How the intersection of right wing politics with Evangelical Christian faith is leading to apostasy.

[lees1975]

Last edited Thu Jul 27, 2023, 12:38 AM - Edit history (1)

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2023/07/inside-tangle-created-by-intersection.html

The Signal Press continues its commitment to exposing the undermining and misuse of Christian faith for political purposes.

Inside the nation's largest Evangelical denomination, the former President of its Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission was viciously attacked and vilified by individuals in a conservative faction in a manner that caused him physical symptoms because of the stress and threats to his family. Was it because he was some kind of liberal wolf in sheep's clothing? No, Dr. Russell Moore's credentials as a Southern Baptist minister, seminary professor and journalist were impeccable from a conservative perspective.

So what did he do wrong?
His Christian faith caused him to be openly and vocally opposed to the candidacy of Donald Trump for president, a position that he has consistently held in the face of criticism.

He initiated a program within the ERLC to help churches understand, have compassion for and minister to the needs of women in their membership who are victims of sexual abuse by their pastor or other church clergy.

He advocated for Christians to sponsor and house Syrian refugees from the civil war in that country.

He encouraged the parents of gays and lesbians not to shun their children, or put them out on the street, but said that the key for them is to love them.

He vocally opposed states flying the confederate flag following the Charleston mass shooting, saying, "The cross and the confederate flag cannot co-exist without one setting fire to the other."

And, he argued for Baptists to hold to their traditional interpretation of separation of church and state, advocated by early American Baptists John Leland, Isaac Backus and Jeremiah Moore.

That was too woke for the conservatives in the SBC. So they attacked him. He resigned at the end of his term. And now, he is editor in chief of Christianity Today.

The influence of right wing politics, which have become pretty extreme by any definition of the term, is leading many Christians into apostasy. There's a combination of reasons at work here, one of them being a lack of trust in the power of God to resolve issues that conservative Evangelicals see as symptoms of worldliness, sin and evil. Rather, it's a lack of trust that God will do things that they want to see done, mainly punishing those that they consider enemies.

I have a hard time believing that someone like Ted Cruz is as oblivious to the provisions of religious liberty and freedom of conscience found in the first amendment as some of his proposals, used to pander to the ignorant, seem to indicate. Cruz knows exactly what is in the first amendment, and it does not suit those whose Christian nationalist beliefs compel them to make everyone who isn't their kind of Christian a subservient, second class citizen. The conservative Evangelicals who have picked up the Christian nationalist narrative are leading their churches into apostasy, a departure from doctrine and theology found in the gospel of Jesus, and indeed, a complete departure from everything Jesus believed, taught, and by which he lived his life.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. christian restrictions restrict christians, nobody else. Freedom of religion also means freedom FROM

[Duncanpup]

2. Thank you for posting

[republianmushroom]

3. Does this mean they are starting to wise up.

Don't bet on it.

[lees1975]

5. Some are wising up.

There are those, like in this instance, who saw it coming and warned people before it happened, who are now saying, "I told you so," and others who have seen the damage being done and get their priorities in the right place. When 20% of your church membership leaves and doesn't come back, that has an impact.

Moore wound up at Christianity Today as its editor in chief, where he has broader influence over a larger segment of American Christianity than he did at the Southern Baptists Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Nor has the ERLC, which he left, changed its direction from the way he had it moving. Its trustee board is still mostly intact, and the recently elected officer group in the denomination has backed off the pressure. So while there are some hardline conservatives fuming about its being "woke," they are, for the moment, not having much impact.

[The Magistrate]

4. The Gentleman Is Doing The Right Thing, Sir

That more should do as he reflects to his credit.


"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried."

[FakeNoose]

6. This is why Chump's "base" gets smaller and smaller

Chump loses voters and supporters (who used to send him money but not any more) every day and he never gets any new ones to replace them. Chump can never win the general election, and I'm not even sure if he can win the Repuke nomination. Do they have anybody else? Of course not.

The only supporters that have stayed with Chump are the 2023 version of Hitler's Nazis. Anyone with morals, principles, or who can think for themselves has already gone. Why doesn't the media report that?

[czarjak]

7. Theological nitwits following a theological nitwit.