Greg Forster:
The problem of the "culture war" is dividing evangelicals, especially in the rising generation, into two camps. This conflict is going to determine the future direction of evangelical political engagement. My problem is that I'm on both sides.
One camp says we should pull back from politics. Because of the culture war, political struggle has become an act of enmity toward the neighbors we're supposed to be loving and serving. What appears to be a fight for justice is really, functionally, an effort to conquer people and subjugate them to our will, imposing Christianity upon them by force.
The other camp mostly agrees that politics today is defined by a power struggle between Christians and non-Christians. However, they say we have no choice but to fight for justice. That's part of what it means to be the "church militant" and answer the call to defend the weak and the helpless. How many babies should we allow to die so we can feel like we're being nice to the abortionists? We need to love our enemies, but we still need to fight them. At some level that means we just have to accept the culture war and ensure that our side wins.
The one thing these camps agree on is that we have to make a stark choice. We can fight for justice in politics, or we can build civic solidarity with our unbelieving neighbors. We can't do both.
Not me. I say we can have our cake and eat it, too!
Read the rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment