Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts is scheduled to visit his future colleagues on Capitol Hill today. In his first news conference following the election, Mr. Brown called it paying a “courtesy visit.” It will hardly be viewed as courteous by some, including, I’m sure, Majority Leader Harry Reid who likely will see it as pressuring him and others for a quick swearing-in.

In the hours since Mr. Brown won the Super Bowl of special elections, a lot about him has come to light. In yesterday’s post I told you about the Senator-elect’s family church. Well, it looks like it may indeed be more of his family’s church than his own. A source that once worked for Mr. Brown in the state legislature described him as a “non-church-going Protestant.” Apparently, Mr. Brown has the reputation of doing something other than worship on Sunday mornings.

Even if Mr. Brown taught Sunday school every week, it wouldn’t necessarily mean he’s a “good Christian,” nor that he understands Christian doctrine or moral instruction–and it appears he’s quite deficient on at least the latter. He explicitly recognizes Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision de-criminalizing the killing of pre-born children, as “the law of the land.” (Before coming down too heavily on him for that, though, remember “pro-life” Chief Justice John Roberts said the same thing during his confirmation hearing.) What betrays even more his lack of good Christian moral formation is Mr. Brown’s support of so-called “civil unions,” which has as a consequence, whether intended or unintended, of granting social sanction to immoral behavior.

A few of my readers have concluded that because of these serious deficiencies, Mr. Brown is either a fake or a uselessly flawed individual that shouldn’t occupy this seat any longer than necessary. Well, I’m not quite so condemnatory or dismissive. What Mr. Brown appears to me to be is a Massachusetts politician. He may or may not be a Christian, but that doesn’t change his profession. The likelihood of a 100% pro-life, no-exceptions candidate winning a senate race in the Bay State is, conservatively speaking, zip. Electing a Massachusetts senator that lectures on the sacred nature of sex as only between one man and one women within the bond of Holy Matrimony is, even more conservatively speaking, -10.

So, in my estimation, on the political side, Massachusetts probably picked the best candidate it has had in decades–and likely will have until there’s another Great Awakening in New England. On the spiritual side, Mr. Brown needs all the prayer, tutelage, discipleship, “doctrine . . . reproof . . .correction . . .  instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16) that he can get–and that’s why I believe God sent us here.

In the 15 years I’ve been a missionary on Capitol Hill, I haven’t met one perfect Christian politician, so Scott Brown is nothing new. Perhaps he’s a little worse than some others, but he’s not terribly different.

More to follow . . .

Rob +

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 3:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.