Evangelicals: Beware the siren call of sanctimony when choosing a president

The Daily Caller quotes an evangelical leader, one Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention:

"Mr. Speaker, if you want to get large numbers of Evangelicals, particularly women, to vote for you, you must address the issue of your marital past in a way that allays the fears of Evangelical women," he wrote this week. "You must address this issue of your marital past directly and transparently and ask folks to forgive you and give you their trust and their vote."

Seriously?

"Evangelical" voters will either sit out next November or vote for Obama or another candidate should a publicly-unrepentant Gingrich become the GOP nominee? Land's sanctimoniousness is a sight to behold. What's more, his warning defines recklessness. A clear-thinking person would not reject a sound Obama opponent for lack of ideological purity. Would evangelicals really return Obama to office by not supporting a viable opposition candidate?

If evangelicals follow Land's direction, then America would witness quite a spectacle: flawed humans inviting the reelection of a devastatingly-flawed president in order to brag about rejecting a less-flawed candidate for not begging public forgiveness for a flaw.

Most evangelical voters will probably ignore Land's sermonizing. Most will not stand idly by to claim the right to wear preachy smiles for four years. People who are willing to follow Land's guidance have a lot of growing up to do. People who demonstrate such blind followership deserve the hideous consequences of an Obama reelection. Unfortunately, Americans who see the destructiveness in Land's prescribed tantrum would suffer along with the tantrum throwers.

 

A writer, physicist, former high tech executive, and Cajun, Chuck Rogér invites you to sign up to receive his "Clear Thinking" blog posts by email at http://www.chuckroger.com/. Contact Chuck at swampcactus@chuckroger.com.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com