Culture Wars
A New Breed?
by Jimmy Hopper
Some of you have already read this since I sent the link out earlier but I thought it would be good to put it on the Riverblog since, as someone noted below, we’ve discussed the state of Christiandom quite a bit here. If you have e-mailed me with a comment, please feel free to repeat it here.
I read an article published in a recent New York Times about the death of Jerry Falwell and a shift in emphasis for what the authors say is a “new breed of evangelicals.” You can read the article here. This “new breed” still adheres to some base issues such as abortion and same sex marriages but are described as being more open to other social issues such as the environment, world poverty, and AIDS. Many of the leaders are megachurch pastors such as Rick Warren, author of the mega best seller, The Purpose Driven Life. Although the movement is still basically Republican, the authors see some problems with the upcoming GOP presidental candidates for various reasons. One of the really fascinating things about the article is that it doesn’t mention, even in passing, Joel O’Steen and the other light weight minds that comprise the “get rich off Christianity” group, thus dismissing them as any sort of factor. Maybe they never were taken seriously by anyone.
I found their views interesting, especially on the political evolution of this movement, and I have been almost totally critical of Christian political involvement and don’t see that changing. If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword, and I prefer not to see Christianity judged by the actions and standards (or lack thereof) of some of these people. Especially interesting to me was the quote by Gabe Lyons, raised in Falwell’s church, who has shunned politics and advocates involvement in the general culture, including the arts and media. That quote comprises the next to last paragraph in the piece and says that politics does not shape the morality of a culture but only reflects that culture. To change anything, you have to change the culture. One facet of this is something Jeff Miller continually advocates in his Salt and Light articles; Christians should work to take back the arts instead of a miserable concession, because “Ideas are important”!
Posted by Jimmy Hopper at May 24, 2007 02:53 PM
Jimmy, I know I emailed these comments to you earlier, but, hopefully this will continue the conversation:
When I first read that NY Times article I didn’t even think of the absense of Joel Osteen. But considering that he is “Number 2” on the Church Report’s List for the Top 50 Influential Evangelicals, (http://www.thechurchreport.com/mag_article.php?mid=643&type=year) the silence is deafening. Even though they are considered to be “influential,” they are not even mentioned when it comes to all issues global and social. It reveals the inward, selfish nature of the Gospel they proclaim— is it to “love your neighbor” or to obey the Great commission? Or is it the self-help path to happiness and “your best life ever?” Thanks for the find and the excellent critical synthesis— on the blog and through emails.
I found the article to be fascinating. However, I would just note that the definition of the term “Evangelical” seems to be somewhat malleable depending on whose talking or writing. Going back to the Jesus Camp movie, Evangelicals were equated with Pentecostals. This article seems to imply that Evangelicals are those who attend non-denominational megachurches.
Everyone knows that I’m a partisan for the Republicans, so take what I’m going to say here with a grain of salt. This is coming from the NY Times, which is typically quite hostile to orthodox Christianity and to Republican politics. It strikes me that the piece could be projecting on the Times’s part.
They would love nothing more than for Evangelicals (however defined, far and away the most powerful voting block in the GOP) to drift away from the party, or the party from them. Now, maybe that is happening on some issues (federal spending leaps to mind - not mentioned in the article). And, maybe some Christians are getting really worried about man-made global warming, though, personally, I’m not buying that.
I would like to believe that the American Church is becoming somewhat more active on some types of “social” issues, to the extent that they’re proper mercy ministries (such as our earlier discussions about the Rwandan genocide and the current tragedy in Darfur). I don’t necessarily believe that a proper focus on such issues means anything politically, or, necessarily, trouble for the GOP. If anything, I’d say it’s probably very healthy for Christians and politicans not to be so intertwined.
Clay, I agree with you on a number of points, one of which is that I’m sure the writer is fervantly hoping that the GOP will lose that base of support. I also agree with you that, hopefully, conservatism as a political and social philosophy, will carry the day. I think the problem is that getting the vote out to the extent that it has happened before is not going to be as certain within the religious right (to use the popular term) if the “hot button” issues are diffused and if the gurus divide vote based on perceived issues, i.e. your post on Fred Thompson. They vote the same way they worship; strictly on emotion.
I think that one of the tragedies of the politicalization of religion is that we ARE all lumped together. With the recent spate of books by aggressive atheists; we are not only lumped together with the “Jesus Camp” crowd but even with the radical Muslims, since this is all “evil religion” which, to hear them tell it, is superstitous nonsense that is responsible for every ill and most wars. If you will click on the article again, then on some of the 243 comments, you’ll start to get a feel for this. But I don’t think there is any doubt that conservative Presbyterians who vote Republican are lumped together with the rest in both the popular and intellectual mind as being one and the same. This is why I cringe every time I read one of Pat Robertson’s astonishing remarks. We can do what Douglas Wilson and Marilynn Robinson is doing and develop and expound the truth in an open and winsome way (and I think that’s what Riverwood does in our limited arena.) As they say, however, perception is everything.