The need for grace in judging motivations
We need to have a lot more humility and grace in disagreement.
Vice President Mike Pence is a man of honor and integrity. He has been standing on principle for 30 years, especially as a warrior for the unborn. Pence was the one who led the charge against and delayed the boondoggle bailouts of the banking industry in 2008. Pence was in many ways the perfect running mate for Donald Trump in 2016, shoring up where Trump was weak. Pence loyally served and defended Trump for four years, and has even shown an almost supernatural graciousness to Trump despite years of viciously personal attacks, abuse, insults and smears from "MAGA" chuds.
I know plenty of people of integrity who believe that Pence was wrong to not reject the 2020 electoral votes on January 6. I can disagree with the argument while having respect for those who make the argument. I do not respect the argument that Pence made his decision for corrupt personal reasons. Remember, Pence ended his own effort to serve another four years as Vice President, made himself a pariah in the party that had once admired him and put his own life at risk when an angry mob was literally screeching for his blood.
Pence has led the charge against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. because of Kennedy's position on abortion. I am not a supporter of Kennedy, but I do not see a reason to believe that Kennedy will break his promise to support pro-life policies at the Department of Health and Human Services. But while I disagree with Pence's reasoning, the idea that Pence is taking this position because he is "bought and paid for by Big Pharma" (as some have alleged) is nonsensical and defamatory. We can disagree with Pence without unfairly smearing him as corrupt.
These two things are part of a much broader rot in our politics and culture: If someone disagrees with us, they are not people who have a different opinion or even people who are wrong. They are corrupt and have malicious motives. Then we are shocked when people malign our own motives and character when they disagree with us.
COVID-19 exposed this, much to our national shame. If you opposed pandemic mitigation policies such as lockdowns and mask mandates, you were a greedy monster who wanted to "kill grandma" to earn a few dollars. If you broadly supported pandemic mitigation policy but thought it went too far at times, you were just as evil and corrupt. If you supported lockdowns and mask mandates, you were a "sheep" or a "cuck" who went along with authoritarians, or you were a Communist who was promoting a conspiracy to implement an authoritarian regime or the New World Order. We even had people accusing their own pastors of being "statist idolaters" and causing schism in the church for respecting the mask mandates.
There was no room for respectful disagreement, a reasonable discussion of what policies worked or did not work, or even independent thought. It was all or nothing. In the minds of far too many people, you had to be 100% totally compliant with all government pandemic mitigation measures with absolutely no dissent, or you had to be 100% opposed to all of them as totalitarian overreach.
Obviously, there are people who are crooked, people who are liars, people who are trying to unethically or illegally enrich themselves, and people who are perverts and degenerates. We should not be afraid of calling them out. We should not fear the judgmental scolding of Pharisees who think telling the truth is "unloving" or not "Christ like." This is especially important in exposing cults and false prophets.
But we also need to have a lot more humility and grace in disagreement, especially on politics and policy as we fall deeper into political tribalism and animosity. The most extreme anger is often not for political opponents, but for allies who have disagreed on a key or even a minor issue. You do not have to sink into moral relativism to think someone can be wrong but have sincere motives. I am convinced that Jesus Christ would be deeply disappointed in how many conservative Christians handle disagreement, especially by fellow Christians. Repent.