Posted on 08/16/2008 2:30:11 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
Are evangelicals swerving to the left in American politics?
Throughout the primary season, the mainstream media loudly trumpeted the idea that younger evangelicals' attention to the environment and "social justice" issues signals a departure from traditional concerns such as abortion and marriage.
Rumblings of this shift within the conservative coalition heightens interest in a remarkable event Saturday: The Rev. Rick Warren, one of America's most influential evangelicals, is set to question presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama during their back-to-back appearances at his 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.
Warren, whose 2002 bestseller The Purpose Driven Life made him a celebrity, has said he will focus on the presumptive nominees' "faith, values, character and leadership convictions" during the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency. The pastor lists climate change, poverty, AIDS and human rights among what he calls "pressing issues that are bridging divides in our nation."
The forum is an occasion to redirect the debate over social justice. First, it should challenge the notion that evangelical Christians only now are beginning to care. History tells a different story: Whether fighting to abolish slavery, reform prisons or found hospitals and schools, evangelicals long have been at the forefront of improving conditions for those at society's margins.
Second, the questions Warren poses should clarify that the real issue -- for evangelicals and all Americans -- has less to do with different sets of concerns than different conceptions of government's role in addressing those concerns.
Where will today's evangelicals -- younger ones in particular -- direct their desire for a better world? Will they channel it into support for government-driven solutions? Or toward more personal and congregational engagement?
Big-government approaches often end up doing more harm than good. For example, subsidies for ethanol, meant to reduce America's oil insecurity and fight global warming, triggered artificial shortages and higher prices for food around the world. Hardest hit: the poorest of the poor.
Similarly, social crusaders overlook effective antidotes to poverty when they take their eyes off the family. A child born and raised outside marriage is seven times more likely to live in poverty than a child born to married parents. Shouldn't that fact alone make marriage a priority in any effective anti-poverty campaign?
Finally, in considering government's contribution to justice, all of us would do well to heed the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The 20th-century German theologian, revered by many evangelicals, spoke of government's proper role as "preparing the way." His phrase is a reminder not to expect government to solve all our problems, but rather to encourage or protect those who can.
Imprisoned by Hitler and executed near the end of World War II for opposing the Nazis, Bonhoeffer was all too familiar with government attempts to build a "kingdom on earth." He believed instead that government is a servant that clears away brush or obstacles from a path. It should sustain a safe, secure space for families, neighbors and congregations to do good and care for one another.
Bonhoeffer's view, of course, aligned with the Bible's description of political authority. The task of kings and governors, 1 Peter 2:14 teaches, is "to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." Notice, rulers aren't said to be direct providers of the good. Responsibility for "doing right" falls to others, whom government commends and protects.
"Protecting the good" rather than "providing the good" also is the vision of government described in the U.S. Constitution. Because Warren has said one goal of his Saddleback forum is to explore McCain and Obama's understanding of the Constitution and its principles, he would do well to ask whether they agree government isn't intended or equipped to tackle every social ill.
Warren himself has leveraged his influence for good, studying what works and what doesn't in meeting needs. He forged a strategy to link churches into a giant "network of networks" dedicated to relieving poverty and misery in developing nations. He hopes to count 10,000 churches in the network by 2010, and ultimately to mobilize one billion Christians worldwide.
Now that's a plan young evangelicals can get excited about. They're looking for ways to make their faith their own, to see it change the world.
Saturday's forum can help shape a more fruitful national discussion about social justice and true compassion. Good intentions don't necessarily lead to the most effective or just public policies. It's an opportunity for an audience of millions to see the importance of individuals and communities taking up responsibility for doing good.
Government exists, the Bible and Constitution agree, to protect such common cause.
Ryan Messmore is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at the Heritage Foundation.
First appeared on National Review Online (nationalreview.com)
Ahhhh.... No.
it’s the party of baby killers and homosexuals.
Enough said.
Rick Warrren is the very definition of false prophet.
the kind the bible warns us about.
The ‘RATS warned us after the 2004 election that they were going to do this. Many of the DemocRAT “stategeryists” said that the ‘RATS had to do things that would make them appear more religious to the ignorant “Joe Sixpack.”
I have some friends that go to one of those “big box churches” (for lack of a better term). They lean so far Left it makes me dizzy.
Sorry. The Baptists around here are voting Obambi no matter what.
The culture of life is coming in a poor second to people’s pocketbooks, gasoline prices, food inflation, and housing equity.
One of our good friends is an elder and refuses to even entertain a GOP argument.
There always has been a market for liberal mega churches
so that lefties can have a place to go and not feel so
guilty about supporting homosexuals and baby killers.
These are people who weren’t voting for us anyway and can now call themselves “christians” as they “go to church” and help kill another baby and help another homosexual couple get their right to marry and adopt children.
Since when has spiritual psychobabble replaced speaking in tongues?
Comment:
OBAMA CHRISTIAN IN NAME ONLY (CINO)
No true believer in Christ can condone the murder and destruction of what God put on this earth whether inside or outside a mothers womb.
Barry Hussein Obama follows a faith that allows him to believe that it is OK to murder Gods children.
Jeremiah 14:14 (New International Version)
14 Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries [a] and the delusions of their own minds.
Matthew 7:15 (New International Version)
A Tree and Its Fruit
15”Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
Romans 3:7
Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
2 Peter 2:1
[ False Teachers and Their Destruction ] But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
1 John 4:1
[ Test the Spirits ] Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
“Sorry. The Baptists around here are voting Obambi no matter what.”
Sold out pretty cheap, eh?
“The culture of life is coming in a poor second to people’s pocketbooks, gasoline prices, food inflation, and housing equity.”
Never mind that the Democrat policies create higher energy prices. Stupidity, is it an incurable disease?
“One of our good friends is an elder and refuses to even entertain a GOP argument.”
DEMOCRATS MAKE YOU POORER.
So what your saying is these Baptist are phony Christians. Giving these people $1000 for gas is more important than saving lives. They were never really Christians. I hope they pay dearly for their position.
Interesting.
Obama is the antichrist and rick warren is the false prophet using sheeps clothing to cast him as an evangelical.
Oh, and I still see it’s okay for RATS to use a religious venue while had republicans set any such event up it would be shot down with the same RATS crying “seperation of church and state” at the top of thier lungs.
The big hook for the Christians in the Republican party is the Pro-Life platform, and the conservative agenda. Offer a candidate who is an opportunist (at best) on life, and a liberal in other respects, and there is no reason for the Christians to stick around. You asked for it, you got it.
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