Via the Federalist and Life News, I’m just a simple pro-life atheist caveman but a Christian pastor shouldn’t have trouble giving a straight answer to this question, right? Joining a religion means you don’t “live to your own convictions,” by definition.

Pastor Dudebro here looks and sounds like a broad parody of a “cool preacher,” which is sort of what he is. His church, Hillsong, is based in Manhattan and he has more than one celebrity among his flock, most notably Justin Bieber. When you’re ministering to the liberal and famous, you’ve got to accommodate their priorities, I guess. Jesus is great and all but there’s a lifestyle to be maintained.

The best I can do by way of playing devil’s advocate (pun intended) is to say that maybe his response here was situational. “Know your audience,” he may have told himself beforehand. He’s on “The View,” surrounded by mostly pro-choice women on the panel and likely addressing a mostly pro-choice audience. If he’s trying to get them interested in Christianity generally and his church specifically, he may have chosen to de-emphasize the contentious issues in favor of putting out as “welcoming” a vibe as he could muster. If that meant dressing like a cross between Bono and Macklemore and doing the “hey, no judgment” thing, that’s the price he was willing to pay to get people in the pews. The talk about abortion as baby murder can come later after they’ve already embraced the faith. I hope?