I'm so glad people are giving this some serious thought.

Just a little over thirty or forty years ago the church did a lot of its social work, what they thought was right in the of God, in alliance with more liberal politics. Remember civil rights movements? Remember Jimmy Carter? Then society changed. More people became outspoken about questioning or even rejecting the traditional "church values" and it became a big social movement. I think that's what freaked the evangelicals. They jumped over to the conservative side to try and preserve those values in society and look where we are now. A conservative party that has used the evangelical bloc for votes for over 25 years to further its own ungodly political aims. Sad.

i could not have said this better myself, although i've tried at my blog...

i really, truly believe that the answered-once-and-for-all theology that pervades most of our evangelistic theology is at the heart of this. it is the view that *everything* is stark, either right or wrong.

see, here's what i don't get: we read our bibles, and determine that it shows God spelling out what appear to be clearly drawn lines in what we should and shouldn't do - well, at least what the *Jews* in the OT should have or shouldn't have done.

what we miss is that He sends Jesus on the scene even though the law spelled things out "clearly". why? i believe God's thinking was, "You know, they *still* don't get it." the clear-cut, my-way-or-the-highway view that we ascribe to the OT law - can it really be the right view if God himself realized there was something more to understand?

what i'm saying is that we believe Jesus came and "fulfilled" the law - and we take that as He wrote in even more indelible ink what Moses got from God. and yet what does He do? he lightens the shades a bit - shows there's some hints of gray. gray, see? graysee? grace... :)

from my comments here and there at this website, you've been able to surmise some of my viewpoints. i don't believe God is always the same - and never changing. i don't even think scripture shows God this way. i don't believe revelation is "closed". i don't believe the singular focus on "getting saved" is the main message of the bible. i don't believe in the "left behind" series or "the purpose driven life". while i haven't read the book by campolo and mclaren called, "adventures in missing the point", i believe it has a darn good title.

it frustrates me that the Jesus of the religious right is pro-war, pro-tax cut, pro-life, anti-homosexual, pro-upper-middle-class, anti-welfare, label after label after label.

and it's not all sean hannity's fault...

I had a pastor tell me years ago that the church needs to be a prophetic voice to both Democrats and Republicans. I think the Church compromises that call when we identify wholeheartedly with either party. I think both parties are seriously flawed from a biblical perspective and we need to maintain our neutrality, calling both sides to morality and righteousness. Thanks for writing about this. I hope a dialog opens around this issue for both "liberals" and "conservatives."

bravo and kudos to the author for writing and pursuing a solution to this. there are many of us out there who read Revelation and see eerie parallels between the empire then (Rome/Babylon) and the empire today (U.S.?/West?) and know that wedding church and state to create a new empire is just begging for compromise and destruction.

an approach that synthesizes the Christ-like priorities of all political parties seems to be the only real solution.

There is much in this post which requires a response. Let me start with this.

The same church leaders, (Campolo, McLaren, et. al.) who bemoan the influence of the "Religious Right" and the conservative bent (politically speaking) of many Christians, also question the sufficiency, necessity, and even the veracity of Scripture.

What should we make of this?

"Reaching the Liberal Next Door: Are conservative politics a barrier to the gospel?"

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: I think the church has let itself be used, and the conservative politics has certainly taken the opportunity to "use" the church for it's own ends.
Lets face the music together brothers and sisters: We've been playing the part of prostitutes to the politicians pimps, and G-d isn't liking it.
Hmmm....you'll have to excuse me...I'm typing here and I'm thinking at the same time, and I have to confess that intellectual honesty forces me to confess that I'm guilty of this as well.
I've had nothing but contempt for the Republican party, and vis-a-vis anyone who advocated the Republican party's talking points. Which would include fellow brothers and sisters, and I think in my own heart I have allowed it to become a wedge in the spiritual realm to the point where I have refrained from fellowship of any sort with them.
I think I have some talking with G-d before I finish my thoughts here.

