While emphasizing the supposed necessity of policing the sex lives of women and denigrating the very existence of gay and trans people because of their supposed flaunting of the Christian god's edicts, rape and sexual exploitation practiced by favored Protestant men isn't really a concern.
'How Mike Johnson's Christian "morality" provides cover for Matt Gaetz'
t seems unshakeable, the Beltway press's faith that Christian conservatives mean all that jibber-jabber about sexual morality. On Sunday, CNN's Jake Tapper laid into Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for supporting the recently resigned Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., despite allegations that Gaetz paid an underage girl to have sex with him at a drug-fueled orgy. "You’re a man of faith, you’re a man of God, you’re a man of family. With some of these nominees, Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., I wonder — does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives?" Tapper asked Johnson, who smirked before dodging the question.
Not that Johnson needed to answer the question, as anyone can see the answer is a big, fat no. Johnson obviously doesn't have a problem with men paying teenage girls for sex. By suppressing the House Ethics Committee investigation that reportedly has evidence of Gaetz doing such a thing, Johnson has shown that he's far more outraged at the possibility that a man might face consequences for this behavior. To be fair to Tapper, it's doubtful he's genuinely surprised at Johnson's priorities. Instead, the issue here is that Johnson loves to tell other people, especially women and LGBTQ people, that they are sinful for having far more ordinary sex lives. Worse, he built his career on using the law to force his rules for sexual "morality" on others, even arguing that laws against homosexuality, abortion, and divorce are necessary to prevent "sexual anarchy."
On the surface, that sounds like hypocrisy. But what's going on is far darker. Covering for a man accused of sexual abuse of a minor is not just normal for the Christian right, but so rote that it can be considered a tradition of the faith. Johnson is a Southern Baptist, the same denomination that saw a report released two years ago documenting how the church kept a "secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors" that they largely chose to protect, often while blaming the often-underage victims for "tempting" them. In one instant, a teenaged victim "was forced to apologize in front of the church" for being pregnant, but forbidden from naming the pastor that had raped her. When activists first tried to force transparency on the church, the Southern Baptist Convention's lawyer, Augie Boto, accused them of conspiring as part of "a satanic scheme."
Johnson's views on sexual morality come from what critics of the religious right have deemed "purity culture." In my March report on the sprawling network of ex-evangelicals and other anti-fundamentalism activists, the experts repeatedly emphasized that, within purity culture, responsibility for sexual restraint is put mostly and often wholly on the shoulders of women and girls. Sometimes, there are half-baked attempts to claim they want men to control themselves, but that's more a P.R. move than a sincere effort. Far more common in the religious right is a belief that men are incapable of controlling their desires. If sexual "sin" happens — even if it's outright violence — the fingers are pointed directly at the girl or woman for not being "modest" enough.
...
One of the most alluring aspects of Trumpism to Christian conservatives is his vision of masculine power unchecked by accountability. For people who already believe that male dominance and patriarchy are mandated by God, it's easy to feel resentful when told the price of power is duty. MAGA shuns the Spiderman philosophy that great power requires great responsibility. Instead, they believe great power is about crushing others without apology. And then playing the victim when anyone questions why we're giving the power to the cruelest people in our society.
