Dear Mr. President,
I write to you with the utmost respect and with great appreciation for all you have done for the pro-life cause and to help preserve religious liberties in our nation. And as an evangelical leader who voted for you last year, I write as a friend, not as a foe. Would you kindly consider if there might be some truth to my words?
I know that you were surprised and moved when you received so much support from evangelical Christians, since you were not exactly a poster boy for the conservative Christian faith. And to be totally candid, it was hard for many of us to support you, since sexual purity and marital faithfulness are very important to us.
Yet we believed you would be a strong leader willing to take on the Washington establishment, that you would stand with Israel, and that you would be a far better choice than Hillary for many obvious reasons. We also believed you took our counsel seriously, although we hardly expected you to be a saint.
Even when that terribly embarrassing tape came out with your vulgar comments about women, we were still willing to vote for you. After all, the tape was over 10 years old, and you made clear that you weren’t proud of it. And to be frank, you were hardly known for having a lofty sexual ethic back then.
In any event, your voters were willing to forgive and move forward, with the hope that scandals like this would remain in the past. And we weren’t entirely convinced that the women raising further sexual charges against you were credible.
Either way, you got our vote, and I know you appreciated our support.
In that light, it strikes me (and many others) as quite inappropriate that you are gleefully tweeting against Senator Al Franken.
Certainly, Franken’s actions are inexcusable, and he will face the heat for those actions in the Senate and beyond. But this happened more than 10 years ago, similar to your infamous conversation with Billy Bush about what you, as a star, could do to women. And so, if it was hypocritical of Franken to lecture people about sexual harassment and respect for women, is it proper for you to do so?
Jesus taught a parable about the importance of showing mercy to others after we ourselves have received mercy. If we don’t, mercy will not be shown to us again. (When you can, please read Matt.18:23-35). Do you see how this could be relevant to you today?
I know Al Franken has been one of your political opponents, and I can understand why you jumped on the news of his misconduct in 2006. In fact, your staff has forcefully defended your “Al Frankenstein.” And without a doubt, it’s appropriate that Senator Franken faces an uncertain political future.
I’m simply appealing to you as an evangelical leader to reconsider whether you should be leading the charge against him with your influential tweets.
I too have received much mercy from the Lord and in that spirit, I ask you to step back and spend a few quiet minutes before Him, reflecting on how much mercy He has had on you.
From that perspective, you might reconsider your approach to Senator Franken’s current crisis.
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