Hop across to Reddit Atheism and you will find no fewer than seven links on its front page to reports about Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican nominee for the US Senate who was recently exposed as a hebephile.
Clearly the revelations about Moore’s alleged interest in pubescent girls when he was in his 30s has become a major flashpoint, and for this he blames America’s “liberal media”.
According to a report in the Christian Post yesterday, the unhinged Moore lashed out in a series of tweets:
The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced! We are are in the midst of a spiritual battle with those who want to silence our message.
The forces of evil will lie, cheat, steal – even inflict physical harm – if they believe it will silence and shut up Christian conservatives like you and me.
He added:
I believe you and I have a duty to stand up and fight back against the forces of evil waging an all-out war on our conservative values! Our nation is at a crossroads right now – both spiritually and politically.
Our children and grandchildren’s futures are on the line. So rest assured — I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that several women have come forward accusing Moore, now 70, of making sexual advances on them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.
One Alabama woman, Leigh Corfman, explained in the report that she was 14 years old when Moore, a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, pursued her and made sexual advances.
Three other women have also come forward, alleging Moore attempted to date them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, though they clarified that he did not force them into any sort of sexual contact.
A number of top Republican politicians have argued that if the allegations are true, Moore will not be fit for office.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters:
Like most Americans, the President believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life.
However, the President also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.
Arizona Senator and former GOP presidential nominee John McCain said on Twitter:
The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell similarly stated:
If these allegations are true, he must step aside.
Moore, who was ousted twice as the state’s top judge, once for refusing a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse, and then a second time for defying the 2015 Supreme Court decision to legalise gay marriage, retained the backing of some of his supporters in the midst of the latest scandal.
Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, above, said Moore was “clean as a hound’s tooth” and pointed to relationships between adults and teenagers in the Bible in an interview with The Washington Examiner.
Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.
Under the headline “When Christians cite the Bible to defend child molestation we’ve reached the bottom of the American/evangelical slide to hell”, blogger Frank Schaeffer wrote:
The virgin birth didn’t happen, apparently. This is news that most evangelicals might find alarming. If Joseph was the baby’s father, there goes 2000 years of Christian doctrine.
Odd to find Trump/Moore evangelicals are all secretly Unitarians. Only the Unitarians I know don’t coddle child molesters.
Meanwhile, it’s reported here that nearly 40 percent of Alabama evangelicals say in a new poll that they are more likely to vote for GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore after allegations of sexual misconduct arose against him.