AL election shows how evangelicals are destroying conservatism in America

After months of attacks from those on the liberal left and Mitch McConnell—sorry for being redundant—Roy Moore lost yesterday’s special election in Alabama to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions and temporarily filled by Luther Strange. While this is an obvious blow to the GOP, Moore’s defeat is an even bigger blow to conservatism in America.

And so-called evangelicals are to blame.

I was an early supporter of Moore before the now-infamous allegations of sexual misconduct were leveled against the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court—allegations he has repeatedly denied. And while I never withdrew my endorsement, I became extremely troubled and disheartened over the damage the election was exacting on conservatism.

First, there was the rush to convict Moore by some of the conservative voices I used to respect, such as David French and Ben Shapiro. Conversely, there was the Trump chorus line of former conservatives who took turns defending Moore, regardless of guilt, such as Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity.

Ingraham went so far as to defend Al Franken’s molestation of women in order to justify her defense of Moore, while Hannity defended Moore’s actions by calling his alleged sexual misconduct with teenage girls “consensual” and thus, legal.

Most troubling, however, is how so-called evangelicals defended voting for Moore over Doug Jones as a “lesser of two evils” decision, even if Moore was guilty of the accusations of sexual assault.

For example, just as they did when defending Donald Trump’s documented admission of sexual assault on women, mega-church pastor Robert Jeffress and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. defended voting for Moore regardless of his guilt or innocence. Unfortunately, the “tickle my ears” Christians (2 Timothy 4:3-4) that fill many of today’s churches have embraced the lie that character doesn’t matter because, as Falwell once said, we aren’t voting for a pastor.

And after all, God clearly favors immoral Republicans over immoral Democrats, right?

I’m often told that my position on conservatism is setting the bar too high for todays politicians, making it impossible for them to clear it. My reply to this contention is that setting the bar too low is how we ended up with Donald Trump. In other words, the conservative bar is high because it has to be.

I’m not saying Moore is innocent or guilty. In the end, only he, his accusers, and God know who’s telling the truth. But when elections routinely become a choice between bad and badder, and when Christians willingly put aside character and conscience under the misguided belief that a little evil in order to accomplish a greater good is somehow pleasing to God, there will be more outcomes like the one we witnessed in Alabama yesterday.

Thanks to the mediocrity and moral relativism of today’s Christian, the end of conservatism in America, not to mention the Republic itself, has officially arrived.

 

David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” His columns are featured on RedState.com, NOQReport.com, and TheResurgent.com.

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