For those of you who have not heard I highly recommend heading over to the conversation at Newsweek entitled “On Faith: A Conversation on Religion with John Meacham and Sally Quinn.” From Jon Meacham:

From the nature of evil to religious reformation, from the morality of fetal stem-cell research to the history of scripture, from how to raise kids in multi-faith households to the place of gays in traditional churches — of the asking of questions, to paraphrase Ecclesiastes, there shall be no end. We think that the online world, with its limitless space, offers us a unique opportunity to carry on a fruitful, intriguing, and above all constructive conversation about the things that matter most.

The names and biographical information of the nearly seventy panelists can be found here among which is one of Evangelicism’s wisest leaders, Albert Mohler. I am quite pleased that there will be nearly seventy panelists involved in this conversation; as Evangelicals, we would do well to read them all, in hopes of better understanding the culture in which we must contextualize the Gospel message. Among the seventy panelists, I would recommend reading the posts by three particular individuals, in addition to Dr. Mohler of course. First, emergent church leader Brian McLaren, McLaren is known for writing the book A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN. By “generous orthodoxy” McLaren means no orthodoxy, he is up to his ears in ecumenism. Second, seeker sensitive church leader Rick Warren, Warren is known for writing the doctrinally ambiguous yet insanely popular books The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church. Third, leading philosopher and evolutionist Daniel Dennett, Dennett claims Darwinism as the “universal acid” that “eats through just about every traditional concept and leaves in its wake a revolutionized world-view.” He also asserts that natural selection accounts for and explains everything from microbiology to the formation of the family and societies.

Rick Warren and Brian McLaren are both members of movements that compromise the Biblical Gospel. All who love the Gospel would do well to understand where they have compromised the Gospel because their error is propagated globally through their writing and sermons. Daniel Dennett is representative of the culture at large, especially academia. However, my main recommendation would be to read the unompromising Biblical insight of Albert Mohler; especially the responses to his posts.

This week the LA Times published a review of an upcoming documentary entitled, Jesus Camp (the article is available here). The film documents “Kids on Fire,” a summer camp in North Dakota. The film focuses on three children Rachael, Levi, and Tory. I may take the time to see the film to learn what perverted distortion of Biblical discipleship is being presented as the status quo among evangelicals, as this documentary will likely play a large role of forming, or confirming, the public’s opinion of Evangelicism.

More important than the documentary itself is the following comment quoted by the reviewer: “I kept saying to myself, ‘OK, these are the Christian version of the Madrassas (those Islamic religious instructional schools in Pakistan and elsewhere, often financed by Saudi oil money) … so both sides are pretty much equally sick.” More and more individuals are comparing Evangelicism to radical Islam; what makes this comparison so important is the clarity with which it pinpoints the root issue. The root issue is that the problem with radical Islam has nothing to do with its violent tendencies but rather its intolerance of other viewpoints, a characteristic shared with Evangelicism.

If this does not serve as a siren to break the silence before the coming storm I am unsure what will. Earlier this month Stephen Green was arrested in Great Brittan for handing out tracts addressing homosexuality (some articles are available here and here). Just last week German parents who home school their children were being imprisoned. I am not going to make prophetic predictions concerning when we will begin seeing laws condemning the Gospel as hate speech or against following Christ[1] on the ballot here in America, although I think it will be soon.
Honestly, if God uses such persecution to shock the dead American Church to life, to rid the church of nominal Christians, and drive the Church out of comfort and complacency and into the nations; then I look forward to it.
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[1] I say following Christ instead of Christianity because I see a vast difference between the two; furthermore, I am trying to eliminate the term “Christian” from my vocabulary and replacing it with “follower of Christ.” I am doing this for several reasons. First, Christianity is an institutionalized religion, Christ did not come to establish an institution He came to establish His Church. Secondly, the world, especially America, is rife with self-professing Christians, very few of which truly follow Christ. The fulfillment of the Great Commission is not found in individuals from every race and tongue and tribe affirming a catechism or creed; but by individuals from every race and tongue and tribe submitting themselves, in obedience, to everything Christ has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). In closing, I will leave you with a quote. “During the time of Christ, we would be known as followers of the way or followers of Christ and the surrounding culture would insult us by calling us ‘Christians.’ But now we call ourselves Christians and the surrounding world calls us hypocrites.” -Erwin Raphael McManus

While Rosie is seriously mistaken in her analysis, I think evangelicalism is largely to blame for her misunderstanding. The unbridled push towards greater evangelical political activism has lead to the misunderstanding that its aim is creating a quasi theocracy. An idea that many, if not most, evangelicals would embrace, depending on their eschatology and ecclesiology.

This misunderstanding has proliferated to the point that the primary dividing line between political parties is moralistic. With presidential, among other elections, looming just around the corner we must exercise due diligence in both how and why we vote. We must also be clear in explaining these convictions to others, lest others confuse the actions of the United States with the actions of Christ.

I see Rosie’s understanding of the situation as representative of the culture at large. I also think her understanding of the situation is representative of the international community as well; most internationals tend to view America as a “Christian nation.” While viewing a nation as “Christian” may be distinct from a “Christian Theocracy,” it is very easy to conceive of the US as a “Theocratic Democracy,” where Christ rules through the passions of the masses.

I think it is time that American Evangelicals embrace the fact that America is not a Christian nation; that we would stop reducing the Gospel to a moralistic message enforceable by legislation, that we would cease to belittle God by reducing Him to a political party, and that we would cease misrepresenting the name of Christ for the sake of political gain.

I think it is time that American Evangelicals realize that the gospel is not advanced on the back of public favor, that self-righteous legalism and enforced morality glorifies self and not God, that God is not a Republican, nor is He a Democrat, as He transcends all worldly institutions, that we have become Pharisaic in our quest for a political Messiah, and that failure to realize these things blasphemes the living God.

18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:18-31

I am sure many of you have heard of Rosie O’Donnell’s recent comments on The View comparing radical Christianity and radical Islam. She is quoted as saying, “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state. . . And as a result of the attack and the killing of 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people.” When confronted about radical Muslims desire to kill Americans. O’Donnell replied, “No, but we are bombing innocent people in other countries, true or false?”

I will post my thoughts on this later, however, I want to know if the majority of you feel that, her actions are unfounded, or are we to blame for her misunderstanding?

Foreign Affairs has an informative article, God’s Country?, describing the current and historical relationship between American Evangelicals and American foreign policy. Below is their description of the article. I hope you find it informative and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

“Religion has always been a major force in U.S. politics, but the recent surge in the number and the power of evangelicals is recasting the country’s political scene — with dramatic implications for foreign policy. This should not be cause for panic: evangelicals are passionately devoted to justice and improving the world, and eager to reach out across sectarian lines.”