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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Not All Republicans are Happy With Herschel Walker's Hypocrisy on Abortion

I must admit, I have not been able to wrap my mind around the fact that some of the worst possible candidates that I've ever observed in my lifetime, and who rival some of the worst who've ever run for public office, are still gathering enough public support to still be considered as a viable candidate for office.  Mehmet Oz, running for the Senate from Pennsylvania, is a quack doctor who made himself rich peddling quack pills and health regimens, is at least trailing badly enough in the polls to keep Pennsylvanians from looking ridiculous.  Blake Masters, in Arizona, is actually so bad, he's having trouble finding other candidates who will appear with him in public.  

Then there's Herschel Walker.  I'm honestly stunned, and completely baffled, as to how it was that there were enough Republicans in Georgia to support his nomination and get him on the ballot as a candidate for the Senate.  He was a good football player, in his time, not outstanding or remarkable, or legendary, as the sports phrase goes, though running with an oblong ball down a hundred yard field isn't exactly the kind of experience I'm looking for in a political candidate.  But beyond that, someone who can't put enough coherent words together to make an intelligible sentence is probably not going to be a good representative of the people in the United States Senate.  And I don't really think, when it comes down to it, that the voters in Georgia will give him that job over Senator Warnock, who has already characterized himself as an outstanding Senator serving the people of his state as well as anyone has ever done. 

Abortion Revelation Exposes Right-Wing, Evangelical Hypocrisy

Walker has been the ideal Trump-endorsed candidate for this position all along.  With Trump, character doesn't matter, truth doesn't matter, issues don't matter.  Power matters, and once it is achieved, by whatever means necessary, using it for personal benefit matters.  Use it to toss a few favors in the direction of the supporters, but ultimately, using it to eliminate their necessity is the long-range goal.  

Walker has lied about his background, his identity, and his character.  He picked up right wing themes and spoke out against absentee fathers among the African American community without ever thinking he'd be called out because he's fathered children in whose lives he's never been involved.  By the same standards that the religious right applies to Democrats, he's worse than a politician who supports abortion rights, since he actually paid for one of his girlfriends to have one.  By their definition of terms, doesn't that make him a "baby killer"?  

The reaction from among the religious right wing of the GOP to this news is clear evidence that they don't care one bit about abortion.  If this had been a Democratic candidate for the senate, and this blatant hypocrisy on a political issue had been displayed--and I can point to multiple examples of such--lips would be flapping, voices would be shrieking holy horror and heads would be exploding with rage.  

I'm going to say this, because it needs to be said.  If any Evangelical Christian, or Republican for that matter, who has drawn the line on the political issue of abortion and won't vote for Democrats they call "baby killers", still supports and plans to vote for Herschel Walker after this revelation, their Christian faith is meaningless and empty.  Using Matthew's analogy in his gospel account of the life of Christ, they are salt that has lost its taste, no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot.  

There Will be Some Loss of Support Among Evangelical Voters for Walker as a Result of This Revelation 

A met the pastor of a small, rural, 200 year old Baptist church outside Savannah about 18 years ago while volunteering for a construction ministry project assisting low income homeowners with weatherization and repairs.  We've been "friends" on social media, and I occasionally read his tweets and his blog.  His church is small, less than 80 regulars in attendance, mostly elderly Caucasians.  He was bold enough to express his disappointment with the news of Walker's paying for his girlfriend's abortion, and to declare that he couldn't continue to support his candidacy.  

I doubt that very many of his congregants are on social media, but those who read his tweets were sympathetic to his view in their response, some of them registered voters in Georgia.  There are some Christians whose view of abortion is sincere, who are stunned and disappointed in this news, who don't accept Walker's hasty, bumbling denial and who, by conviction, won't vote for him.  Unfortunately, there will be many more for whom abortion is less a conviction and more of a temptation to political power and they, frankly, would throw Jesus under the bus if it meant they would gain from it.  They are the modern version of the Gnostics, intruders in the church, "worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions," according to the Apostle Jude [see Jude v. 19}.  

Growing up in church, I've heard preachers all my life reference Jesus' analogies of sheep and goats, wheat and tares, distinguishing the "true believers" in the church from those who were just socially or culturally connected.  But the religious right has set the tone of this discussion with their "baby killer" rhetoric.  With this revelation about Herschel Walker, they are now facing a moment of truth.  Jesus said, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. [John 8:31-32].  

This is a moment of truth, and it will reveal a lot about who in the church is represented by sheep or goats, wheat or tares.  


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