This is something I noticed years ago, when (as a Canadian) I first had the opportunity to get to know some American Christians. Looking at American politics from the outside, I made the mistake of telling them that I would lean more towards the Democrats than the Republicans and they immediately questioned how I could still be a Christian. Yet, as a Canadian, the ideas of providing welfare for the poor, universal health care and other measures to care for those unable to provide for themselves seemed to be not just compassionate, but Christian ideas. I am afraid, however, that lately evangelical Christians here in Canada have started to follow in the political footsteps of our southern Christian brothers and sisters and the idea that 'true' Christians only vote one way and all have the same opinions on certain political issues is beginning to take hold. I pray that it is not too late to change so that we can hold different political viewpoints and still agree on the basics of our faith and work together for the salvation of the lost.

Years ago, as a Canadian living in Canada, I often read American authors and listened to American speakers, many of whom presented themselves as Christians and I believe that to some extent I unintentionally became a "believer". Used to my own accepting and diverse culture I failed to see the inclusive/exclusive nature of most of what I was absorbing.
When I eventually moved to the U.S., living through the years in three very different states,I expected to see grace, mercy and abundant life in Christ lived out in and through the church but instead became baffled by the element of "Americanism" that I beieve overshadowed Christianity many times.
The flag at the front of the fellowship building, the one-sided narrow view of history taught in "Christian" schools, the lack of understanding of church history from it's founding forward and the strong emphesis on strictly American church action has resulted in cultural "christianity". Sincere in it's beief in an eternal God or not it is for the most part culturally based I believe. Need I say that I became disillusioned?
In my "cultural lostness" I discovered The God who sees me through His Son and not through the filter of temporal political/cultural views. If we all learned to live in the humbleness of submission to the rulership of our King, Jesus Christ, we would have no need for this discussion.
The Kingdom of God is not a republic or a democracy, no capitalist or socialist system is in place. Instead of what would appeal to our natural or cultural inclinations,(which we could well manage to practice through our own resources), we find the awful truth in God: All that is familiar to us is at best flawed and lacking, at worst a lie. We are called to be renewed--made over--changed to a new being--by the renewing of our minds...to find our identity in Christ and no other. Our thought processes need to change until they are the thought processes of our Lord, the One who has the absolute right within His Kingdom to dictate to us how we will think and then live.
As we walk out our life in Christ and fulfill our callings in Him our lives will appear to be different one from the other and in our flawed ways we will make terrible mistakes as we learn to work out our own salvation. Knowing that this will be me allows me to more greatly live with an open hand of grace, I need it desperatly and chose to extend it wether asked for or not. As the kingdom of God lives within us and we submit to and obey the rule of Christ our varied gifts and callings politically, and in life in general, should be moving us into a more whole life as individuals and as nations.
Returning to Canada after this thirteen year "cultural adventure" I became aware that I had much that I held in hurt and anger towards the American church; I had been immature in areas of my faith and had been wounded. Healing is in Christ; through Him I forgive both myself and my fellow believers. God is neither conservative nor liberal and in truth we should not be either. We are to live out our identity in Christ and must remain vulnerable and dependant at all times on our Father just as Christ did. This will lead to misunderstanding but will advance the Kingdom of God. our eternal and present nation, political system and life.

I will stipulate Wes's point that conservative political views and patriotism toward the united States tend to dominate in evangelicalism. In the mainline, where I do ministry, the opposite is often true. International unity and the authority of global organizations like the United Nations are viewed as the higher authority. In my estimation, arguments about both of these do little more than distract us from the work we are called to do. The politics that enables us to live in an ordered world is important, but do we not have dual citizenship in another Kingdom that is not of this world and yet lays claim to it? And are we not ambassadors of that Kingdom?

Our propensity to identify ourselves politically, all the while proof-texting our ideology with our pet scriptural passages identifies us as being somewhat akin to those Jesus lambasted as "White-washed tombs filled with the bones of the dead".

Jesus made a delineation between the state and following Him, "Render unto Ceasar ..."

Does Paul address the governmental situation at all? Seems he far more focused on the church, irrespective of the government.

We are strangers and aliens with a citizenship in heaven. I love America, and I'm proud of my citizenship, but I'm only passing through. I think we get far too entagled in civilian affairs (2 Tim. 2).

