A Christian Can Be a Christian or a Liberal, But He Can’t Be Both

Townhall ^ | 23 October 2004 | Doug Giles

[concretebob]

Can a Christian be a liberal? Short answer: no. There is no way a Christian can buy into neo-liberal ideology and be faithful to the bigger-than-Dallas teachings of the scripture and expect to continue enjoying his hard-won religious liberties.

[concretebob]

This should be a topic of discussion in every adult Sunday School class.

Old time religion with a laptop

[P-Marlowe]

[Cindy]

"Can a Christian be a liberal? Short answer: no."

That answer is correct.

A CHRISTian is a follower of CHRIST.
A liberal is a follower of politically correct tolerance.
The two don't mix.

Anyone who takes issue with what I just said hasn't read
the Bible OR you did not understand what you read in the
Bible.

Yep.

It's that simple.

[ladyinred]

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I can never understand how anyone calling oneself a follower of Christ could be a liberal. They must have to close their eyes and minds to the things they have to know are an abomination to God.

[My2Cents]

By their very nature, post-modern liberals have replaced God with the state, Christianity with the religion of politics, the clergy with elected officials, and prayer with civil litigation.

[My2Cents]

To see the corrosive effects of liberalism on Christianity, simply take a look at the "conservative" churches in liberal communities (from my personal experience, I'm considering Davis, CA, home of a University of California campus). Even in the so-called conservative churches, shallow "seeker friendliness" has replaced a deep and strong faith. "Do-goodism" and lifestyle have replaced Jesus Christ at the center of teaching and practice. And the blood of Christ has been jettisoned as "too offensive" to the contemporary person the churches are trying to reach. I thank God that He delivered us out of one of these "conservative" churches in Davis.

[Cindy]

Sad and cold, isn't it?

[unspun]

Sure, a Christian can be a liberal. Christians sin all the time. The writer should ask and answer the right question.

[My2Cents]

True Christianity, and the true sufficiency of Christ, stand in radical opposition to the kind of militant secularism which characterizes contemporary liberalism. The liberal worldview, where man is essentially good and where all suffering is the result of "poor self-esteem" (or some other psychobabble) and lack of "enablement," is completely at variance with the Christian worldview of sin, redemption, and dependence upon God.

[Cindy]

Yep.

[wardaddy]

Lib Christians are all about good deeds and being nice.

I don't think any Christian can be pro-infanticide....no way.

[NZerFromHK]

I agree with you: the politically conservative position is more biblical than the liberal stand. But I have met so many gung-ho liberal supporters who also happen to be Christians. (They are pro-life and anti-porn, but on all other issues they are as liberal as the New York Times Editorial board)

Or how about this article by the renowned Christian pastor Randy Alcorn?

---

http://www.epm.org/articles/conservx.html

Conservative, Liberal or Christian?

by Randy Alcorn

...

Let's change the bad and preserve the good. In doing so we will sometimes look like conservatives, sometimes liberals. But what we look like to men shouldn't matter. What we look like to God, the Audience of One, should. (He is neither Republican nor Democrat. He rides neither on elephants or donkeys. He is the ultimate independent.)

God doesn't care about conservative and liberal, he cares about what is true and right and just and compassionate and biblical. (He does therefore care about political party beliefs, platforms, moral positions and policies. Before standing behind any party we better be sure these harmonize with his Word. That's part of being a Christian first.)

So, when the status quo is right, let's conserve it. When the status quo is wrong, let's get liberated from it.

Is Jesse Jackson right about some things? Sure. About everything? No way. So if you defend Jesse Jackson, you better qualify your defense. If you attack him you better qualify your attack.

"Rush is right" cries out for clarification. Right about what? Some things? Sure. (Keep this in mind if you're a Rush basher. Better qualify your attack.) Most things? Maybe. All things? No way. So if you defend Rush Limbaugh, you better qualify your defense. After all, Rush is no more God than he is the devil.

I happen to believe that despite its limitations, conservatism is right more often than it is wrong. Still, it is sometimes wrong, it often does not resonate with the compassionate heart of God, and it never saves the soul.

"Rush is Right" is only true sometimes. "Jesus is Lord" is true always. "Rush is Right" requires qualification. "Jesus is Lord" does not.

...

---

I'm quite uncomfortable with Mr Alcorn's (who is one of the most passionate pro-life activists in America) article because he sounds a lot like the "religious left" here and his arguments are often used by politically liberal Christians to bash against politically conervative activist Christians.

Comments welcome.

[aimhigh]

The core positions of liberals are:
1. abortion on demand,
2. compassion with other people's money,
3. sexual freedom without responsibility.

In other words, murder, theft and immorality. No, you can't be a Christian and a liberal. You can be deluded and be a liberal.

[Taggart_D]

Mr. Alcorn may sound watered-down (I get the feeling he deals with liberal-christians alot...and this may be his special calling), however, if you read the policies of his organization and the political views....its conservative all the way...I encourage you to peruse his web-site a bit more.

[dsc]

I've been saying that for at least ten years.

[AskStPhilomena]

Virtaully all our Catholic bishops are liberal.
Are you implying that they're unChristian?

[concretebob]

I implied nothing. I post what I think will be interesting and informative. A number of priests are also convicted pedophiles. That does not imply, nor should you infer, that all priests are pedophiles.

[DarthVader]

You can't be a Christian and a liberal=Satanist.