More on the Color Purple

Gary Dorrien's very fine history of liberal Protestantism in America makes the case that liberals, starting in the late 18th century, liberals sought to position themselves between secularists on one side and rigid traditionalists on the other -- today we might use the word fundamentalists of left and right. They were the third way, the middle road. Maybe that's what's in store for us -- The Purple Church movement! Purple states and purple churches.

Jim Wallis writing last night, before all the results were in, wrote of the end of the religious right's dominance on moral issues. Moderate Democrats who were able to articulate their faith and took sometimes conservative positions on issues like abortion -- Bob Casey -- did quite well.

Here are the lessons. When Democrats can run authentically as persons of faith, they can beat back the idolatrous claims of the Religious Right that God is only on their side. And when Democrats take a more morally sensible and centrist position on issues like abortion, they do better than liberal Democrats have done. These results are bad news for the “religious fundamentalists" who have far too much influence in the Republican Party, AND for the “secular fundamentalists” who have far too much influence in the Democratic Party. But it is good news for the majority of Americans who are alienated by the political extremes of right and left and are hungry for a new “moral center” for our public life. More good news may lie ahead tonight.

There is the fabled danger of walking in the middle of the road, but centrism has the virtue of considering both sides of an issue. It's able to seek a compromise when necessary, and I think has the potential benefit of seeking what is best for the country and the world. To me, that is a worthy goal, one I can put myself into, as a believer in Jesus. None of this is to say that you can't be a good Christian and a good Republican, what it means is that Jesus isn't linked to any one party!