OPINION:
On the eve of this profoundly consequential election, I’ve been thinking about some of the exchanges I’ve had recently with old friends and a couple of millennials.
I’ve also been shocked to see a famous Christian writer declare neutrality in this time of crisis, but more on that later.
I know the country’s divided, but, wow. We are on different planets. These folks utterly reject America as exceptional and spout leftist talking points, complete with “woke” terms such as “White privilege.” They embrace the Ruling Elite’s hatred and contempt for President Trump and anyone supporting him. They’re all in for Black Lives Matter and ignore its Marxist pedigree. They dismiss the rioting, looting, murders and destruction as a distraction amid “mostly peaceful protests.”
These are well-educated people, and yet they still buy the Marxist lie that people are born good and that we just need a more perfect system and bigger government to achieve nirvana. Anyone who has spent much time around small children knows this is absurd; you don’t need to teach kids to misbehave, just the opposite.
When I cite the Green New Deal, “free” college and other wacky proposals that indicate the Democrats have lurched into hard-left socialism, they respond that it’s no different from the current social safety net, just a matter of degree.
They pretend there is no tipping point. When government turns from being the last resort to the first, and tax “eaters” outnumber the tax payers, societies get into deep trouble. Exhibit A is socialist Venezuela, which is descending into communist despotism. In America, we have a strong faction in Congress that wants to take us to the same place.
And then there are the religious leaders who are so offended by Mr. Trump’s tweets, self-promotion and checkered past that they’re willfully blind to the precipice right in front of us should the left take over the country on Tuesday, Election Day.
In an Oct. 22 blog post, the gifted Christian writer John Piper basically said “a pox on both your houses.” He can’t vote for Mr. Biden because of abortion, but he can’t vote for the caustic Mr. Trump, either. He spent much time vilifying Mr. Trump for various sins, ignoring the left’s brutal incivility and outright promotion of all kinds of evil.
I wish I had a nickel for all the Democrats caught on video using the f-word and viciously belittling anyone who disagrees with them. Mr. Trump may be abrasive and quick to return offense, but he’s not the one who has spent decades sowing the seeds of hate and division and teaching young people to see their own country as a racist hellhole.
Mr. Piper actually wrote that the church “is paying dearly, and will continue to pay” for promoting the “falsehood” that “policies and laws that protect life and freedom are more precious than being a certain kind of person.”
They sure are, at least in an election. That’s why I would vote for a wise Turk over a feckless Christian. Or in this case, a self-professed Christian of uncertain sanctity over a self-professed Christian who is a stalking horse for God-hating leftists. In the Bible, God used all sorts of imperfect leaders to do His will, including the murderer/adulterer King David.
This is not to say that character doesn’t matter. For all his abrasiveness and checkered past, President Trump has shown tremendous character in the way he treats his family and how hard he works. He obviously loves his country, too. Christians are supposed to believe in redemption, but Mr. Piper doesn’t seem too hopeful that Mr. Trump will ever come around.
Mr. Piper also wrote: “I think it is baffling and presumptuous to assume that pro-abortion policies kill more people than a culture-saturating, pro-self pride.” Does he honestly feel that a leader’s coarseness is more deadly than dismembering a near-full-term baby and sucking it out of the womb?
Mr. Trump’s lack of manners is apparently worse than abortion. Worse than criminalizing Christianity. Worse than ushering in Godless communism. Worse than selling your soul for lucrative contracts in Ukraine and Communist China and lying about it. Worse than weaponizing the FBI and the IRS against political opponents.
Who needs enemies when you have moral equivalence served up as high-toned piety? If the Democrats could clone Mr. Piper in a 3-D copying machine and get all those clones out there to depress Mr. Trump’s most reliable constituency, they’d do it in a heartbeat.
Professing to be pro-life, Mr. Piper is using his considerable forum to dissuade fellow Christians from voting against a party and candidates who promise uber-aggressive support for abortion and forcing taxpayers to fund it. Its standard bearer, Joe Biden, supported by the de facto presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, says gender-confused 8-year-olds should be able to “choose” their sex. Democrats have no problem with foisting Drag Queen Story Hours on preschoolers.
Which is worse? A president who boasts too much, or the people who promote abortion, lead innocent children into soul-crushing depravity and who are crafting a Godless, socialist future for America?
We are in great peril. And one of our most respected Christian thinkers is counseling his vast audience to sit on the sidelines.
Perhaps he can flee to Switzerland someday before the jackboots of tolerance come to his door.
• Robert Knight is a contributor to The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
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