It seems that there are a couple of ways we can look at the crisis in the USAmerican Church: a.) Panic, and make sure that we take corrective measures in order to "survive," or; b.) Grieve that our witness to the love of God in Christ has been tainted by having embraced a nationalistic metanarrative that is rife with contradiction and faithlessness to Scripture...then humbly come before God (NOT as a "nation," but as the faith community), confess our Gomer-itis, and seek and follow Jesus--regardless of whether we end up looking more like we're part of one political party or another. As a friend put it recently: "Follow Jesus...see what happens."

I think a critical issue has been raised in this thread. The question is when and how will the profetic voice be raised to address the threat of "Christian nationalism". I think the 'Christianity Today' community and editorial staff sees the problem but is too careful not to offend those who give them financial support. I have seen several instances of positive steps, for example, Yancey's "The Lure of Theocracy". But this is just a first baby step. Much more is needed to be said. I look forward to future articles.

This assumes that our politics are merely a function of choosing our preferences rather than being informed by our faith. Could it be that many Christians have similar political views because their views are shaped by a common understanding of scripture and who God is. My life is not compartmentalized into faith/politics/ideology so that these things can get "mixed". They are all part of a whole. I strongly believe in helping the poor but I believe the lead on that should be taken by the church not the government. If Christians, conservative and liberal, were doing what they should through the church in caring for widows and orphans, the government wouldn't even need to consider caring for the poor. I don't believe that the government should be about wealth redistribution.
Also, I think this incorrectly assumes that conservative Christians don’t want to see liberals come to know Christ. In most cases I don't think that could be further from the truth. However, I don't think believers should compromise convictions to become like the world in order to reach the world. I try to live my life open to those God places in my path to be a witness to and I have shared a witness with many different kinds of people - from a recently paroled ex-con, to a poor woman sharing a small room with her boyfriend, to middle-class soccer moms - but I don't have to become like them in order to reach them, simply willing to share Christ in a loving, non-judgmental way. (And it is possible for conservatives to be non-judgmental).

The early church's struggle with "Jews versus Gentiles" concerned the question of how far the Gospel should extend. Jesus's charge was to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that" he commanded (ESV).

People have always been predisposed to divide themselves into groups, whether based on nationality, ethnicity, race, or political bent. Perhaps we just like order; we all long to have an identity. The current divide between conservatives and liberals in the United States is, for the church and for its constituents, a distraction from Jesus's commission to his followers.

The great identifier of a Christian is that the Christian is a follower of Christ. After that affiliation -- and being a Christian is certainly more than just an "affiliation" -- can/should come other distinctions.

In the past, I have been a GOP county chairman, a member of a county board of elections, and a candidate for office. I have observed and participated in the political process from every perspective there is.

The fact is that most evangelicals are turned off by politics. It is an often-unpleasant business that has left many disillusioned. Most of them are busy like everyone else. Who has time for another commitment? Many don’t even vote. After all, how often have we seen politicians talk the talk and then flinch when in office? Evangelicals are the hardest group to motivate politically. Trust me, I’ve tried. And as a long-time Republican activist, I can assure you that there are plenty of Republicans who barely tolerate the presence of Christians in the party.

It takes something extraordinary to get Evangelicals to vote as a block. And extraordinary is exactly what the last election was. 2004 was the culmination of three decades of the great shift of Evangelical Christians to the Republican Party. The question is: why did this happen? Since I was in the middle of it, let me tell you. We didn’t have some secret meeting and I have never been in an Evangelical church where politics came up in the pulpit. (I have, however, been in Liberal churches where the pastor showed no hesitancy to “campaign”) Politically active Christians don’t think the GOP is God’s party. The Democrats have simply given them no other option. The vitriol coming from Howard Dean, John Kerry, Michael Moore, and Hollywood did more to motivate the Evangelical block than Jerry Fallwell could on his best day.

The issues of our day could be debated in an atmosphere of respect and tolerance in both parties but they aren’t. When the Democrats had their convention in Boston, Pro Life Democrats were barred from speaking. But the GOP allowed dissenting voices to object to planks of the party platform from the podium in New York.

