NC evangelicals taking sides over Roy Moore, Al Franken | News & Observer

On the same day that Franklin Graham voiced support for Roy Moore, other North Carolina evangelicals were criticizing the Alabama Republican U.S. Senate candidate and those who would support him in the face of multiple claims that Moore assaulted or harassed teenage girls.

In a Facebook post Thursday afternoon, Graham, the head of Boone-based Samaritan’s Purse, wrote: “I met Roy Moore when I was in Alabama last year, and I talked to him a few days ago from Norway and asked him if these allegations were true. He said absolutely not. You can read his detailed response for yourself. My prayer is that the truth will ultimately be revealed and lies will be seen for what they are.”

Graham also posted a letter that Moore had written to Fox host Sean Hannity giving “his side of the story.”

On Thursday evening, fellow Baptist, Daniel Akin, president of the conservative Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, took to Twitter to say he was, “Again thankful for the brave & courageous women coming forward & calling out their sexual abusers. Shame on anyone who would defend these predators & minimize their actions!”

Akin’s tweet came hours after U.S. Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, was accused of groping and kissing a former model in 2006. The followed tweets Akin had made earlier in the week that were critical of Moore. He also used Twitter to scoff at a comparison of Moore’s alleged behavior to misdemeanor theft.

“That is one of the stupidest & dumbest things I have ever heard in my life!” Akin tweeted Tuesday.

Akin also shared several posts critical of the embattled candidate written by Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Russell Moore is based in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington.

“A church that worships Jesus stands up for vulnerable women and girls. A church that worships power sees them as expendable,” Russell Moore said in a Nov. 13 post that Akin retweeted.

Akin also shared this from Russell Moore’s Twitter account: “There are girls and women in our churches, wondering where they can turn as they are molested by predators. I know Jesus’ answer. What about that of the church?”

Akin also retweeted criticism of an Alabama state official’s comparison of Roy Moore’s alleged interest in teen girls to the Bible story of Jesus’ earthly parents.

“Whether Moore is innocent or guilty, to compare the situation to Joseph and Mary is outrageous, blasphemous and deeply offensive,” said the tweet, written by Georgia pastor Bryant Wright.

Moore, 70, is a Southern Baptist and a former Alabama chief justice known for refusing to remove a plaque of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building and for advising judges to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

This month, in stories in the Washington Post, one woman has said Moore sexually assaulted her in the late 1970s, when she was 16. Another said he had made inappropriate contact with her when she was 14 and he was 32. Three more have said he pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers.

Moore has denied all the charges and has refused calls to withdraw from the race for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. attorney general.

Since the allegations were made public, Moore’s campaign has pointed to a letter of support signed by 53 Alabama pastors, but the letter was written in August, before he was accused, and at least four of the signers have since asked that their names be removed, according to a story by AL.com. Some said their names were added to the letter without their permission.

Thursday, Wake Forest minister and writer John Pavlovitz, known for his more liberal views, used Facebook, Twitter and his blog, “Stuff That Needs To Be Said,” to talk about the allegations against Moore and Franken.

Radio anchor Leeann Tweeden went public Thursday morning with the Franken story from December 2006, when she went a USO tour to entertain American troops serving in the Middle East. As she slept, strapped into a seat on a cargo plane, Franken, who was then a comedian, put his hands over her breasts and smiled back at the photographer for a picture, which Tweeden shared in her post. Tweeden said that when the photographer gave her the photo, she was horrified and humiliated.

“As I’ve been saying all week and wrote about this morning, intolerance of sexual assault should be a nonpartisan issue,” Pavlovitz wrote, calling for Franken to step down. “This should transcend party and religious tradition. This is about humanity.”

In his Thursday blog post, Pavlovitz offered what he called “A guide to Sexual Assault Claims for Bible Belt Evangelicals.” In it, he admonished Christians to look out for victims of oppression, not belittle them, as some have done since the outpouring of reports of sexual assault and harassment that has followed the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

“Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, because he saw how many were harassed and helpless, how many people were vulnerable to the wolves in the world,” Pavlovitz wrote. “This is your calling too. It is to step into the world and be the protector of those who often have little protection. You are not called to cultivate more fear in them, to commit more violence to them.

“Christians, those who are assaulted are the sheep,” Pavlovitz said. “You are supposed to defend them. Men who assault are the wolves. You’re supposed to stop them. Stop getting it twisted.”