Earlier today, I posted a link to this New York Times article on the resignation of Alabama Governor Robert Downey, and commented that the sixth paragraph was scary. That paragraph reads:
“The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent historians. “Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.”
Who would have thought that “the fundamentals” were fungible?
Let alone that “evangelical voters,” “the evangelical community” would have “decided … what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.” Not exactly a paraphrase of John 13:35. The opposite, in fact.
All in all, a depressing read, but, unfortunately, not an outlier.
I imagine most evangelical voters supported Mike Pence, who has famously said that he is “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” If Wayne Flynt is correct, I would suggest the word order be reversed and “Christian” be put in scare quotes (and not just because that was the reaction I had).
And, for the record, I am a Christ-follower.
