Category: Blog

This piece was originally published at Patheos on November 19, 2012.

As an evangelical theologian, I can’t wait for Christian America to die. Why? I have at least three reasons.

First, Christian America wasn’t/isn’t Christian enough. I once heard Dr. John M. Perkins (the famed evangelical Christian African American civil rights prophet) say in response to the claim of many evangelicals that we need to go back to the religion and ways of the founding fathers: “I don’t want to go back there: I’d still be a slave.” No doubt, many or most all white conservative Christians today who long to go back wouldn’t tolerate slavery as it was practiced then again. But it is still disconcerting that they aren’t thinking of slavery either when they hearken back to that founding era. Their level of comfort with a preceding era generates a sense of nostalgia. I heard a noted white evangelical preacher lament a few years ago that our country is getting progressively worse. As I said in response to this fear in my recent blog post, “The Elections, End Times and the Elect,” “If this is so, why then do many African Americans, Hispanics and women feel our country is getting better? I can’t help but think if our perceptions on whether things are getting better or worse are often bound up with how much we think our special interests are taken to heart and how large or small our own voting bloc is.” All too often, the passion to protect and preserve and promote “Christian America” is about going back to a previous age in America which we often do not realize is bound up with a social contract established by deist and slave-owning Thomas Jefferson and his associates (some were Christians, some were not). What we really ought to seek after is to live into God’s eschatological future framed by the history of God’s covenantal act in Jesus. As liberating as our nation’s ideals are, they pale in comparison to the liberating love of Jesus that sets all captives free (See Luke 4:14-20).

Second, Christian America isn’t free enough. When we Christians claim that we have squatters’ rights—that we were here first, and that the government owes us certain Christian entitlements, we end up enslaved. As Karl Barth said, “Whenever the Church has entered the political arena to fight for its claim to be given public recognition, it has always been a Church which has failed to understand the special purpose of the State, an impenitent, spiritually unfree Church” (“The Christian Community and the Civil Community,” in Against the Stream: Shorter Post-War Writings,1946-1952, ed. R. G. Smith, trans. E.M. Delecour and S. Godman {London: SCM Press, Ltd., 1954}, 31). With Barth’s view, the church has the freedom to proclaim the good news of Jesus; whether or not the state gives the church special recognition, nothing can take away from this freedom. In fact, special recognition can take away from that freedom, for such freedom often if not always comes with political strings attached. Paul proclaimed the gospel, even while in chains in Rome. Nothing could stop him. Paul said himself, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:8-9).

Third, Christian America isn’t gospel-centric enough. The other day I spoke to a group of Christian college students about the need to be discerning, humble and relational Christian witnesses in an increasingly multi-faith society. A young man lamented afterward to me that our country is divesting itself of all the Christian capital we had gained and that objective truth is waning. Whether or not he is right about objective truth waning as our country becomes increasingly pluralistic, our increasing pluralism as a nation allows for us to move beyond the false presumption that everyone is Christian. In the Bible Belt, so many who are not Christians, except perhaps in name only, presume that they are Christians because of the prevailing culture. It is so hard to share the good news of Jesus with those who presume they are Christian because everyone is born a Christian where they come from: they often think—why should one share with them, since they are already believers? The further we move toward a post-Christian society, the closer we will come to having open, honest, face-to-face encounters with people who know they are not Christians, as Paul did in Athens, including his engagement at Mars Hill (Acts 17:16-34). Such open and honest face-to-face encounters make it possible for us to be all the more gospel-centric in our sharing because the gospel is not seemingly diluted by cultural trappings.

Sure I have fears that keep me longing to have certain special privileges as a Christian in America. But at what cost to the gospel do those supposed privileges come? My fears trap me and enslave me and keep me from sharing the good news of God’s liberating love. Fears over such things as losing one’s tax exempt status or that Christians might someday be imprisoned for sharing their faith in America may be realistic or far-fetched. Either way, such fears enslave. But no matter what, the gospel can never be enslaved. Don’t get trapped into thinking that Christian America will help us Christians bear witness to the good news of Jesus. What Barth called “the emancipation of the world from the church” will lead to the emancipation of the true gospel to be emancipated from slavery to American culture and be proclaimed to one’s fellow Americans free of charge. (For Barth’s discussion of the freedom for gospel witness that occurred with the dissolution of the marriage of the church and state in Europe, see Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV/3.1, The Doctrine of Reconciliation {Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1961}, pp. 20-21).

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on November 15, 2012.

We all have blind spots. Whether we are talking about driving a car or moving along in an ethnically and gender diverse culture, we all have blind spots in our vision from time to time.

Since the election, political strategists have claimed based on demographic studies that the Republican Party and conservative Evangelicals are disconnected from minority groups, including African Americans, Hispanics, and women. It has been argued that Republicans and white conservative Evangelical males do not understand the needs and perspectives of these groups and that they have little interest in trying to understand them. To the extent that these claims are true, and to the extent that Republicans and these Evangelicals want to move beyond these barriers, they will need to account for their blind spots (For reports on the Republican party, see the following: link 1, link 2, link 3. Since 78% of Evangelical voters cast a vote for Romney, Evangelicals are also going to have a “minority problem” when it comes to politics and quite possibly how it influences their work in the church and the social issues they address inside and outside the church).

We can learn a thing or two about how to deal with our ethnocentric blind spots and related cultural barriers by attending to driving.

What do you do when you know you have a blind spot when changing lanes? You use your mirrors, ask those in your vehicle with a better view and competence to judge at that angle to let you know if it is safe to change lanes, and put on your turn signal to indicate you are changing lanes while requesting permission to enter the other lane, albeit slowly. People of other ethnicities and another gender can serve as mirrors and as those voices which can help you assess whether or not it is safe to change lanes in navigating the traffic patterns in society and when to do so. Of course, if you never have to change lanes, you don’t need to ask anyone for assistance. But most of us have to change lanes from time to time for the sake of traffic flow and impediments in the way. If we don’t ask for help, we may find that we will crash into others, similar to how Republicans and white conservative Evangelical males appear to be crashing into others in our culture today in increasing frequency.

Asking people of diverse ethnicities, and another gender, open questions about life as they see it in America is important. Listening inquisitively is also important. If the music on my favorite station is playing loudly in my car or head, I cannot hear when someone is honking the horn to warn me of an impending crash when changing lanes. So too, if I have already made up my mind on things based on what this or that radio talk show host or my social club or small group/home community has said, I cannot learn from diverse others. I should not try and speak for these diverse others or be rigid in my thinking that my view on all matters is always gospel; I have my blind spots, too.

One way to not appear disingenuous is to demonstrate that you are not seeking to use them to gain their vote or their tithe. No strings or bumpers attached. Rather, if anything, you are willing to give them your vote and your tithe if they end up revealing to you that you are really blind, not just in one or two places, but across the dashboard. You are the one in need and you want to grow. You are asking for their help so as to avoid crashing into them and to cultivate an America that creates space for drivers of all walks of life to be able to travel unharmed. After all, we all have a vested interest in making sure our physical and cultural highways are safe for travel.

In the end, and here I speak to everyone, we may end up becoming more convinced of our political and religious views through the exchanges on the interchanges of life with diverse others, but at least we will come away understanding better why others vote the way they do and believe the way they do. At the very least, it will make all of us more empathic and more cautious drivers, not offensive ones.