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By Hunter Wallace
If you haven’t already seen it, Salon and National Review are discussing the moral nuances of pedophilia in what passes for “the national conversation”:
“My name is Todd Nickerson, and I’m a pedophile. Does that surprise you? Yeah, not many of us are willing to share our story, for good reason. To confess a sexual attraction to children is to lay claim to the most reviled status on the planet, one that effectively ends any chance you have of living a normal life. Yet, I’m not the monster you think me to be. I’ve never touched a child sexually in my life and never will, nor do I use child pornography. …”
Charles C.W. Cooke, the arbiter of “conservatism,” who has repeatedly attacked supporters of Donald Trump, responds with this take on pedophilia:
“I am not a practicing Christian, but, as far as I can recall from my instruction as a child, the author is taking precisely the approach that Christians are supposed to take when they find themselves tempted toward sin. I suppose that it is possible that I am seriously mis-remembering the core tenets of the faith, but don’t followers of Jesus believe that everybody is born with impulses that lead them toward unacceptable behavior? And don’t they also believe that they are called to act chastely — that is, to avoid indulging those impulses and instead to seek a way to be freed from them? It was a while ago, I accept, but I cannot recollect any caveats being attached to these rules. Are we now to suppose that it does not apply when the propensity in question is sufficiently egregious? Is there a new-fangled carve-out for instincts that turn our stomach? If there is not, we might think twice before condemning a man for admitting he has a terrible, terrible problem — even if we can’t move ourselves far enough in the opposite direction to “understand,” to “support,” or to like him much at all (and I can’t).”
According to a classical liberal/”conservitarian” atheist, it wouldn’t be “Christian” of us to condemn pedophilia. The back and forth between Salon and National Review on pedophiles is a vivid illustration of the role cuckservatives play in cracking open the door and ultimately mainstreaming deviant and repugnant ideas and behaviors.