Op-Ed: Big Eva Bargain: Has THIS Politician Become the Next Francis Collins?
For a decade, Francis Collins was held in the highest honor by evangelicals everywhere. An acclaimed scientist and the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he was also a professing Christian and would frequently be asked to speak on the intersection of faith and science, being looked to as a paragon of virtue and respectability on account of his outward-facing persona. Evangelical leaders such as Russell Moore, David French, Tim Keller, and Ed Setzer lauded him wherever they went as someone to take seriously and look up to, as he was all but shoved down our throats.
Then the truth was revealed.
We broke the story that he released a statement for PRIDE month where he publicly revealed himself to be thoroughly compromised on the Christian’s view of LGBTQ issues and the scriptures, offering them his personal support as an “ally” and regurgitating all the progressive talking points he could muster.
His role as founder of BioLogos, the self-described “Christian organization” that seeks to bridge the bible and evolution while insisting that humans evolved from apes 200,000 years ago and that Adam and Eve never actually existed, became greater publicized and he soon revealed his low view of the church, making the case that in-person public schooling is a higher priority than in-person church. He openly supports doing experiments on fetal tissue on account that he doesn’t believe human embryos to be life but only ‘potential life” and has argued that scientists should use bodies of aborted babies for scientific experimentation. Couple all the with a refusal to condemn “pregnant people” language, and Collins was completely exposed.
Enter Adam Kinzinger, an American politician serving as the long-term Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois. Over the last decade, he has gained a reputation as a critic of President Trump and as the respectable, nuanced face of the Republican party. Last year, he received a glowing profile story by Christianity Today where they wrote about how his faith intersects with his political work, praising him for his convictions and taking great efforts to highlight his faith and moral beliefs.
At 42, Kinzinger has served in Congress for a decade and has been part of the church all his life; he was raised Baptist and now attends Village Christian Church in Minooka, Illinois. He has a conservative voting record and is outspoken in his stance against abortion, recently urging congressional leaders to preserve the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions.
Lauding his efforts to ‘restore the GOP’ from the influence of former President Trump, they quote his concerns with Christians failing to live up to their convictions as more damaging to the church than politics.
“If you think about the Devil’s ultimate trick for Christianity, really, he doesn’t care what the tax rates are. It doesn’t matter. What he cares about is embarrassing the church, and it feels like it’s been successful. But I also think this is an opportunity for the church to have a massive rediscovery of what our mission and our role in this world is.”
…In the long run, the debates over policies or political alliances are “not really going to matter. But what does matter is what we did with this time on earth, how we talked about the Lord, how we stood up for truth.”
Throw in some support by Russell Moore, David French, Daniel Darling, and the picture is getting clearer. For the Evangelical Industrial Complex who despise the former President, Kinzinger is their man. A frequent critic of what he feels is shameful expressions of faith within government, his honorability in their eyes came in part from being one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former President and one of 2 Republicans on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
That’s all well and good. There is nothing wrong or immoral about pursuing those endeavors as a matter of conviction, and frequently criticizing Trump can indeed be the Lord’s work. But with visibility comes scrutiny, and a perusal of his convictions have revealed a familiar story.
Despite Christianity Today’s pro-life praise, his views and votes on abortion tell a different but familiar story. After Texas passed its ban on abortion in late 2021, Kinzinger roundly criticized it, declaring “I do not support the Texas law” and lamenting “extremists dictating policies” writing:
I am pro-life, but I support the rape and incest exceptions as well as the health and well-being of the mother exception to abortion. As I’ve said before, those exceptions should be included and taken into account with any abortion-related legislation.”
He’s content to claim the title and pick and peck away at the baby butchery with incrementalistic abortion legislation, but the minute legislation with some teeth emerges, his winsomeness and nuance manifests are made evident, showing that the carrot he used to provoke the por-life cart was always going to be a baby corpse, and not a true commitment to abolition.
Days ago, House Democrats passed the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, and Kinzinger was one of only three Republicans to vote for it, ensuring greater access to abortions continues. He was also one of 47 Republicans to cross party lines and vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which calls for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (which defined marriage as between a woman and woman) and provides federal protections for same-sex couples, requiring the U.S. government recognizes the validity of same-sex marriages for all time.
What’s worse is that it’s not like Kinzinger can point to these votes and say that he needs to do it in order to win re-election on account of the demographics of his state and the polling data. Late last year, he announced that he was NOT running for re-election, meaning this is all him. He has no constituents to answer to; he’s voting this way because he wants to.
Kinzinger, like Collins, has for years been lauded as the voice of reason and an example of a Christian witness that we should look up to. But Big Eva is always wrong, and those who did not immediately pull back with an air of reservation and suspicion the minute certain voices started promoting him are now finding themselves, like with the disgraced Francis Collins, crushed and disappointed that he wasn’t who they thought he was.
About Author
I am receiving $88 each hour to figure on-net. I’ve ne’er believed find it irresistible will be possible but YHUe3 one among my greatest pal got $27,000 simply in 3 weeks just operating this easy project & she influenced Pine Tree State to avail…View
a lot of directions visiting this website >>> http://stepwaypay24.blogspot.com