5 Evangelical Leaders React to Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Accusation
Russell Moore
Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is one of nearly 40 evangelical leaders who signed onto a statement supporting Kavanaugh after his nomination in July.
On Tuesday, Moore told CNN that if the accusation is true, it should essentially disqualify Kavanaugh from Supreme Court consideration.
"It is a confusing time and a very serious time," Moore said. "I think we need to look for a hearing and we need to attempt to find out the truth in this matter."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
When asked if he believes the allegations, Moore stated that "we need to hear from both parties involved."
"I am looking forward to an open hearing. Obviously, if it did happen, that would be disqualifying. Obviously, if this did not happen, it would be a horrible thing to wrongfully accuse someone of doing," Moore explained. "So, that is what I am hearing mostly from evangelicals — 'What's going on? We need to hear from both of the parties involved.'"
Moore stressed that he hopes that people wouldn't "rush to judgement immediately simply on the basis of where our political convictions lie."
"I am dealing almost everyday with young women who have been assaulted or abused. I don't want them to hear from whatever political debate is going not to come forward or tell their story," he said. "And I am often dealing with people in the criminal justice system who have been wrongfully accused of doing things they haven't done."
Moore was asked what would happen if Kavanaugh and Ford testify and there are "two credible stories" from "two credible people" that contradict each other.
"I don't know. I am going to wait and listen to both of them and hear what both of them have to say. Right now, you are starting to hear from people who know both of them," he said. "The danger here is to immediately go into either people eviscerating Professor Ford or people immediately eviscerating Judge Kavanaugh. We need to listen here and find out what the truth is and the problem is we are living in a time that everyone wants to have every situation immediately adjudicated in time to put a post on Facebook."
