Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer.
Late last week, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced an intense hearing, where he testified he is completely innocent of the allegations leveled against him just moments before by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed the jurist pinned her to a bed and tried to molest her more than 35 years ago, when they were teenagers.
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In the aftermath of the political spectacle that, regardless of your political persuasion, should leave you feeling unsettled and uncertain, several Christian leaders have spoken out. Some are defending Kavanaugh; others aren’t so ready to back President Donald Trump’s nominee.
Here are comments from a few:
Robert Jeffress
Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and a Fox News contributor, said conservative Christians need to realize “the left is willing to do whatever it takes to cram their liberal agenda down the throats of Americans, including destroying the foundation of our legal system, the presumption of innocence.”
What is the Kavanaugh controversy REALLY about? Watch my 60-seconds answer on @foxandfriends. pic.twitter.com/u4nCqSPl1J
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) September 30, 2018
James Dobson
James Dobson, evangelical author and founder of Focus on the Family, said he and his wife, Shirley, have been praying that God would “defeat the schemes of those who clearly want to destroy this great nation.” He noted in a statement he’s “not accusing Dr. Ford of anything,” though.
“She might remember the ghosts of her past, though the facts appear to contradict her description of them. But something else is going on here,” he said. “At its core, this isn’t just another political conflict. Swirling around us is a life and death struggle for the soul of America.”
David Jeremiah
David Jeremiah, author and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, compared Kavanaugh’s predicament to the Old Testament account of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, who wrongfully accused the man who would become the second most powerful person in Egypt of trying to seduce her.
“Come on, you guys,” Jeremiah said last week during the National Quartet Convention in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. “Did Joseph commit adultery with this woman? Did she say that he did? Did she saying that he did make it necessary for us to believe that he did?”
After the audience answered, “No,” to each of the pastor’s questions, he added, “Alright. Let’s write that down.” His comments were seemingly about Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh.
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“Accusations,” he added, “do not create guilt. But I’ve gotta be careful that I don’t go off on this, because I’m almost as mad as [Sen.] Lindsey Graham.”
Benham Brothers
David and Jason Benham, the conservative twin brothers who have led many pro-life campaigns, warned in a Facebook post that Christians are “falling prey to the spirit of the age.”
Whether the claims against Kavanaugh are true isn’t the point, according to the brothers. They argued exposing sin shouldn’t be about “destruction,” but rather “restoration.”
“Any time sin is exposed (in this case it’s an accusation) we are called by God to seek restoration — to provide a redemptive way forward by breaking sinful patterns in someone’s life, not to destroy them and leave them bloody in a ditch,” they wrote. “What we are watching from the radical left is detestable. It wreaks only of destruction and doesn’t have a sniff of restorative redemption.”
Fr. James Martin
Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, serves as editor-at-large for America magazine, which published an editorial after last Thursday’s hearings arguing for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn.
“Evaluating the credibility of these competing accounts is a question about which people of good will can and do disagree,” the editorial stated. “The editors of this review have no special insight into who is telling the truth. If Dr. Blasey’s allegation is true, the assault and Judge Kavanaugh’s denial of it mean that he should not be seated on the U.S. Supreme Court.”
While we previously endorsed the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh on the basis of his legal credentials and his reputation as a committed textualist, it is now clear that the nomination should be withdrawn.https://t.co/CXqVGkaTdY
— America Magazine (@americamag) September 28, 2018
Given neither Ford’s claims nor Kavanuagh’s denials can be proven, the editorial board argued, it is “no longer in the best interests of the country” that the federal judge remain President Donald Trump’s nominee for the high court.