Religion In Danger Of Being Overrun

The primary question facing evangelical Protestants today can be defined this way: Are they more interested in political conservatism than in delivering a biblical message?

The question is relevant, since the 1996 presidential campaign is heating up. The Republican right will play a dominant role in the party’s nominating process.

The New York Times estimates 25 percent to 50 percent of the GOP’s delegates may be religious conservatives.

Shrewd GOP hopefuls, from Phil Gramm to Richard Lugar to Bob Dole, already are wooing such conservatives in early primary states like Iowa. (For clarity’s sake, let me offer these terms: Theological conservatives, or evangelicals, largely believe in doctrines such as the fall of man, the atoning work of Jesus, scriptural infallibility and the virgin birth. Political conservatives believe in unregulated capitalism, a strong military, a limited government role in domestic matters like fighting poverty and opposition to abortion.)

While the whither-evangelicalism question has political relevance, the question has an overriding significance for the evangelical church. Specifically, must a biblically oriented faith be linked to a particular political creed? Must evangelicals be linked to political conservatism?

To raise those questions doesn’t imply religion and politics don’t mix. They do. Both fields are concerned with values and belief systems.

But if evangelicalism becomes intricately linked with political conservatism, does the evangelical church risk being overtaken by a secular ideology?

Could evangelicals lose their ability to preach the gospel of redemption and the sum of the law and the prophets: love God with all the heart, soul and mind, and one’s neighbor as one’s self? To become a Christian, would one also have to become politically conservative?

Perhaps the good news for evangelicals is that those questions are being debated in a new way by church leaders. This month, Christianity Today sponsored a State of the Evangelical Mind symposium in Chicago. The topics included whether or not the evangelical church is pursuing an overly restrictive political agenda.

A number of evangelical activists are growing wary of being too closely linked to American conservatism.

For example, Professor Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary, the epicenter of American theological conservatism, says that: The church has to be in a position where it is able to critique the culture no matter what direction it comes from on the ideological scale.

True. And evangelicals shouldn’t shy away from a critiquing message. The Christian church often is strongest when maintaining a prophetic message. The early church developed strong bonds as believers stood in contrast to the established order.

Conversely, whenever the church has aligned itself with a political establishment, it has risked losing a defining message. Consider the example of Constantine.

After the Roman leader became a convert and attempted to establish a Christian empire, the church accepted special privileges. Unfortunately, church leaders became obliged to support the empire’s expanding secular ventures. When church and state become the same, the church must justify the ruler’s acts.

A more modern concern is that theological conservatives may be swept up with political conservatives into a false triumphalism.

Indeed, listening to some theological and political conservatives today, one can’t help but think that if we just outlaw abortions, trim welfare spending, increase defenses and cut taxes, some new triumphant order will arrive.

But will it? Will fewer abortions, lower taxes and decreased welfare stamp out the forces of evil? Those political aims may be important, but will a new kingdom of God be ushered in?

Bock of Dallas Seminary summarizes the issue this way: The evangelical church must promote a moral message, both individually and corporately. But the church is called to be a servant, he says, not to exercise power.

That comment is one evangelical leaders should contemplate seriously over the next election year. Losing their prophetic voice - their ability to pronounce a defining spiritual message - could be their undoing.