She was referring to Ken Starr, self-professed Christian and president of Baylor University. Recently it came to light that Starr, former dean of Pepperdine Law school and prosecutor of Bill Clinton in the Lewinsky scandal, was part of the legal team that aggressively advocated on behalf of billionaire sex-trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starr brought his considerable legal expertise to bear in obtaining a shockingly light penalty for Epstein, who had molested or trafficked in dozens of girls, some reportedly as young as 12. Starr didn't defend Epstein because he was some poor schmuck foisted on the legal profession by fair necessity ("If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you"), but because the predator pervert had a billion dollars. Money talks, and talks at such volume that at times it can shout down a man's conscience. It can enable a certain kind of man calmly to pad his bank account with the stifled cries of mid-teen sex slaves while still making it to church on Sunday.
You can understand how behavior so monstrously corrupt and so grievously incompatible with the word "Christian" might provoke a cynical journalist to ask if the whole religion is just a racket.
Coincidentally, the other day my lovely wife asked me how I might respond to someone who opposed Christianity on the ground that it was a faith full of hypocrites. I thought I'd write out an answer.
I acknowledge that, yes, without a doubt, the Christian church is chock-full of hypocrites. But, as a teacher of mine liked to point out, where else are you going find them?
If I were a villain, I wouldn't want people to regard me as bad (unless I were very callous indeed and heedless of all consequences). I'd want them to think I was a Christian! And the better I could fool people with minimal effort, the more delighted I would be with the deception. That is because if people trust you you can get away with more. But, contrariwise, I don't know any Christians who want people to regard them as criminals. Think about it. Hypocrisy is a vacuum funnel that only sucks in one direction. Wherever goodness truly congregates, evil people will race toward it just so they can camouflage themselves with its appearance. Of course there will be hypocrisy where goodness dwells! How could it be otherwise? Only goodness can provide a foundation for a hypocrite to stand on. Who - except as a joke - ever tries to impersonate evil? Here are some charges of hypocrisy that I bet you have never heard:
"Oh, he claims to be a White Power racist, but I tell you he's a total hypocrite. Secretly he adores Martin Luther King, and under the radar he mentors disadvantaged Black teens."
"He just wants everybody to think he's a pedophile. But he is such a hypocrite. In reality he's been faithful to his wife for years, and he's wonderful with kids."
"I know she portrays herself as a shoplifter, but let me tell you, that woman is a hypocrite. The truth is, she pays for her stuff, and she even gives back change when the clerk makes a mistake! Pffft. What a phony."
Do you see? Hypocrisy, by definition, is evil masquerading as good. It rightly provokes our indignation. But the very charge of hypocrisy ought to lead us to ask, "Why in the world was I expecting to find good - and expecting it so hard that I was outraged to find myself deceived?" In our hearts, I think we know that hypocrisy is a pestilent parasite that, at some level, requires a sound host. If the whole thing were one big parasite there would be nothing for it to feed on. We would never find ourselves angered or disillusioned.
If a person wants to belong to a faith tradition that is guaranteed never to be charged with hypocrisy, I recommend atheism. When an atheist embezzles, rapes or murders, no one ever cries out in shock, "Oh the hypocrisy! How could someone who denies the existence of God ever do such a thing? He can't be a real atheist." Sure he can. Why not? He could be a bad man, but he's not a bad atheist. His denial of a supernaturally imposed morality keeps him immune to the charge of hypocrisy no matter what he does.
You will find hypocrisy among Christians, just as you will find parasites in a living host. If you insist on living in an environment that is parasite-free, you will only be able to fulfill your dream by inhabiting a corpse. That is a cold place to live and die.
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