First up from the God machine this week is a story that’s come up more than once over the last 30 years or so, as prominent evangelicals question their role in public life. Do they pursue the political realm to advance their agenda, or do they steer clear of politics to focus on, to borrow a phrase from the Book of John, principles that are “not of this earth”?
The pendulum has swung back and forth a bit, but with the emergence of the religious right movement as a political force, evangelicals have spent most of the last quarter-century moving away from matters of faith, in exchange for a culture war and influence in the Republican Party. More progressive evangelicals have responded, in smaller numbers, by engaging the political world on their terms, and developing a fledgling “religious left.”
An effort is underway to force the pendulum back in the other direction — and away from politics altogether.
Conservative 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.
The statement, called “An Evangelical Manifesto,” condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
“That way faith loses its independence, Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology,” according to the draft.The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed “truth without love,” helping create a backlash against religion during a “generation of culture warring.”
“All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others,” the statement says, “while we have condoned our own sins.” It argues, “we must reform our own behavior.”
The president of Fuller Theological Seminary has endorsed the initiative; James Dobson announced that he would not sign on to the project.
Look for this to, with any luck, prompt some soul searching among evangelicals for a while.
Also from the God Machine this week:
Some evangelicals are convinced their churches aren’t nearly political enough, prompting one major religious right group to urge pastors to ignore federal tax law, put their church’s tax exemption at risk, and help the Republican Party this election season.
A Religious Right spokesman with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention says he plans to counsel pastors to “cross the line” in telling church members how they should vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Kenyn Cureton, vice president for church ministries for the Family Research Council, discussed his work with iVoteValues.org–a collaborative effort of the FRC, Focus on the Family and the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission to register and educate voters–in a radio interview April 22 with Faith2Action founder Janet Folger.
Folger, a conservative Christian activist who supported Mike Huckabee for the Republican nomination for president, expressed alarm that so many people in her church seemed to be considering voting for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, despite both the Democratic candidates’ liberal policies on gay rights and abortion.
And, finally this week, the political controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright has brought new attention — some welcome, some not — to the denomination Wright calls home.
Just as Senator Barack Obama has spent this week trying to stem the damage to his campaign from statements by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., the small, theologically liberal Protestant denomination both men belong to, the United Church of Christ, has been grappling with the impact of the controversy upon its members.
On Thursday, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the denomination’s president, posted an open letter on the United Church of Christ’s Web site acknowledging that members have been dealing with “the same broad set of emotions and frustrations that have been expressed nationwide in recent days and weeks.”
Mr. Thomas said he had heard concern from members about the well-being of the church and its congregations.
“While there is high regard for Reverend Wright’s ministry and leadership at Trinity U.C.C. in Chicago during the past 36 years, and for his prophetic, scriptural preaching,” Mr. Thomas wrote, “many of us today are troubled by some of his controversial comments and the substance and manner in which they have been communicated, both by him and as characterized by the media.”
The Wright-driven discomfort isn’t limited to the political world.