Patriot Pastors and American Idolatry

This week Christianity Today and Christian Century arrived in my mailbox carrying interesting and seemingly connected articles.

Christianity Today carried an article on Patriot Pastors -- a movement that includes Rod Parsley and Russell Johnson of Ohio and Rick Scarborough. These are pastors who believe in a Christian America and are ready and eager -- in the words of Rod Parsley, "lock and load" -- to take on the evil secular liberals who are intent on suppressing/oppressing good values oriented Christians. Theirs is a fairly narrow focus -- abortion and homosexuality, the twin evils of modern American life. For these partisan pastors, the wall of separation is a myth that needs to be exposed and eliminated so that Christians can do their thing! If not, then Christianity will likely be criminalized and suppressed. In Ohio, their hopes have been pinned to the gubernatorial candidacy of Kenneth Blackwell, the conservative Christian African-American state Secretary of State. At this point he's going down to defeat to the Democrat, Tim Strickland, who happens to be an ordained minister with a degree from evangelical Asbury Seminary (so much for the liberal secularists in this race). It's an interesting article, though not really critical (as I read it, it seemed that the author was at least sympathetic to the Patriot Pastors).

Then there is the Christian Century article. Over the years I've subscribed to both journals and in recent years I've found myself more and more in the CC camp and increasingly discouraged by the CT editorial direction. Either they've moved or I've moved -- and likely it's some of both. Anyway, back to the point of this post. The cover story is an excellent piece by North Park University history professor Kurt Peterson entitled: "American Idol: David Barton's dream of a Christian Nation." I have to confess to have had the unfortunate experience of watching Barton's video -- America's Godly Heritage in a chapel service during my short tenure as a theology professor at Manhattan Christian College (Kansas). Barton is a political activist and pseudo-historian who through selective reading and taking texts out of context constructs a version of American history that's simply wrongheaded. Barton isn't a historian at all, but he has led myriads of people into thinking that the Founders are essentially modern American evangelicals. Like the Patriot Pastors, whose ideas he mirrors, this is a narrow vision of a Christian America that allows for no wall at all between church and state. He too tries to dispel the notion that the Constitution provides any line at all. In fact, he seeks to promote a mixture of church and state that simply is unworkable without leading to coercion. But he's popular. He's appeared with Sean Hannity and is promoted by Newt Gingrich. He's vice chair of the Texas Republican Party and appears regularly with James Kennedy and James Dobson.

Peterson makes four concluding points worth attending to.
  • "Barton reduces Christianity to individual morality" -- and God is interested in abortion, divorce, public display of the 10 Commandments, and homosexuality rather than poverty, the environment, etc.
  • "Political power is an unmitigated good when used by the right people" -- Ted Haggard's fall should be a lesson in the fact that power can and does corrupt even religious folk (righteous ones).
  • "Barton makes an idol of the state."
  • Barton's vision of a Christian America has no room for the church." And therefore Barton has no place to go but to the state as a "venue where Christians can act out their public commitments.

I find quite interesting Peterson's final sentence: "Barton, along with many American evangelicals, have turned to politics as the truest expression of Christian commitment." Lest we "liberals/progressives" become too cocky -- isn't this what we did as well. We abandoned the church for politics. Today our churches are suffering and we're on the outside looking in. Perhaps the church is the foundation point for our activism, so that we don't lose sight of the larger picture. Just a thought.

Do I find all of this a bit scary? Of course. This is a narrow vision of American life that leaves no room for disagreement. Whether or not such a program would ever turn into a Taliban style theocracy is simply unknowable. But in a sense it could. My sense is that such an eventuality won't happen, but we simply don't know! Then, of course, when you hear such rhetoric, you can understand the sentiment behind Sam Harris' diatribe. Please Sam, don't think my commitment to faith serves as a cover to such ideas.

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