Your post really hit me, John. It is spot on—there’s so much to say in reply. I’ll keep it brief. …I became a Christian in my early 20’s, which was the late 1970s. I was simply drawn to the person of Jesus. The gospels were (and are!) amazing. But once baptized and formally in the church I was taught (both implicitly and explicitly) that all serious Christians voted Republican because of the abortion issue and homosexuality. I was taught that the key thing about Jesus was not his courage, his love, his obedience to God…it was the purity of his blood. And I was taught that the main thing was having the right intellectual beliefs. I became a zealous Republican, and getting the jots and tittles just right on the creeds was the main thing for me. Looking back, I feel foolish and sad. Though in my 20s, I was so spiritually immature. The Republican “Southern Strategy” swallowed me whole, and I wanted to earn my salvation by “believing the right stuff”. (Indeed, I know people now older than myself who were raised in church, and they are adamant that voting for a Democrat is not Christian behavior.) Sorry this was so long and clumsy. God bless and thanks again for your remarks above.
All good thoughts above... In my experience "evangelical" theological tendencies include:
a. Appeal to select Bible passages and whatever quick self-serving understanding of them lets them posture *against* what they dislike (science and evolution; communism or socialism; the voice or position of women (in society incl. abortion, career options, the church); queer sexuality or other genders; on race; public education or the social safety net; anything that might question their unrealized love of money or of privileged status; etc.).
b. Idolatry of certainty; inability or uninterest in nuance, critical questions, holding in tension multiple viewpoints that represent other Christian traditions or views (in the distant past, this was largely aimed at Catholicism). This is crucial to their disparagement, black sheep style, of any Christian views (especially on politicized topics) that go beyond their simplistic Sunday-school appeals to beloved Bible passages... obviously connected, in style and often substance, to the right's insults even of moderates as weak "libs".
c. Emphasis on individualist spiritual devotion and renewal at expense of physical aid or reducing harms, especially those arising from social and political systems. Helping a homeless or hungry person is perhaps admirable, but helping masses of them get out of poverty (usually understood to be non-white folks) in a systems-wide manner, is somehow not worth doing.
Yes, it seems all too often that the work of the Gospel is subjugated to the whims of ideologues. Names like "evangelical" don't mean what they used to. They have been hijacked by the dregs of our culture who use them to deceive.
You are making an excellent point. It is complicated.
Your post really hit me, John. It is spot on—there’s so much to say in reply. I’ll keep it brief. …I became a Christian in my early 20’s, which was the late 1970s. I was simply drawn to the person of Jesus. The gospels were (and are!) amazing. But once baptized and formally in the church I was taught (both implicitly and explicitly) that all serious Christians voted Republican because of the abortion issue and homosexuality. I was taught that the key thing about Jesus was not his courage, his love, his obedience to God…it was the purity of his blood. And I was taught that the main thing was having the right intellectual beliefs. I became a zealous Republican, and getting the jots and tittles just right on the creeds was the main thing for me. Looking back, I feel foolish and sad. Though in my 20s, I was so spiritually immature. The Republican “Southern Strategy” swallowed me whole, and I wanted to earn my salvation by “believing the right stuff”. (Indeed, I know people now older than myself who were raised in church, and they are adamant that voting for a Democrat is not Christian behavior.) Sorry this was so long and clumsy. God bless and thanks again for your remarks above.
All good thoughts above... In my experience "evangelical" theological tendencies include:
a. Appeal to select Bible passages and whatever quick self-serving understanding of them lets them posture *against* what they dislike (science and evolution; communism or socialism; the voice or position of women (in society incl. abortion, career options, the church); queer sexuality or other genders; on race; public education or the social safety net; anything that might question their unrealized love of money or of privileged status; etc.).
b. Idolatry of certainty; inability or uninterest in nuance, critical questions, holding in tension multiple viewpoints that represent other Christian traditions or views (in the distant past, this was largely aimed at Catholicism). This is crucial to their disparagement, black sheep style, of any Christian views (especially on politicized topics) that go beyond their simplistic Sunday-school appeals to beloved Bible passages... obviously connected, in style and often substance, to the right's insults even of moderates as weak "libs".
c. Emphasis on individualist spiritual devotion and renewal at expense of physical aid or reducing harms, especially those arising from social and political systems. Helping a homeless or hungry person is perhaps admirable, but helping masses of them get out of poverty (usually understood to be non-white folks) in a systems-wide manner, is somehow not worth doing.
Yes, it seems all too often that the work of the Gospel is subjugated to the whims of ideologues. Names like "evangelical" don't mean what they used to. They have been hijacked by the dregs of our culture who use them to deceive.