Is There Moore Silent Support From Evangelicals For Roy?

I suspect you have been watching the Senate race in Alabama. A special election between Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore (who won the primary against Luther Strange) and Democratic candidate Doug Jones will soon take place.

The Twitter tag #MeToo has highlighted many recent scandals with powerful men. This movement has highlighted a scandal that involved Judge Moore. A variety of women (so far a total of nine) have accused Judge Moore of predatory behavior while he was in his 30s and they were teenagers (one as young as 14). He has been accused of being a child molester, with stories of lewd sexual behavior with these women when they were girls.

Many Republicans have distanced themselves from Judge Moore. It is a strange position for the Republican Party. They need Judge Moore to win, but if they do, it will cause many problems for other Republicans. There has been talk of holding ethics hearings to expel Judge Moore out of the Senate if he does win. My question is this: Why some evangelicals have supported a man who has been accused as a child molester.

Judge Moore has been a controversial figure in Alabama politics for years. He has used his faith and the Bible to highlight his dislike of Muslims, homosexuals, and anyone else whom he claims is at war against him. I guess he feels like it is fair for him to attack people whom he believes are persecuting him. However, it has been my experience that people of faith who consistently attack certain groups usually are doing that to compensate for sinful (or at least questionable) behavior in the past. We have seen it before. Preachers who preach against homosexuality, but who were later found out to be involved in homosexual behavior.

My question is: Why are Evangelicals so silent about Judge Moore? They were very loud in their vocal opposition to President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal. At the time, they claimed that “character counts.” They didn’t make that argument with President Donald Trump.

Evangelicals made the case that voting for Trump would preserve a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The current culture war was at stake. Supporting a Hilary Clinton would erode the gains that they had made. The evangelical position of support has (d)evolved. At first, these evangelicals were against  Democratic President Bill Clinton because of inappropriate sexual relations with an adult intern. These same evangelicals supported Republican President Donald Trump, who has had a variety of sexual allegations. Prominent Evangelicals are now supporting a Republican candidate for the Senator of Alabama who is an accused child molester. I am not the only one who has made this observation.

The same Evangelical voices who were vocal in the past (Robert Jeffries, and Jerry Falwell, Jr., for example) are mostly silent now. James Dobson has publicly endorsed Judge Moore (yes, James Dobson – the head of Focus on the Family). The only Evangelical who has spoken against Judge Moore is Ed Stetzer.

Roy Moore should step out of his race, and Al Franken should step down from his seat, and so should John Conyers. Being in Congress is not a right, and credible allegations (or actual admission, in Franken’s case) mean you need to step down or away for an investigation. https://t.co/IXMlPr02Cg

— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) November 29, 2017

Where are the other Evangelical leaders? Will they stay silent, or will they speak up?

Image: Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore, BibleWizard, Wikimedia Commons