Conservative pundit Rod Dreher has responded to Eric Metaxas’s punch on Thursday night. His thoughts can be summed-up this way:
- Metaxas is a great and gentle man.
- The punch was out of character.
- Metaxas must have been provoked or felt threatened.
- Metaxas was probably just being chivalrous because the protester was cursing in front of women.
- Metaxas should have just walked away from the protester and shouldn’t have taken a swing at him.
- I wish he didn’t do it because it just gives fodder for his enemies.
Then, after hearing from a supposed eye-witness to the event, Dreher writes, “Yeah, you know, I overthought this. I don’t care that Eric threw a punch at that guy. He had it coming.”
I think Dreher’s comments reflect how most of Metaxas’s evangelical followers will view this event. Others, however, myself included, will have a hard time reconciling Metaxas’s behavior with all his talk and writing about historical figures who turned the other cheek and his daily condemnation of violence in American cities. Again, I encourage you to listen to this 15-minute podcast interview with fellow court evangelical Greg Laurie.
