Press: What would Jesus say on Herschel Walker? 

He’s known as the god of love, kindness and mercy. But in the Gospels, Jesus occasionally also shows his wrath. And nowhere more than on those occasions when he’s confronted with hypocrisy. We still shudder, for example, hearing an angry Jesus erupt in Matthew 23/27-28: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  

It’s easy to believe that Jesus would respond with equal fury to so-called Christian conservatives today who rush to defend Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker after reports that he allegedly paid for a girlfriend’s abortion, which Walker has denied. “Woe to you,” he might say, “you who pretend to be Christians, you  who appear righteous to others, but, in reality, are nothing but political hacks wrapped in religious garb.” 

The embrace of Walker by Christian conservatives following recent news reports represents a new low for American politics and a new high for American hypocrisy. 

First, let’s remember the facts. As first reported by the Daily Beast, and later confirmed by other news outlets, including the New York Times, in 2009 Walker encouraged a former girlfriend to have an abortion and then paid for it. The evidence cited includes a bill from the clinic, Walker’s cancelled check, and a get-well card he sent to her.

Several years later, when she again became pregnant, she says Walker again encouraged her to have an abortion. This time, she refused and gave birth to one of his four children. 

Now remember that for most conservative Christians, there is no greater sin. They preach that abortion is the murder of an unborn child, and they argue that both the doctor who performs and the woman who undergoes the procedure should be charged with murder. That, in fact,  is Walker’s position; he has campaigned as “100 percent anti-abortion,” with no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. 

But now it turns out there is one exception, after all: when the abortion enabler is a Republican candidate for the United States Senate. Rather than condemn Walker as a hypocrite, Christian conservatives demonstrated their own hypocrisy by rushing to embrace him. When he walked into Atlanta’s First Baptist Church the next morning, they gave him a standing ovation.  

Evangelical leaders immediately followed with a Niagara of lame excuses for giving Walker a pass. One, nobody’s perfect, or as First Baptist Pastor Anthony George said: “The dilemma is, do you wait for a candidate who is perfect, or do you take what’s given to you?” Second, character doesn’t matter, or as the conservative journal The Federalist wrote: “Ideological indecency matters more than personal failures.” Third, it’s all about winning, or as conservative radio host Dana Loesch  said: “I am concerned about one thing, and one thing only, at this point. So I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles – I want control of the Senate.” 

The truth is, some Republican evangelicals may call themselves Christians, but they’ve made a very un-Christian, Faustian pact with the devil to sacrifice their basic principles for political power. They did it for Donald Trump and 2017 Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, and now they’re doing it for Walker. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence proudly says: “I’m a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” You may disagree with Pence, but at least he has his order right.  Too many Christian conservatives today have it backwards: party first, Christian last. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”