A Plea to Evangelicals – from an Evangelical

No, that’s not me obviously. The title is that of an Op-ed piece written by David P. Gushee, a Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and president of Evangelicals for Human Rights.

I’ll resist the temptation of calling “Christian Ethics” an oxymoron and consider the article itself.

To be honest, the message of the article isn’t all that clear because the author seems to be struggling with himself about exactly what he wants to say. I think he’s warning conservative evangelicals to be careful about how they present “values.” At the same time Gushee appears to be pleased that Christian “values” have considerable influence but appears concerned about a possible backlash if the conservative position comes across as too extreme. Some quotes from the op-ed with commentary.

“Evangelical politics matter to the general public, which is affected by what conservative evangelicals believe and "value." In the past seven years, we have seen that laws are written based on these values. Supreme Court justices are named based on these values. Executive-branch appointments are made based on these values. And presidential campaigns now seem to advance or collapse based on these values.”

I can’t really argue with this statement as it’s pretty much accurate. Certainly the current administration tends to make its appointments based upon an appointee’s position on issues such as abortion and gay rights and some states have passed laws related to the same topics.

As to whether presidential campaigns “advance or collapse” based upon these “values” remains to be seen as well as whether candidates towing the conservative evangelical line benefit or get hurt from doing so.

“So the general public has come to understand that what conservative evangelicals believe and do matter an awful lot to everyone in this country. Many people are furious about it. But these beliefs and values also matter to other Christians, especially other evangelicals like me. Our reputation is at stake, our voice in the culture, and the health of our religious communities. If the most vocal evangelicals get this wrong, it damages all evangelicals — all religious believers, really.”

Am I missing something here? Are you saying that they have it wrong or not? I assume that the “most vocal evangelicals” accurately represent Christianity as a whole because I never hear any Christians contradicting their positions. Are you saying this ain’t necessarily so?

“If there are people who reject God or the church, Christianity or religiously inspired moral values because of what conservative evangelical political activists do, this is disastrous from a Christian point of view. There are many such people. Here we are at the very heart of our religious mission, and it is getting fouled up by our politics.”

Let’s see, I think he means if the politics of conservative evangelicals drive people away from Jesus, then those politics are counter productive. That’s a real hoot ain’t it? How many of us flaming liberals do you think would suddenly decide to accept Jesus as our savior and buy into all that silly Christian nonsense if only conservative evangelicals didn’t oppose gay marriage?

Yeah sure, the Virgin Birth, The Trinity and miracles would automatically become more rational if we didn’t have all these political disagreements.

“Specifically for Christians, we (should) know that the mission of the church is to be Christ's faithful people, and to do its core work of preaching, teaching and serving our neighbors.”

Teach? What is it that you think you’re going to teach me? And try preaching to me and you’ll more than likely get a laugh in the face. Christian preaching only works with the stupid, the ignorant or the desperate and I’m none of the above.

“As one aspect of our God-inspired love for our neighbor, we can ask the state and its leaders to do justice, protect life and advance the common good.”

Of course that’s your opinion of justice and the common good isn’t it? I assume when you speak of justice you’re talking about justice which “makes sense biblically,” a term which you use when referring to voting. Just what does “makes sense biblically” mean when we’re talking about “justice?” I’ve read the bible and there are lots of rules and laws that the educated among us find downright barbaric. In addition to calling for the execution of homosexuals, your bible commands believers to kill all non-believers and stone to death women raped in a city that don’t call out for help. You will excuse me if I doubt that your bible is much of a blueprint for a just society or the common good.

Oh yeah, by the way, please don’t love me. I’d be much happier if you hated me.

“But we dare not identify the work of any state, any political party or any politician with the work of God or the task of the church.”

Since when? Religion has been focusing on getting a stranglehold on the state in order to be able to “teach” its doctrines through physical force and coercion since man first invented it. Seems to me that’s a major goal of the Christian Right and if you’re looking for an issue that makes people “furious” as you put it, this is probably the one. If you’re making a pitch for the separation of church and state, rather than the form of Christian Theocracy being pushed by your co-religionists, why don’t you just say so?

If you want to know what infuriates me, it’s not conservative evangelicals trying to push their values. This is a democracy and they are entitled to do so. What infuriates me is someone trying to force their religion on me and Christians who think they need to “teach” me. Trust me, I know as much as I need to about Christianity and, like I said before, I’m neither stupid, ignorant nor desperate so its absurdity doesn’t appeal to me.

Conservative evangelicals will continue to be considered the yardstick by which all evangelicals, and possibly all Christians, will be judged as long as those of you who are uncomfortable with their presentation of “values” are silent about that discomfort. Most people interpret silence as agreement.

You can’t continue to try and have your cake and eat it too. You can’t remain silent in the hope that conservative evangelicals will manage to get their “values” codified yet stand ready to say “hey, not all evangelicals agreed with them” when the inevitable backlash occurs which is what I get the feeling you’re trying to do. Christian ethics indeed.