While I am a fiscal Conservative, the issues that drove me to the Republican Party are the moral/social ones. The question is this: Should the government sanction, legalize, and even condone sin? The government has done all of those things at times throughout our history but, at every turn, there has always been a group of Christians trying to influence the government toward fulfilling its God given mandate as described in Romans 13, “1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities …4 for it is a minister of God to you for good”. The opportunities Americans have to influence their government are unique in the history of the world. With those unique opportunities, come unique responsibilities. That is why, among other things, we fight the legalization of homosexual marriage. That is why we fight to make abortion illegal again. And that is why Christians led the abolitionist movement.

If my conservative politics is a barrier to my neighbor hearing the Gospel, it is because my faith drives my politics, just as it should drive every aspect of my life and my faith may certainly be offensive to my neighbor. Jesus said it would be. If you witness to your Liberal neighbor, and that person makes a commitment to Christ, that person won’t be a Liberal for long. God’s Word simply does not lend itself to being in favor of legalized abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. The Holy Spirit will change everything about that new Christian, including his or her politics.

I am quite offended by this quote in the final paragraph in the above article: "Somehow God will save those people around the world, including our liberal neighbor..." I identify myself as both a liberal and a Christian. In fact, I am in my 20s and have been a Christian my entire life but was not liberal until a couple years ago. My political identity changed when, while on a quest to lose weight and become healthier (which I did successfully, losing 60 lbs ~5 years ago and have kept it off since), I realized that it is large corporations who are producing food of dubious quality, destroying the environment and basically enslaving massive portions of the third world in sweatshops while most Americans eat fast food, drive fuel-inefficient SUVs and wear Nikes. How can Americans (let alone Christian Americans) support such practices? The answer is simple, we've been tempted by these luxuries and have become very attached to them; ignorance is bliss.

Case in point: the megachurch with a built-in Starbucks. Most of my family cringes when I bring up a small idea like changing their lightbulbs to CFCs; they simply do not want to consider that what they've been doing the past decades has been harmful, even though my suggestion makes economic sense it has the label of somehow being "progressive" or "liberal".

That said, I am a fan of Ayn Rand and believe that companies must make a profit. But that profit should include the costs for providing health care for people who get sick from bad food, cleaning up the environment destroyed by harmful products and recycling of cheap, plastic junk.

Here is something which calculus students may find interesting. It's not the profits of a company that are important but the increase in profits. If profits stay the same from quarter to quarter, the stock price will not increase and so the shareholders become upset. This means that in order to satisfy the shareholders, the profits must constantly have an increasing derivative. Which is why, no wonder, corporations do some of these horrible things. Making the quick buck has become of utmost importance to millions of Americans whose retirement funds are the markets.

My question is addressed to the author of this article. Have you ever been to the church I attend, Park Street Church, in Boston? My guess if that you have not, otherwise you would have written something different.
As an American, we should read Thoreau's "Walden", Lester Brown's "Plan B 2.0" and Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". As a Christian, we should read C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and Thomas a Kempis's "The Imitation of Christ". After reading these, how can you not have the same political transformation which I've had?

Somehow we’ve mixed politics, ideology, and our vision for our country, with who we are as Christians. This is a barrier that causes many people who are not Christians to not even want to be around us.

The above statement says it all. I'm only now beginning to have any appreciation for Christianity now that I periodically read the Bible. Much of what I read was never imparted to me in the Sunday School I attended as a child. When I got old enough to have a say, I steered very clear of the church because the entire message from the pastor on down was one of hatred and exclusion. Once I left, I would continually hear Christians calling down woe and doom and hellfire on people like myself generally for petty things like an interest in roleplaying games or believing that gays are human beings. If you ever wonder what makes people who are not in your church avoid you, it's this message. The message that if you're not of Us, you are wholly evil. The message has become steadily more unsavory as Right Wing Christians have mixed politics and faith. The message is rapidly becoming that if you aren't one us, then you are a target. The sad part is that I myself will not live in many states because of the overt hostility of the Christians living there. This is something that you Christians need to be aware of: We don't hate you. We are desparately afraid of you.

