Here’s a thought. If you want to defend Roy Moore against allegations that he inappropriately touched a girl when she was only 14 (and he was 32), you could start by saying that sort of contact is absolutely unacceptable.

Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler took a slightly different approach when speaking with the Washington Examiner:

“He’s clean as a hound’s tooth,” Ziegler claimed, before relying on Scripture to defend Moore. “Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,” Ziegler said choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ. “Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”

See, everyone? Even if Moore touched a girl in an inappropriate way, it’s perfectly okay because that’s how God impregnated Mary. Or Joseph impregnated Mary. Even though she was said to be a virgin.

Okay, I’m not sure Ziegler has the biblical story right. (Leave it to a Christian to not understand the basis of his entire religion.) But even so, at least Joseph and Mary were married. That wouldn’t apply to Moore and the teenage girls he allegedly touched.

What he said doesn’t make me feel better about Roy Moore. It makes me want to scream, “The Bible shouldn’t be anyone’s basis for morality!”

More importantly, it doesn’t even matter. The point is Ziegler’s trying to defend something that, if true, ought to be indefensible. And he’s doing it by bringing in the Bible as if that will smooth everything over with Moore’s conservative base. It’s just another example of a Republican who flips out over the supposedly immoral actions of liberals… only to justify it — using religion — when it happens to one of his own.

I would feel better if evangelicals denounced Moore after these allegations, but they let Donald Trump get away with sexual assault charges. Until proven otherwise, I’m going to assume they treat a potentially sexually abusive Republican far better than they would if he were an openly gay Democrat with a spotless record.

