by Dana Hall McCain
Christianity has more flavors than Baskin-Robbins. It's a testament to our capacity to find things to disagree about, and to disagree about them heartily. Having grown up in the Southern Baptist Church and other theologically conservative congregations, Evangelicalism has always been my world.
To be clear, I'm still one hundred percent okay with the theological basis and essential doctrines of Evangelicalism, based upon my own examination of the scriptures.
So why the discomfort with the label?
It's because I have awakened in mid-life to find the label as frequently associated with the political as the spiritual. It started with a seemingly innocent commingling of the two in the 1980s. The idea was to mobilize conservative Christians in order to have our values better heard and represented in Washington.
After all, shouldn't we influence our culture for good? And can't government be a part of that from time to time?
Of course we should. And indeed, a faithful witness would include voting for individuals and initiatives that align with God's brand of mercy, justice and righteousness. But two distinct problems have arisen from an over-investment in politics as a vehicle for good.
When we believe that government--rather than our own submission to Christ and evangelism--is the whole ballgame, or even the most important facet of it, we become vulnerable to all sorts of compromises needed to win and maintain power. Truth is no longer what we pursue at all costs--power is, because we believe we can't live without it. (First century Christians would LOL at the thought.)
The second problem is that when we come to associate one political party, wholly and without exception, with the cause of Christ, but we don't do the hard work of bringing that party to heel regarding the values of Christ, we're no longer leading. We are being led. Such is the relationship between Evangelicals and the GOP. We don't bring our weight to bear in the party for causes like DACA, because we're prone to embrace and hold up as immutable truth the party talking points on immigration, even when they are at odds with the words of Christ.
Call me dogmatic, but I'll go with the words in red over what the Steven Millers of the world espouse when the two disagree. And I won't tell you that hateful speech, or arrogance, or trite dishonesty from any president is a good thing, even if some of his policy positions align with my own. We've lost the guts needed to take our own people to the woodshed, because we've believed that our primary job is to beat Democrats instead of the Devil.
The Devil is delighted by this misunderstanding.
One current problem is that Evangelicals are a large, loosely assembled collection of independent denominations and churches, and lack any sort of real governance. So who gets to speak for us? If you only watch conservative media sources, you'd think it was people like Robert Jeffress of FBC Dallas, or Liberty University's Jerry Falwell, Jr., who've both decided that God's standard is whatever it takes to advance and protect this president.
But there's a whole other contingent of us who know better, and shudder.
But I am not without hope. In the past year, key voices have arisen to call us back toward a kind of faithfulness in the public square that becomes the sacrifice of Christ. Leaders like Russell Moore of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC, noted bible teacher Beth Moore, and reformed pastor John Piper, just to name a few, have echoed the observations that God has driven daily into my own heart.
Additionally, it seems much of the problematic thinking is generational. Many younger Evangelical pastors and teachers are pushing for Christians to rethink our political engagement to be more fully aligned with a vibrant gospel that values the sanctity of life from the "womb to the tomb," that cares for the vulnerable, that understands the need for racial reconciliation in the church, and that is willing to call sin what it is, no matter how politically inconvenient.
So I'm not casting off my Evangelical name tag just yet. I'm more of a mind to dig my heels in the dirt and try to make it what I think it ought to be. –AL
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