The longer I follow Christ, the more I find that I am becoming neither a party-line Democrat nor Republican. I find the dem's bowing to the far left (and the mainline church's support) abhorrent. By the same token, I find the relationship between the far right and evangelicals equally abhorrent on the repub side.

I believe that folks sincerely following the Jesus they know from the Bible (and every Christian should personally make the firsthand acquaintance of Scripture) will see things in both political parties that don't add up.

Christians do not need to blindly follow along and swallow every single part of the package their party hands them. We should not be turning a blind eye to the things Jesus would disagree with, whether we are dems or repubs. We should not equate our love for country with our love for Christ. Every aspect of our lives and yes, our politics should be seen through what Jesus teaches. It's not the other way around. We should not bend what we'll believe about Jesus to fit what our politics say.

But how often do you hear a Christian from EITHER party dare to say something like, "Well, I vote for party X because overall they come closest to my Christian ideals... but I really disagree with them on issues a, b and c." Not many have the guts to say something like that. Nope, it's hook, line and sinker all the way.

My answer to the original post is an unqualified YES.

By the way, R.D. Miller's post above sums up what the problem is for non-Christians. What people who are not Christians in this country hear all too often is this: "If you become a Christian, you will also become a Republican. You cannot be both a Christian and anything other than a Republican."

Dangerous stuff that keeps a lot of folks from the kingdom.

Read what I said again. I did not say becoming a Christian would lead you to becoming a Republican. A political party is simply an aparatus by which we build coalitions in order to accomplish legislative goals.

I live in North Carolina, where Democrats outnumber Republicans in registration by 800,000 statewide. Yet, NC voters elect Republican presidents and senators before they switch back to voting for Democrats on the rest of the ballot. Fifty years ago, to be a Christian in North Carolina automatically meant being a Democrat. The Republicans were those Northeast Liberals, like the Rockefellers. I know many Christians who are registered Democrats. But they don't identify wih the values endorsed by the Democratic Party at the national level.

Committing your life to Christ will change everything about you, including your political views. But in that sense, I'm talking about your response to issues, not party afiliation.

Maybe the issue isn't so much about how we can continue being ourselves (i.e. conservative) while still reaching out to liberals. Maybe what we really need is to do is take a second look at ourselves and realize that we are the ones who need to change. Being conservative and being Christian are two very different, often opposite, things. Until we evangelicals actually convert to the way of Christ (i.e. the way of compassion, equality, generosity, peacemaking, etc.) why should we bother converting liberals to Christ? They're already following him a lot better than we are.

In regard to Mike C's post, I agree that being conservative and being Christian are two different things--people can be one without being the other. Nevertheless, I disagree with the statement that they are often opposite. I think part of the problem is the connotations that terms like "conservative" and "liberal" carry. The post makes it seem that being conservative is the opposite of "compassion, equality, generosity, peacemaking, etc." The truth is that the essence of conservatism is limited government. From there, different conservatives will express this principle in different ways, but all will agree on the principle of limited government. Personally, I favor this principle because I believe that a limited government gives my church as a community, and myself as an individual, more freedom to express our Christian faith according to our conscience. That is why I can be both a Christian AND a conservative. That is why I can be both a conservative AND in favor of compassion, equality, generosity, peacemaking, etc. The two are not mutually exclusive.
P.S. I also believe it is possible to be both a Christian AND a liberal; but not being one myself, I wouldn't presume to be qualified to make that side of the argument.

All of this would be fine if we lived in a monarchy or dictatorship. We are, however, in a representative democracy and so each of us are constrained not to shum politics but to use politics to apply our convictions. We cannot blame everyone else if our country does something we do not approve of or that does not match our faith. Escapism will not work here. Politics is unpleasant but that is our form of government. Jesus said is best when he urged to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar and unto God that which is God's. If we do not vote for people who apply their faith to government then we are foolish stewards of our authority, given by God. I have good friends of both political persuasions and we somehow can still fellowship together and love each other. It was a Democrat and Republican who together helped Chuck Colson to faith. I am passionate about the issues that I think the Bible speaks strongly about but I know other Christians who are just as passionate about issues that are not crucial to me. Between the two of us both sides of the gospel are emphasized. God is much bigger than politics but he uses both parties to accomplish good things. I am active in political campaigns for candidates who may or may not be Christians as I would like them to be but they are willing to serve and God can use them. I think the church needs to help people see issues through the filter of faith but not to dictate to them but to challenge them to think through their positions against the standard of God's revelation. We are too likely to take offense at other people's affiliations.

