This applies in the Catholic faith, and I’m assuming in
the non-progressive Christian denominations (as I’ve posted before):
The Lesser of Two Evils
“It is a serious problem that this “principle,” now apparently part of our national lexicon of political ethics, is being mouthed by Catholics. If the relevant Wikipedia article is correct, the origin of the principle is found in U.S. foreign policy statecraft of the Cold-War era. Whatever its source, the dictum is anything but Catholic.
This may come as a revelation to political pragmatists, but Catholics may not choose any evil. None — period. There is a principle in Moral Theology — the principle of double effect — which, under certain clearly defined conditions, permits us to perform an act that has both a good and an evil effect, but there is no allowance whatsoever in the Catholic system for directly choosing an evil.”
More here
http://catholicism.org/lesser-of-two-evils.html
One of the corruptions that Bishop Willard has already leaked into the conservative mainstrean is this ‘lesser evil’ argument.
It marks the formal adoption of situation ethics by the GOP.
It lies there, hidden in plain sight, but that is already the new GOP norm.