clipped from: roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com By invoking the story of King David and Hebrew rather than Christian Scripture to discuss his infidelity, Governor Sanford is consciously identifying with Jewish rather than Christian notions of righteousness.
The paradox of American evangelicals is that they are Christian on the one hand and political conservatives on the other with utterly opposing views of redemption. Christians believe that no one is blameless and all must therefore ride the coattails of a perfect being into heaven. But conservatives espouse the gospel of personal accountability. The state cannot save them. Man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow and not by welfare alone.