I have seen more frequently in the Northeast a button that says, "Jesus, save me from your followers" worn by people who would leave the room rather than sit next to anyone identifying as an "evangelical Christian."

That says a lot to me about the anti-evangelism that's been produced by the Church of the Infallible Republican America.

Mary, is that "anti-evangelism" or "anti-evangelicalism"?

As a comfortable liberal christian, I too believe that somehow God will find a way to save the conservative down the hall. I am not sure how, either. Thanks for raising an interesting discussion.

mccarville:
Don't be too "comfortable." The way to salvation is taught in Scripture. Learn it and knock on the conservative's door. I'm a "conservative" (misnamed, but it's how we seem bound to use definitions today), and concerned about my brother/sister, whom you know and I don't.
It's often difficult for Christians to reach out to others, even though it's what Christians do. Why is it so hard? I get butterflies before talking to someone. Others never do. But God didn't called us to become comfortable in our calling.

Pete Linch,

Thanks for responding to my entry.

Fair enough comment (don't be too comfortable). While Christianity is comforting, none of us should be too comfortable.

My point really was I think I am as comfortable being liberal (my definition doesn't necessarily agree with everything other liberals do, just as your conservatism doesn't mean you agree with all other conservatives) as anyone else is being comfortable being conservative.

But why do you say, after I read scripture, you think I need a human and a conservative to explain it. Of course we all benefit by sharing our thoughts, but doesn't scripture have power in itself?

I don't want to be cute here. The question is simple. As we all bring our life experiences to the good news, we introduce our human frailities. Neither of us has a monopoly on truth once we do that.

The question, posed in the original blog in this thread, Asks why liberals don't come to conservatives to see the light. Maybe anyone giving the impression "I'm right and your wrong" discourages people from asking advice. This would hold true for both liberals and conservatives, but it might help start a dialogue.

We may be living in the most trying times of our nation. We will all have to learn the humility we need to trust more in God and less in our own philosophies.

The problem, as I see it, is that we're spending our time within the walls of our churches, rather than visiting our neighbors, preaching on the streets, and reaching out to the homeless and downtrodden, here and around the world.

As we share the Truth of the Gospel, that we are all sinners and have violated God's law, and are condemned to death, they will see the need for the Savior, and have the opportunity to hear the Truth, repent, follow Jesus and be saved.

As we stay in our churches, in the status quo, regardless of how we say/teach/argue that we care about politics, the economic policies, foreign policies, the poor, or those with AIDS, etc., 150,000 people die each day in the world, with most going to Hell.

As evangelicals we need to seek out the lost, help them to see that they truly are sinners in need of a Savior, and share the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus paid the price for their sins, and that they need to repent, trust, and follow Jesus alone for their salvation. Otherwise they stand and will be condemned

I am an African American that is a member of a predominately white SBC mega church in the south. This church is highly involved with GOP politics. I consider myself a Christian not a Baptist and I am a registered independent.

What I have observed in my 8 years at this church is that the marriage between political conservatism, patriotism and Christianity is very strong. My wife and I have had people stop speaking to us at the church because in conversation we mentioned concerns about Bush policies. A person with liberal political leanings would almost certainly not feel comfortable in this congregation. I have heard liberals mocked over the pulpit and pretty much equated with the devil himself.

There is much missions work and many genuine people that love Christ in this church but the mixing of GOP politics with the Cross definitely causes many who might be seeking the truth of Christ to never come close because of the stench of worldly politics.

If Paul rebuked Peter so strongly when he mixed Judism with Christianity how horrified should we be that we are arrogantly wrapping politics and patriotism around the cross??