The Benham Brothers have voiced their support for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and said it's "sad" to see Christians condemning him "without fully knowing all the facts."
In an op-ed, twin brothers David and Jason Benham, the Christian real-estate entrepreneurs who were famously dropped from an HGTV home-flipping show due to their belief in traditional marriage, first contended that "the spirit behind exposing sin must be one of restoration, not condemnation (or destruction)."
"If restoration is not the goal, then Christians should refuse to jump in and immediately condemn someone without investigating the facts," they said. "Instead, we should pray for the truth to be known - for both the accusers and the accused - gather the facts and seek restoration where needed. This applies not only to Roy Moore, but also to Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and others as well."
The brothers went on to criticize Republicans - including John McCain, Jeff Flake, Mitt Romney Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan - who quickly denounced Moore after The Washington Post reported that the Alabama Senate candidate sexually assaulted teenage girls while in his early 30s.
"All that was left was to fracture dissenters by accusing them of being sexual predators themselves," wrote the brothers. "The problem, though, is that over the last few weeks, the narrative has started to crumble as the first accuser lacks credibility with her three divorces, three bankruptcies and three charges against pastors for the very thing of which she accused Moore."
"The second was discovered to be a Democratic Party operative, working for both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. And the yearbook accuser couldn't produce an authentic signature of Moore's, despite demands from the Moore camp. The facts surrounding the other accusers are still quite gray."
Likewise, the Benhams said it's "sad" to see "Christians jump to the fourth step in Judge Moore's case without fully knowing all the facts."
"We understand it's impossible to go back 40 years, and it's difficult to follow Matthew 18 for a public figure, but it doesn't change the fact that condemning and disassociating with a fellow believer based on accusations (some of which have already been upended) is not Christ-like, especially when the spirit of this whole situation wreaks of destruction and not restoration for everyone involved."
Moore has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, calling them "simple dirty politics" carried out by establishment Republicans, liberals, and the media.
Recently, he said the reason people in Washington don't want him in the U.S. Senate is "very, very simple. They don't want to hear about God, and they don't want to hear about the Constitution of the United States, and its foundational principles in God."
A number of Christian leaders, however, have criticized those who continue to defend Moore despite such allegations, including Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
"We need to have the moral clarity to come out and say, 'Sexual assault is always immoral and always wrong,'" he said.
"My blood pressure has been elevated in recent days with people suggesting that even when such horrible things take place that it's the equivalent of Mary and Joseph -- no, it's not," he later said during an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360. "Or, as I heard one person say on television, I believe it was yesterday, that this would be a misdemeanor, so it would be the equivalent of stealing a lawnmower. Stealing a lawnmower? That's the most horrifying, sort of moral relativism that I can imagine, especially when we're living a country where there are so many women and girls who have their lives being crushed by powerful men who are using sexual advances, sexual assault against them."
Despite the scandal surrounding him, Moore leads in polls taken after Thanksgiving, according to the Weekly Standard. Both Change Research and JMC Analytics show a five-point lead for Moore, and Emerson College has him ahead by six.
