Tom Cherwin | Cal Cunningham sinned, but is not beyond forgiveness

“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus was probably, as usual, right. Often I need to call off my knee-jerk, negative reactions and opinions and to call on my better angels to first usher this point of view through the door, and then to hesitantly offer it a seat. But after sitting with it for a while, I’ll usually come away thinking, “No, people are not ‘bad.’ They simply know not what they do.”

After all, I’ve always tried, with varying degrees of success, to have faith that most of us don’t willfully intend to do evil or even stupid or hurtful things. That most of us don’t knowingly mistake money or position for God. That most of us place people in positions of power, religious or political, and then follow them because we honestly believe they’re leading us onto the right— the righteous and just and kind —course.

And when necessary I’ve tried to remind myself that, alas, even our leaders are “only human,” and to find the same compassion for them that Jesus did, the same compassion that I attempt to offer myself, and those I love, and everyone on the planet.

This is the same compassion that I offer Cal Cunningham. What he did was thoughtless and careless. In addition to being a violation of the Seventh Commandment, adultery is hurtful to innocent parties. I hope the former state senator will in time learn to forgive himself, and that he’s already learned something valuable that will serve him going forward.

I hope, too, that North Carolina will forgive him. If Trump’s followers, who include Evangelists and other religious folks, have somehow forgiven the president for his violations of not only the Second but several other commandments, for his ongoing thoughtlessness and carelessness, for his deceitfulness and cruelty, certainly Cunningham deserves people’s forgiveness.

Indeed, considering the stakes for the country, the world, and every living creature on the planet — not to mention the planet itself — he deserves people’s blessing, their thanks, and their vote.