politics, and this race is crucial to control of the Senate. Walker has admitted, though, to fathering several children out of wedlock, which goes against his “family values” platform.
Progressives are frustrated that evangelical Christians and other pro-lifers in Georgia still seem to be supporting Walker, accusing them of hypocrisy too. But Christianity has a more complicated attitude towards sin than most secularists realize. Walker said in an interview after the story came out,
“I was forgiven, the Lord has forgiven me. . . .Like I’ve said, I am a Christian. I will always be a Christian. That’s the reason I got into this race, because I see things that are going wrong that’s not right in this country.”
It’s not contradictory for a sinner to oppose the sin that he has committed.
But still. . . .Here is our discussion topic for this weekend: How should voters handle hypocrisy as a campaign issue?
Is it better to vote for a person with good policy positions but who violates that position in his personal life, or to vote for a person with bad policy positions but who has a good personal life?
Is it better to vote for someone who is pro-life, but who paid for an abortion, or someone who is pro-abortion and would have the government pay for many abortions?
In politics, is it more important to have moral policies or to be moral oneself?
I read an infuriated piece (that I can’t find now) from a progressive journalist condemning Georgia Christians for caring more about words than actions. Well, before the judgment throne of God, deeds do matter over words (James 2:21). But before the judgment of voters, might words (in the sense of policies, proposals, and ideas) be more important than deeds (actions in one’s personal life)?
Given that “character matters” in a politician, aren’t beliefs also part of one’s character?
Discuss.
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