If this article is correct, then the Roy Moore scandal regarding under-age girls and child brides is the NORM in evangelical "Christian" circles:
https://boingboing.net/2017/11/12/early-courtship.html
When Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore was accused of sexually molesting children as young as 14, his fellow hardcore evangelicals shrugged at the scandal -- it was "common knowledge" that Moore had a fondness for young teens.
Moore isn't alone in liking very young girls as sexual partners. The grooming of children to marry adult men is a common practice in American evangelical circles, and infamous child-bride advocates are celebrated on the lecture circuit, especially among home schoolers.
It's a widespread view among the hard right evangelical world, mainstream enough that Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has publicly advised his fans to marry 15- or 16-year-old girls, because "you wait until they get to be 20 years old, the only picking that's going to take place is your pocket." This view was defended by mainstream Republicans, and Robertson has continued to enjoy success in right-wing media, with a new show on CRTV.
Another article on this issue by someone who grew up in those circles:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-brightbill-roy-moore-evangelical-culture-20171110-story.html
The allegations against Roy Moore are merely a symptom of a larger problem. It’s not a Southern problem or an Alabama problem. It’s a Christian fundamentalist problem. Billy Graham’s grandson, Boz Tchividjian, who leads the organization GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment), believes that the sexual abuse problem in Protestant communities is on par with that in the Catholic Church.
The evangelical world is overdue for a reckoning. Women raised in evangelicalism and fundamentalism have for years discussed the normalization of child sexual abuse. We’ve told our stories on social media and on our blogs and various online platforms, but until the Roy Moore story broke, mainstream American society barely paid attention. Everyone assumed this was an isolated, fringe issue. It isn’t.
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eucalyptus_spearmint ago
I could SAY I'm a practicing Muslim to get votes in Saudi Arabia, doesn't make me one. 😌 yawn
garouwarrior ago
Are you just saying that because he is giving Evangelical Christians a bad name.
Let me rephrase that: giving Evangelical Christians more of a bad name than they do already lol...
ESOTERICshade ago
That train won't run correctly. Evangelicals are evangelicals.
Christians are Christians.
Fixed that for ya...I'm not using ancient and correct definitions of evangelical. I'm using the flavor used in this article.