That's not quite what David Nef argues in Christianity Today, but close:
The 150 evangelical leaders who met behind closed doors on January 14 to anoint a Republican candidate for President were wise not to have invited me.
I believe that Christians have an urgent duty to engage the social, economic, and moral threats to a healthy society. That requires a wide variety of political action. However, one thing it doesn't call for is playing kingmaker and powerbroker.
By conspiring to throw their weight behind a single evangelical-friendly candidate, they fed the widespread perception that evangelicalism's main identifying feature is right-wing political activism focused on abortion and homosexuality.
I sympathize with Nef's view, but I think he misidentifies the issue. The problem is not that Christians - evangelical or otherwise - are attempting to discern collectively whether certain candidates for public office deserve our support over others. The problem is the inherently unchristian theology that is informing the politics of so many on the Right.
Remember John McCain's campaign slogan in 2008, "Country First"? Think about that for a moment. Think about it literally. And then ask yourself why almost no one on the Right even questioned whether putting one's country first might not actually be a form of idolatry.
Which is not, of course, to say it's somehow wrong to love America. It isn't. But America is not God. It's not the church either. And it was to the church that our Lord entrusted his mission of proclaiming the good news, teaching his commandments, and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When Christians forget that - when we let ourselves be lulled into thinking of America or, even worse, some political movement as our first love - we succumb to the same satanic temptation the gospels say Christ resisted:
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
(Matt. 4:8-7; NIV).
Comments