Can you imagine the reaction from republicans and so many Christians in America if Obama, a married man, made another woman stand up at one of his rallies and said she had a “beautiful a$$” while he was president? It would have dominated the news cycles for months. There would be long theological diatribes written and sermons preached about family values and the sanctity of marriage. There would probably even be calls for him to be impeached. The outrage would have been swift and severe. Yet this is exactly what Donald Trump has done. A married man. The one so many republicans and Christians have hailed as their champion of Christian faith and family values for over a decade. He made Nicki Minaj stand, and stated to the entire nation that he thinks she has a “beautiful a$$.” All while the crowd laughed, applauded, and cheered. We have witnessed intense scrutiny from the religious right towards every democrat in political power. From Bill Clinton, to Hillary Clinton, to Joe Biden, to Kamala Harris. The moral standard they have been held to by the religious right is unflinchingly rigid and unforgiving. When it came all of them, the message was clear: “character matters!” Not to mention the constant demand for the “sanctity of marriage” and family values to be upheld in legislation over our entire country. Yet even after Trump bragged about grabbing women by the “p*$$y.” Even after he said that if his daughter Ivanka wasn’t his daughter he would probably be dating her. Even after his name has appeared thousands of times in the Epstein files. Even after he was found liable for sexual assault. Even after he sexually objectifies another woman at his rally. All while being married, there isn’t even half the level of accountability or scrutiny. In fact, it is worse. There is theological justification for continuing to support him. I’ll never forget during the last presidential election how a phrase went viral about this exact behavior from him and justifying voting for him anyway. It said, “To think that God ordained a filthy minded, adulterous, wealthy man with evil in his heart to preside over a nation challenges my self-righteous understanding. But He did, and that sinful man by grace gave us the Psalms.” Then when anyone dares to talk about this president’s sins and calls for repentance, two central tenets of Christianity, they are condemned by his supporters and told “no one is perfect,” and “you need to pray for him, not criticize him!” The willful hypocrisy here is absolutely unreal and utterly heartbreaking. One of the most blatant forms of hypocrisy in our time is Christians holding all ordinary people accountable to an extremely rigid set of moral standards, all while holding themselves and the president accountable to no standards at all. As someone who has been a Christian since I was 5 years old, who has served in the church all my life, who loves his country, I want to tell my fellow Christians something clear and sincere: You can’t complain that our society is rejecting Christianity, that people are leaving the church, and are condemning Christians as hypocrites when this kind of blatant hypocrisy, justification of despicable behavior, and a refusal to hold this president accountable has defined the Christian and republican support of him for over a decade. If you’re still looking for one of the main reasons Christianity has such a crumbling reputation in our society, look no further than this. - Benjamin Cremer