Posted on 08/17/2013 6:46:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A fascinating interview in the Wall Street Journal with Russell Moore, the incoming president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. This influential position was held previously by Richard Land, who became a well known face on the cable nets and Sunday shows.
Moore says, in essence, that the culture war has been lost:
‘The Bible Belt is collapsing,” says Russell Moore. Oddly, the incoming president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission doesn’t seem upset. In a recent visit to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Moore explains that he thinks the Bible Belt’s decline may be “bad for America, but it’s good for the church.”
Why? Because “we are no longer the moral majority. We are a prophetic minority.”
The phrase is arresting coming from such a prominent religious leader—akin to a general who says the Army has shrunk to the point it can no longer fight two wars. A youthful 41, Mr. Moore is among the leaders of a new generation who think that evangelicals need to recognize that their values no longer define mainstream American culture the way they did 50 or even 20 years ago.
On gay marriage, abortion, even on basic religious affiliation, the culture has moved away. So evangelicals need a new way of thinking—a new strategy, if you will—to attract and keep believers, as well as to influence American politics.
The easy days of mobilizing a ready-made majority are gone. By “prophetic minority,” he means that Christians must return to the days when they were a moral example and vanguard—defenders of belief in a larger unbelieving culture. He views this less as a defeat than as an opportunity.
[...]
He is definitely pushing a new tone for this generation of evangelicals. “This is the end of ‘slouching toward Gomorrah,’ ” he says. Not only is the doomsaying not winning Christians any popularity contests, but he doesn’t think it’s religiously appropriate either. “We were never promised that the culture would embrace us.”
He also questions the political approach of what was once called “the religious right.” Though his boyish looks bring to mind the former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, Mr. Moore is decidedly not a fan of the “values voter checklists” the group employs. “There is no Christian position on the line-item veto,” Mr. Moore says. “There is no Christian position on the balanced-budget amendment.”
Which is not to say that Mr. Moore wants evangelicals to “turn inward” and reject the larger U.S. culture. Rather, he wants to refocus the movement on serving as a religious example battling in the public square on “three core issues”—life, marriage and religious liberty.
Politically, the evangelical right isn’t going anywhere. They will still play a large role in Republican party politics, and will still be indispensable to the campaigns of dozens of Republicans in many districts.
But to a secularist like me, Mr. Moore’s words sound like a welcome dose of pragmatism. Achieve what is doable, accept the world not for what you would have it be, but for what it is. This is not to say that there shouldn’t be an effort — a war, if you will — to fight on many issues. But perhaps the battles will be fought on a different kind of battlefield — one where moral authority is gleaned not from numbers or political power, but from the light of example.
Read the whole interview for some fascinating insights.
Whether we like it or not, Nietzsche was correct.
I didn't know you were Catholic...so please forgive me for my criticism.
Christians come in all denominations...
You wouldn’t happen to have atitle or a link would you, FRiend?
Thanks in advance ;)
Tatt
I wrote a review on Amazon for that book, it was so good I read it twice.
Most timely book of our time.
Goes beyond Richard Neuhaus “The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America” which itself was a book for its time in the 80’s and 90’s. Since that time we are becoming nearly banished from the public square and our influence for the culture.
Here you go:
Of course they are. Both abortions and marriage “redefinition” involve declaring war on the Genesis 1:27-28 principle and divorcing marriage from the procreative act. While I don’t deny the existence of individual homosexual persons who hold pro-life views, the homosexualist and pro-abortion ideologies are inextricably linked to an anti-Christian and anti-procreative mentality.
Nietzsche is nothing more than a charmer and entertainer, but he is incorrect.
And dead.
He died insane.
And on the third day, he did not rise again.
And Semiramis!
They call her Mary, but syncretistically speaking, this is how they were convinced to join the Church...and they are still as active as ever.
I think it is called Marion worship today.
Co-redemptrix...
Semiramis redux, eh?
Pretty soon Time magazine will declare ‘God is dead’. We haven’t lost the “culture war”. Natural law and Gods commandments cannot be defeated. Regardless of what mainstream America thinks.
That takes quite a bit of faith and courage...and non-believers tend to stand up and take notice.
Money, also. Don't forget money.
Never heard of Semiramis before.
You’ve added to my vocabulary, but as they say
‘Semiramis’ is not in the bible.
So I can’t exactly use it, but thanks all the same.
I notice you like taking pokes at my faith, which was not my intention with you.
I merely tried to have a sensible conversation with you concerning your statement about the Bible Belt being the unconquerable center of Christianity. Which is not biblically supported. Its regional-ethno-religious-centric thinking not in accord with the Bible and not even contestable by most or all Protestant Biblical scholars.
Bible 101 stuff.
Good bye
Ping to read later
The whole gay thing is a luxurious indulgence of a successful culture. If things got rough it would evaporate in a second. Abortion is different because it involves the morality of life and death of a person. I detest gay marriage but I find my arguments against it are mostly abstract, unlike my arguments against abortion. I think abortion is in a different category.
Lol.
Remember that movie CABARET, 1972, with Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey? I remember that song sung: Money makes the world go 'round. Great song!!
Has the salt lost its savor?
With education comes knowledge.
All of this has been my religion/hobby/focus:
Experts agree that five stages of a coming persecution can be identified:
(1) The targeted group is stigmatized; its reputation is attacked, possibly by mocking it and rejecting its values.
(2) Then the group is marginalized, or pushed out of the mainstream of society, with deliberate efforts to limit and undo its influence.
(3) The third stage is to vilify the group, viciously attacking it and blaming it for many of society’s problems.
(4) Next, the group is criminalized, with increasing restrictions placed on its activities and eventually even its existence.
(5) The final stage is one of outright persecution.
We are in the 4th stage, approaching the edges of the middle of the 4th stage. This is true for Republicanism but much more so for Christianity.
Oh I agree, walking into a den of lions is sure to leave an impression. But surely we’re not to that point yet. Christendom has advanced hugely over the thousands of years since then. It would be silly to drop all the way back to that trench.
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