1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

The sitting President of the United States allegedly participated in some of the most heinous crimes imaginable — and instead of trying to get to the bottom of what happened and seek out justice for the victims, the entire Republican Party engaged in a deliberate, coordinated effort to protect him.  How does a professed followers of Jesus, like yourself, reach a point where he harbors predators, willfully abandons survivors, and so easily redacts the truth in order to shield the monsters from accountability? I imagine it started with one seemingly infinitesimal moral compromise at a time: a justification of a damning video, the scrolling away from an uncomfortable news story, a single justification that seemed acceptable in the moment, one solitary vote, a sole willful delusion. As the hours stretched into days and the months became years, eventually the voice of Jesus in your head was silenced—replaced with Fox News anchors, Republican talking heads, and brimstone-breathing preachers, who gave you permission to abandon your better angels. And as the apparent wins line up: political victories, Congressional chambers, supermajorities, Supreme Court seats, passed legislation, these things began to feel righteous: confirmation that God is on your side. And then one day, (this day), a once faithful, compassionate, and good-hearted human being finds himself passionately shielding pedophiles, concealing predators, and rallying around human traffickers—and feeling righteous in the process. In the Scriptures, Jesus asks a crowd comprised of his followers and his students, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8:36 The question is rhetorical, of course, as his message was that the “good” of moral compromise, whatever apparent success or power or wealth that accompanies a soul transaction, is ultimately worthless. Jesus is asking the question of you right now: Is a Supreme Court seat worth your morality? Are sexual assault survivors the acceptable collateral damage of a theocracy? Is a presidency or Congressional majority worth partnering with rich rapists? Release the Epstein files and show that you are still a Christian man.