I’ve had the privilege to teach in a number of settings over
the past couple of months that have highlighted the relationship between theology
and politics. As a result, I’ve seen the growing inclination in the culture to
reject the truth about the Christian message simply because people don’t like
the associated political conservatism. Let me give you two examples.
Atheists Often React Negatively to Religious Conservatism
I’ve often remarked that the atheists we work with on our
Berkeley Mission are far more likely to despise political conservatism than Christianity.
We invite well-known and vocal atheists to engage our Christian groups in
Berkeley and present the case against Christianity. These presentations often
become a platform for those who resist social and political conservatism. The
vast majority of our invited speakers are socially “liberal” and hate the fact
that Christians continue to vote as a united group, opposing their liberal views
related to sexuality, abortion and same-sex marriage. At some point in their
presentations, the atheists will move from evidence against the historicity of
Jesus (for example) to complaints about Jesus followers. They tell us stories
about how they have been mistreated by conservative Christians who have “judged”
them or shunned them as an unworthy minority class. In the minds of these
atheists, Christianity is the root of conservatism and judgment. It simply cannot be allowed; it simply cannot
be true. Their effort to discredit Christianity is as much an effort to
disqualify conservatism as it is an effort to uncover the “truth” related to
the life of Jesus.
Believers Can Also React Negatively to Religious Conservatism
But Atheists aren’t the only people who base their view of
God on their reaction to social or political conservatism. Many followers of
Jesus are also willing to throw good theology out with the conservative
bathwater. I often get the opportunity to teach groups of Christians who live
in areas that are dominated by Mormons. In some states, Christians are vastly
outnumbered and, in many cases, mistreated by the religious majority. Many of these
Christians grow up as a shunned minority and, as a result, they come to resent
the Mormon majority. As one young lady told me, she was eager to identify
herself as anything other than Mormon. She rejected everything she thought
Mormonism represented, including its social and political conservatism. I find
that many of the self-identified Christians I train in these regions are
politically and theologically liberal. They hold these liberal views more as a
reaction to the conservative majority they have come to dislike, than as a
result of their own pursuit of what might be true.
These believers have great difficulty embracing traditional,
conservative theological views related to the nature of objective truth, the
exclusivity of salvation through faith in Jesus and existence of objective
moral truth claims. In an effort to distance themselves from the religious majority
who has mistreated them, they seek to hold views and values that are different simply
for the sake of being different. They want nothing to do with the values
embraced by the majority. They have become more and more theologically liberal
in an effort to be less and less like their conservative “oppressors”.
I Don’t Want To Be A Negative Religious Conservative
I am convinced that, as Christians, we hold the truth. We
possess the objective truth about the existence and nature of God and the truth
about what God values and what He loathes. As a Christian, I think that there
is something worth conserving about the values represented in an ancient text
given to us by an eternal God. But looking back at my own selfish and impatient
nature, I can’t help but wonder how often I have been seen as the oppressive
conservative who shunned those who disagreed with me. I also can’t help but
wonder how many people have come into contact with my fallen, selfish nature
and thrown good theology out with my conservative bathwater. I refuse to
compromise the truth, but I am ever more careful about the way I deliver it.
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