A scene from the television series “The West Wing” that dismisses biblical sexual ethics went viral recently on social media, and Christians were quick to spot the lazy argumentation and subversive tactics that the scene contained.
In the clip from the show, which ran from 1999 to 2006, President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheens, lectures talk radio host Dr. Jenna Jacobs, played by Claire Yarlett, about her views on homosexuality.
“I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination,” Bartlet scoffed.
“I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does,” Jacobs responded.
That allowed Bartlet to launch into a tirade about the purportedly antiquated views of the Bible.
“I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7,” Bartlet said. “She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?”
Bartlet also scoffed at Old Testament laws about the Fourth Commandment.
“My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath,” he continued. “Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police?”
The character rattled off several more examples, including biblical laws about planting multiple crops in the same field and about touching dead unclean animals, a statute he specifically applied to football games since footballs are sometimes made from pig leather.
Martin Sheens masterclass performance in “The West Wing”.
pic.twitter.com/KNtEOMHBt3— Daily Know (@xDaily_Know) January 29, 2025
“Think about those questions, would you?” he shot at Jacobs.
The entire rant is a lazy dismissal of biblical morality that intentionally fails to understand how Christians view Old Testament law.
As articulated in historic church documents, like the Westminster Confession of Faith, there are moral, ceremonial, and civil laws in the Pentateuch.
God specifically gave the people of ancient Israel “ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits.”
God also handed down “judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people; not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require.”
In other words, the ceremonial law has been abrogated by all that Jesus accomplished in the New Testament, and the civil laws have solid principles from which societies can draw, though they need not necessarily apply the exact same penalties.
But the moral law, which makes crystal clear that homosexuality is indeed an abomination, has by no means been abrogated, as made clear throughout the New Testament.
The writers of “The West Wing” could apparently not be bothered to understand that.
They merely repeated a tired argument meant to falsely label Christians who stand for biblical sexual morality as hypocrites and, more importantly, to subtly convince any Christians or conservatives who happened to be watching that they should be ashamed by the plain teaching of the Bible.
The fact that these tactics were included not in a political or religious debate, but in a popular television show, made them especially subversive.
Christians responded to the viral video with that exact point.
“I never watched this show,” Nate Fischer, the chief executive of venture firm New Founding, replied on social media. “But it’s obvious why America rejected the entire political class that celebrated it.”
“Martin Sheen needs an update on his arguments,” another user answered, listing several New Testament passages that clearly condemn homosexuality.
“This perfectly encapsulates a kind of midwit gotcha that can only seem clever if you have literally never spoken to a Christian who has an iota of understanding of their faith,” a third user observed.
Christians are no longer falling for these propaganda campaigns from Hollywood.
In the decades since “The West Wing” was first aired, we have learned the hard way that this issue of so-called “marriage equality” was never just about private individuals in their bedroom: It was much more about pumping society full of perversion until we are indistinguishable from Sodom.
Now Christians know the value of standing on the Bible unashamedly and telling the subversives to pound sand.
In other words, Hollywood needs to find some new tactics.
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