David Neff, the editor of the flagship evangelical magazine, has written a powerful essay concerning the recent gathering of Christian Right leaders at Paul Pressler’s ranch in Brenham, Texas. I previously penned a post on that event (see here).
Neff begins:
The 150 evangelical leaders who met behind closed doors on January 14 to anoint a Republican candidate for President were wise not to have invited me.
I believe that Christians have an urgent duty to engage the social, economic, and moral threats to a healthy society. That requires a wide variety of political action. However, one thing it doesn’t call for is playing kingmaker and powerbroker.
By conspiring to throw their weight behind a single evangelical-friendly candidate, they fed the widespread perception that evangelicalism’s main identifying feature is right-wing political activism focused on abortion and homosexuality.
Neff notes that it is extremely difficult to imagine progressive Christians holding a similar, secretive meeting to decide which candidate to back in a Democratic primary.
And now the money quote:
When evangelicals are confined to a partisan kennel, it is easy to think we are exercising real power. In fact we are, to use the old Soviet phrase, serving as “useful idiots.”
Neff cites the example of Billy Graham. President Richard Nixon famously snookered Graham as the Watergate tapes later revealed. Graham “got got.”
Too bad more evangelicals don’t have the good common sense of David Neff.
When evangelical leaders make television appearances and talk exactly like a GOP strategist, I’d say Houston, we have a problem.
You left off the paragraph where you disavowed the New Baptist Covenant.
Any Democrat who suffered through Chuck Grassley’s talk (and the long press conference afterwards) knows that NBC 2008 was no partisan pow-wow
David Neff is a cool guy. He wrote the introduction to the reissue of Robert E. Webber’s “Common Roots” (Zondervan, 1978, 2009)which expanded the explication of the 1977 Chicago Call, a progressive Evangelical conference statement that didn’t get as much attention as it deserved, maybe because it’s concerns were just too early in an Evangelical community just building a progressive counter-establishment. It’s in part the program of the Southern Baptist progressives, who had not gotten into any real trouble yet, but were clearly motivated to do so.
I was happy to be among that group, which included Donald G. Bloesch, Richard Lovelace, Tom Howard, and Peter Gillquest–forty-five people in total–whose specific agenda unfolded in the book, “The Orthodox Evangelicals” (Nelson, 1978,) edited jointly by Webber and Bloesch.
I commend both books, the republication of “Common Roots” with Neff’s lengthy and reasoned introduction, and “The Orthodox Evangelicals” in the original edition. There’s lots more to Evangelical progressivism, but these are two solid antecedent sourcebooks. Neff, in fact, thinks you can read Webber relevant right off the shelf, and tells us why in prose as in your face as Luther and as elegant as Calvin.
Dr. Jim Hedstrom
Thank you for this great insight into the “evangelical caucus.” I forgot about Billy Graham and Nixon and that analysis is spot on in this situation.
I am also tiring of some media recognizing “evangelical” leaders as if we all march lockstep whenever one of them tells us how to vote.
The ‘powers that be’ are trying to steer something they may not be able to control this time.
A lot of people are upset . . . they wanted an ‘A’ level candidate from the Republican Party,
but the Party is only putting out ‘B’ list candidates . . . at a time when the country’s needs demand better.
What a mess.
BTW, Aaron, I did respond to Katie, as I know you did also, but I am on ‘moderation’ and most of my comments don’t get published.
Thanks for commenting to Katie. It might help her to understand a bit better.
Evangelicals hanging out with the GOP is a big problem. But I state that the rank and utter exploitation of the black church by the leftist movements that are actively hostile to Christianity is worse. Case in point: black church plants will no longer be able to use public schools in New York City to meet while they raise funds for permanent buildings, and you know that this is just a trial balloon to seek a nationwide ban. That black religious leaders knowingly affiliate with atheists (as well as abortionists and homosexuals) is an outrage.