Ben Witherington is a noted New Testament scholar at Asbury Theological Institute in Wilmore, Kentucky near Lexington, which is not the typical place that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay would normally have been trolling for money during his heyday in Congress. In this post explaining the danger for Evangelical Christians in aligning themselves with either major political party, Dr. Witherington passes along the following anecdote about DeLay:
Several years ago I was contacted by Tom DeLay. He figured since I was a well known white Evangelical I must be on his side on a host of things. I was invited to the White House, and I was named Kentucky Business Man of the Year. I have the plaque sitting in my office framed to prove it. Now, I am no businessman. Just ask my wife. For five years I ran a little coffee shop in Wilmore for our Christian students as a ministry to them– its called Solomon’s Porch, and its still up and running, employing and feeding students and helping them work their way through college and seminary. Its a good ministry, but its not a business that made money. In fact I lost $40,000 helping those students during that time. I was definitely not a Kentucky Businessman of the Year! There were many who did better than I, and I could talk at length about the plight of small businesses which are taxed right out of existence. Several previous restaurants in that spot had not lasted more than about six months. Wilmore is only a town of some 5,000 souls.
You see Delay was running a scam on Evangelical Protestants. It worked like this— you call someone, and send them an award, whether they deserve it or not. You invite them to D.C. to meet influential people. Delay gets the photo-op with small business persons, but the real purpose of all this is raising money. I got endless calls out of Delay’s office to send money to this, that or the other fund running out of his office to further his causes etc.
In other words, I wasn’t given an award for anything. Obviously they were oblivious to the fact that my business was failing from an economic point of view, though not from a ministry point of view. What I was given was a carrot, hoping for a whole bunch of carrots in return. It was purely a quid pro quo deal. What I won was endless phone calls about races, and causes etc. some of it more or less connected to Delay’s office directly. It is not a surprise to me that the man was drummed out of office. It is also not a surprise to me that he was a major player in that party and a close ally of George Bush from way back in Texas. “All power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts uiltimately” is a wise saying.
Evangelicals (and, for that matter, blacks) ought always to consider whether a candidate deserves their support (as opposed to a party deserving their unwavering support).
But the fact is, one party generally is more permissive on moral issues and one party is less so. Party may be a crude indicator of where a candidate may stand on moral issues important to evangelicals, but it is an indicator nonetheless.
I am a Black evangelical. And a doctor. So I got a letter from Tom DeLay’s office in 2002 naming me some Leader of the Year. I thought it was strange since I was only 8 months out of residency and I usually (70% of the time) vote for Republicans. But I was invited to DC and all. But when I called, I just kept getting hit up for money, too.
I don’t mean to be snarky, Kevin, but your opinion on the libertinism of one party is just that, and is no fact at all. Now, you know, or should know, that I am deeply suspicious of all political parties, but I am not at all certain that your broad perspective that one party stands for greater permissibility of morals than the other is accurate.
I am a Christian who happens to be African-American. I’m also an independent voter who believes that a straight ticket vote for either party is an uninformed vote. I must say that it it truly offensive for someone to suggest that one party is more moral than another. If the past 12 years have taught us anything, it is that one party is full of cynical hypocrites who have tried to co-op God. I am waiting for the day when God shows all of us His voter registration card listing Him as a life-long Republican. Then and only then will I believe that one party has cornered the market on spiritual and moral supremecy.
“I am waiting for the day when God shows all of us His voter registration card listing Him as a life-long Republican.”
Politics is often about choosing the lesser of evils. Believers have no right to ignore the demands of their secular society. In other words, some sort of choice must be made. Sitting on the sidelines is inherently immoral. The Republicans do indeed often leave something to be desired. Nonetheless, they are substantially the only game in town. Democrats are for the most part hostile toward family values. Legalizing gay marriage and institutionalizing pro-abortion policies remain among their top priorities.
“Democrats are for the most part hostile towards family values.”
Let’s be careful how much of that Kool-Aid you drink before you engage in such grossly inaccurate generalizations. Whose values are we talking about? Hypocrital Republican values?
Rush Limbaugh – Ignorant, hypocrite, illegal drug user; Bill O’Reilly – Adulterer, phone sex king; Bill Bennett – Gambling addict, hypocrite; Newt Gingrich – Adulterer, morally questionable character; Rev. Pat Robertson – Unchristian behaviour; Bill Frist – Immoral doctor (Terri Shiavo); John Matthews – Pedophile, hypocrite; Mark Foley – Gay, pedophile, hypocrite; Rev. Ted Haggard – Gay, hypocrite; Alan Keyes – Greedy, opportunist; Congressman Bob Ney – Corrupt; Senator Conrad Burns – Corrupt; Jack Abranhoff – Corrupt; Tom DeLay – Enough said about him.
And the list goes on and on and on. The point is that no party has a monopoly on virtue. They are both severely lacking. It is disgraceful, however, when one party wishes to point out the speck in the other’s eye while ignoring the QE2 in their own.