Hi Chris, > On Nov 18, 2016, at 11:10 AM, Chris Hahn <[email protected]> wrote: > > With the focus on the morals and ethics of the leader - the role model - it > is hard for me to understand how someone would prefer Trump. The use of a > private e-mail server for confidential government was bad and stupid, but she > didn’t brag about sexual assault.
I think there’s two dynamics going on. One, there is a distinction between “personal values” and “social values.” One can certainly make a case — which I think you are making -- that Hilary’s “personal values” are superior to Trumps, even if her ‘social values’ are abhorrent to most evangelical Christians. You are right that it is something of a compromise to vote based on someone’s policies rather than their character. Then again, most people would choose a competent but arrogant surgeon over a kind but incompetent one (even if they’re more likely to sue the former). There is a case to be made for weighing someone’s ability to do the job over their personal morals. On the other hand, I think you underestimate how many Christians viewed Hilary as complicit in Bill Clinton’s immorality, including defending what many people saw as unconscionably taking sexual advantage of an employee. It is probably somewhat self-serving, but not entirely indefensible to view Hilary as being morally just as compromised as Trump. To my mind, the deeper issue is that evangelical Christianity has already fallen into the trap of valuing ideological purity over actual morality. Just look at the way we judge our pastors and seminarians. We throw fits if someone questions the inerrancy of scripture or market captialism, but barely notice if they if they fail to love their enemies or control their anger. Evangelical Christianity didn’t really have very much moral authority to begin with. If this is the last straw, then maybe it is just as well, and we need to start over… E > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar > Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 11:54 AM > To: Centroids Discussions <[email protected]> > Cc: Billy Rojas <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [RC] The last hurrah of white Christian America [ ? ] > > Hi Chris, > >> On Nov 18, 2016, at 10:24 AM, Chris Hahn <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I couldn’t, and still can't, understand why someone with Trump's morals >> could be so overwhelmingly favored by Christians. I guess the quote above >> explains it. The ethics are abandoned. To use a Trump term. Sad. > > Is it really that hard to understand why many Christians would prefer someone > with Trump’s morals and policies to Hilary’s? > > — Ernie P. > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
