You know, this "rule" sort of presupposes men are only ever sexually attracted to adult women.

But we all know (especially in today’s world with so many scandalous headlines) that a significant percentage of conservative Christian leaders are like men everywhere, i.e. sexually attracted to other men.

Should Christian leaders institute a rule never to be alone with men? Hm...

As the Southern Baptist Convention has learned, conservative Christian leaders are not immune from the sad human condition of sexual attraction toward teenagers and even younger children.

I don’t know if they’ve put rules in place that adult leaders should not be alone with children, but if they haven’t, they’re trailing organizations like the Boy Scouts and pretty much every public school in the United States.

But with children, there’s a good reason for that. Children lack power and agency with respect to adults.

Women are not supposed to lack power and agency with respect to men. The Billy Graham "rule" says women do lack agency and implies that they should lack agency.

It’s one thing to look at it through an antiquarian lens given the age Graham lived in, but it’s pretty shocking to see politicians today living as if that sexist value were a good or decent value.