MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough recently told his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, that she is far too biased to be a reporter. Wowzer!

I’ve linked the clip here, starting at 4:32. The relevant rebuke runs through about 7:00.

Now, I don’t really watch the show, but I’m shocked that one host would say something like that to another. At the same time I’m shocked that she didn’t just claim that, of course, she did feel some empathy for the accused judge.

Good on Joe for making an obviously correct point. Kavanaugh is not getting a fair shake from Senators or journalists that oppose his nomination. In the minds of some, he’s been convicted before weighing any evidence at all.

In resisting Joe’s comment, Mika said of the reaction to Dr. Ford, “I think we are collectively responding to everything that has gone wrong in the last few years through her.” From her own mouth, she tells us that prejudice against Kavanaugh is justified by the sins of others. That is a travesty. She’d like to burn Donald Trump in effigy, and she wants to use Kavanaugh as the effigy.

The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

Ezekiel 18:20 (NIV)

The demands of justice are easily recognized. The one who sins is the one who is guilty. The guilt does not transfer. We may not punish a man for the crimes of others of the same gender, race nor even party affiliation.

It is a heavy blindness that causes many, like Mika, to cast aside the presumption of innocence. This is the stuff that lynchings are made of; collective guilt, cries to believe the accusation without weighing evidence.

Shame on anyone who says we ought to “believe women” when they make accusations. That is naked partiality. You might as well say “believe white people.” To prefer the testimony of women is no better than those backwards parts of the world where it takes the testimony of four women to add up to that of one man. The God of Justice does not show partiality to men nor to women, neither to rich nor to poor, neither to the accuser nor the accused.

We should pray for our neighbors. Let us pray that this darkness will be lifted. Darkness of this sort is spiritually inflicted, it is tangled in sin, but it can be broken by the power of God. May our neighbors hear again what justice requires and what mercy God offers us in Christ.