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Evangelicals say faith is now too political
news.yahoo.com — Evangelical Christian leaders who believe the word "evangelical" has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the gospel through its approach to the culture wars.
Yoder- 20 diggs
- digg it
- Becca4RonPaul, on 05/07/2008, -0/+12Interesting. I'll have to see what the final draft says, but I tentatively approve of and/or am intrigued by their preliminary thoughts, such "The statement . . condemns Christians on the right AND left for '"using faith" to express political views WITHOUT REGARD TO THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE" and "That way faith loses its independence, Christians become `useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology." WOW.
I would change the wording in the title submitted by Yoder, however. I'm not sure whether or not the signers of this statement believe faith has become "too political", but I would say that many Christians have been NAIVELY and BLINDLY (and sometimes meanly, as the signers point out) political. That first statement really captured the essence of the problem--Christians accepting the pablum of whatever party panders to them, "without regard to the truth of the Bible." The Bible urges political involvement, just governance, seeking after truth and justice on a personal and community/governmental levels. But the way many Christians have envisaged this call needs a radical overhaul IN LIGHT OF the truths of the Bible and the realities around us (which many of us are all too content to ignore). And Christians DO need a broader agenda than just abortion and the nuclear family. Those are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, but so many Christians buy into the "faith and family" rhetoric of politicians who are meanwhile aiding in the "LEGAL" annihilation of all of our Constitutional Rights!!! If we allow our right to free speech, for example, to be taken from us, IT WON'T MATTER WHAT WE THINK about abortion, marriage, et al., because we will not be able to SPEAK OUT about ANYTHING our handlers don't agree with!! Time for Christians (and those who care about what is true and just) to seek out truth for themselves and act on it--whether that leads them to be critical of their party, speak out against the status quo, or lose the comfort of their self-centeredness and apathy (or even comfortable but ignorant and shallow self-righteousness!). So much is at stake. The blinders have to come off.- Yoder, on 05/07/2008, -0/+5I just copied Yahoo's title, but I see your point. The issue you bring up always comes up in these discussions. There was a good conversation among some evangelicals just a couple weeks ago facilitated by an NPR show where the same distinction between being active and involved and becoming part of the political apparatus is gone over: http://digg.com/political_opinion/Evangelical_Poli ...
Of course Christians are called to be fully involved in their communities and world with the Holy Spirit guiding actions and perspectives. But there is a real problem with over-emphasizing political or government-supplied solutions to issues. Christians can not look to manipulate the worldly power structures to do the Kingdom mission. That's not to say Christians can't help the state live up to at least its standards, and work to keep government from damaging human freedom as much as possible (while maintaining a position of love and servant-hood). The government powers can be called to account, but Christians are not to lord over others, or become the world, to get their objectives. The real primary transformative work is to be the actual radical loving/serving of people with problems and issues in tangible and systematic ways by the confessing community.
Here are some other pieces linked through digg that are involved in this same topic:
http://digg.com/political_opinion/The_New_Christia ...
http://digg.com/odd_stuff/The_Danger_of_Politicizi ...
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Government_in_Sc ...
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Jesus_not_Politi ...
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Government_in_Sc ...
http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Interview_with_N_T_Wrigh ... (comments)- Becca4RonPaul, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3Yoder, I love this comment. You are so right. We are called to be involved, but that involvement is a function of our greater calling, to evangelize and disciple, love and serve. "Christians can not look to manipulate the worldly power structures to do the Kingdom mission." I lack the words to adequately express my agreement. If we are not being discipled ourselves, growing in love and obedience to God, involving ourselves in the lives of others to offer truth and help disciple them (a challenging and inconvenient thing ; ), then political activism is futile and empty. As you said, we can't expect to accomplish through pulling political levers the kind of results which can only be had by submitting to God, walking with Him daily, and lovingly engaging those around us. Good work, Yoder. : ) Thanks for submitting this and offering your perspective.
- Yoder, on 05/07/2008, -0/+5I just copied Yahoo's title, but I see your point. The issue you bring up always comes up in these discussions. There was a good conversation among some evangelicals just a couple weeks ago facilitated by an NPR show where the same distinction between being active and involved and becoming part of the political apparatus is gone over: http://digg.com/political_opinion/Evangelical_Poli ...
- bohemianowl, on 05/07/2008, -1/+3and I say politics have too much "blind faith"
- GWBARNHOUSE, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1One of the objectives is to reinforce our rights that have not been taken away and regain those rights that have been taken away. The mission: 1) drain the swamp that is Congress 2) bring the Judicial Branch into a righteous alignment 3) cleanup the Education system
I am bitter and I cling to God and guns. We will need to lock arms and present a formidable front of tens of thousand to exercise our political will. We will have to resort to petition and peaceful assembly. We will act in faith but not blindly. I am in a condition where I can kick with only one leg but they will have to drag me away kicking with one leg from my purpose of reestablishing the USA of our founding fathers.
The evangelical leaders can say what they want. They do not speak for me, what about you.
- Nannybell, on 05/07/2008, -1/+0I don't think this is necessary. It will serve to work against Christians such as myself who live our lives according to biblical principles and at the same time see no conflict in being politically active. We have a God-given free society, and I think it would be dereliction of duty to fail to take part in maintaining our liberties. What would be good is if prominent Christian leaders would be less trigger-happy in supporting one candidate over another before all the facts are known. We should support ideas, not necessarily a person. As long as that person operates in accordance with those ideas, fine. The minute he doesn't, not so fine. We don't owe unconditional loyalty to any politician, and they all need to be made aware of that.
- Yoder, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1For Becca and others who want the final draft, you can find the pdf versions (full and summary) through this Digg link:
http://digg.com/arts_culture/Christendom_Abuzz_Ove ...
As expected, it does not call for a retreat from engagement in the world and its structures:
"...we repudiate two equal and opposite errors into which many Christians
have fallen. One error is to privatize faith, applying it to the personal and spiritual realm
only. Such dualism falsely divorces the spiritual from the secular and causes faith to lose
its integrity..." The other error there has to do with overly politicizing the faith, or attempts at "Christianizing" the political power grabs.
There's more there too. For instance. they overtly reject theocracy as a goal, and hold up religious liberty/separation of church and state as very important. But, at the same time, they recognize the importance of the ability for individuals to be able to freely present religious views, including in matters relating to public policy and such. Many people these days get two those things mixed up, unfortunately. - ssn697, on 05/08/2008, -1/+1"Janice Shaw Crouse, director of the Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, said the manifesto would confuse Christian voters about the issues that are most important: opposition to abortion and gay marriage."
I ask Christians on Digg: Do you REALLY believe what this woman says? If Jesus came back to earth today, do you think those would be the two biggest issues in his eyes?
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