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COLUMNISTS
Roy Moore

The many victims of Alabama hypocrisy

Rekha Basu
Tribune News Service

The Alabama state auditor’s website says this about its current occupant: “Jim Zeigler was led to Christ and baptized by pastor William K. Weaver.” I’m not sure how the state auditor’s religious affiliation is relevant to his role as a public official, but clearly it’s something the Republican Zeigler believes his constituents care about.

Zeigler marched with Roy Moore’s anti-gay defenders last year in support of the then-state Supreme Court chief justice, who had defied a U.S. Supreme Court order to recognize same-sex marriage. Moore was charged with violating judicial ethics and disobeying the law. But some of the faithful, including Zeigler, suggested they were answering to God rather then to man-made laws.

As one marcher told the Birmingham News, “Every stand I’ve ever seen him (Moore) take in these 15 years has been clearly based on God’s word and God’s law.”

If so, you’d expect that when allegations surfaced of Moore sexually preying on girls as young as 14 when he was district attorney, such supporters would be up in arms. But not Zeigler. He used the Biblical story of Joseph and Mary in Moore’s defense, suggesting if the allegations were true, well, “Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter.”

That was too much for evangelist commentator Ed Stetzer, who wrote in Christianity Today, “If this is evangelicalism, I’m on the wrong team. But it is not. Christians don’t use Joseph and Mary to explain child molesting accusations.”

Moore’s younger brother, Jerry, does. He compared his brother to Jesus Christ in being unfairly persecuted. Alabama state Rep. Ed Henry said, “If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years. I think someone should prosecute and go after them.”

In defense of Moore, Chris Hopper, a neighbor, asked, “Why not vote for somebody that’s got good Christian values?” as if the allegations were invoked because of his faith.

Evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr. defended Moore. He also declared after the Access Hollywood tapes surfaced of Donald Trump boasting of grabbing women by the privates that Trump is the “dream president” for evangelicals.

This is madness, to see so-called religious conservatives going to bat for a Senate candidate accused of something that would so violate religious values. What Moore is accused of defies basic principles of morality, decency and lawfulness.

The Washington Post exhaustively researched four women’s allegations, which sound credible. A fifth woman, Beverly Young Nelson, has described Moore locking her in his car when she was 16 and trying to force her head onto his crotch, saying no one would believe her if she told on him.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee said it would not donate to Moore’s campaign. Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, Pat Toomey and Cory Gardner are among those who have expressed misgivings about his running.

Politicians must see the increasing numbers of women troubled first by the president’s acknowledged dealings with women, and then by the growing number of Hollywood celebrities accused of sexual assault. They’re putting their feet down, speaking out and running for — and winning — office.

But what about those so-called people of faith who look the other way or do the opposite of what they preach on morality? Are their constituencies going to stand by them while they exploit and pervert religion for money and power?

This hypocrisy has victims. They are the young sexual-abuse survivors who are disbelieved because the accused are men of faith. They are the gay men, lesbians and transgender people who are demonized as money is made off efforts to convert them.

But there’s another group of victims: the faithful followers who put their trust and money in charlatans and don’t realize they’re being played for fools. Depending on how this Moore saga ends, maybe it will be a wake-up call.

Rekha Basu is a columnist for the Des Moines Register.

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