{"id":6690,"date":"2024-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/a-lament-for-christianitys-political-turn\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T00:00:00","slug":"a-lament-for-christianitys-political-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/a-lament-for-christianitys-political-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lament for Christianity\u2019s Political Turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Alberta\u2019s new book takes an inside look at the struggle for the soul of American evangelicalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picture this. A pastor finishes his sermon, offers a closing benediction, then closes his Bible. He has just preached a moving homily on the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew\u2014a cornerstone teaching of Christianity. He walks to the church lobby and begins shaking hands with his parishioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did you get those liberal talking points?\u201d someone abruptly challenges him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m literally quoting Jesus Christ,\u201d the startled pastor replies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but that doesn\u2019t work anymore. That\u2019s weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his book Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America <\/i>leading evangelical writer and theologian Russel Moore recounts how many discouraged pastors have described similar scenarios happening within their own congregations.<\/p>\n

How did we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus Himself are considered too \u201cwoke\u201d for some Christians?<\/p>\n

Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism<\/i> (New York: Harper, 2023).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moore is just one of many evangelicals interviewed by Tim Alberta during his extensive cross-country quest to take the temperature of this influential movement. Alberta is a staff writer for The Atlantic, <\/i>an award-winning journalist, and best-selling author. He is also a Christian, the son of a pastor. He grew up in the church and cherishes the restorative message of the Gospels, but he is also a journalist, intent on seeking facts.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s new book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory<\/i> is a riveting portrait of faith under siege, broken trust, money, and manipulation for power and political gain, as well as hope, courage in the face of a storm, and the ultimate bottom-line question: What does it really mean to be an evangelical in America today?<\/p>\n

The word \u201cevangelical\u201d\u2014from the Greek euang\u00e9lion, <\/i>meaning \u201cgood news,\u201d or \u201cgospel\u201d\u2014was once a respected term of personal faith in Christ. Yet now it seems to primarily describe a political identity.<\/p>\n

A Vulnerable Enemy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alberta traces the genesis of his current book to the aftermath of the death of his beloved minister father. It was July 29, 2019. Richard Alberta, the longtime pastor of Cornerstone Church in Brighton, Michigan, died suddenly of a heart attack. He had seen his congregation grow from a few hundred to a few thousand members, and now he was gone.<\/p>\n

Numbed, Alberta returned to the church he was raised in, this time to honor his father and give the eulogy. At the time, he was unaware that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh had recently gone on air to criticize Alberta\u2019s writing about then-president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

On the worst day of his life, at his dad\u2019s funeral, in the church of his youth, while standing in the receiving line with his family, Alberta found himself confronted and derided.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, in our house of worship, people were taunting me about politics as I tried to mourn my father. . . . All this while my dad was in a box a hundred feet away,\u201d Alberta recalled. \u201cThey didn\u2019t see a hurting son; they saw a vulnerable enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus: Culture War Mascot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alberta realized that something had gone very much awry within the evangelical world. And so for much of the next four years he immersed himself in evangelical culture, traveling the country, visiting \u201chalf-empty sanctuaries and standing-room-only auditoriums,\u201d talking with megachurch preachers, small town ministers, religious political operatives, faith leaders and administrators, and everyday church members.<\/p>\n

Alberta observed traveling road shows pushing extreme political agendas with a bizarre menagerie of religion, election denial, QAnon material, and a myriad of merchandizing, including \u201cJesus Is a Bad A**\u201d T-shirts. The scenes echoed the disturbing images of the January 6, 2021, insurrection when traditional Christian symbols were visible along with QAnon symbols sewn on American flags, and banners proclaiming \u201cJesus is my Savior, Trump is my president.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Paradox of Gaining the World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alberta writes with frankness, detail, and clarity. The reader can feel the author\u2019s heart breaking at what he finds. This is not the church of his father. This is something different, dangerous, and weaponized for political gain. Something that assumes that \u201cthe best way to preserve Christian virtue is to first set Christian virtues aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Jesus warned us that what comes out of our mouths reveals what resides in our hearts, how can we shrug off lies and hate speech as mere political rhetoric?\u201d Alberta asks. \u201cWhy is there an exception for politics?\u201d<\/p>\n

In reading the book, I was particularly struck with the candor of those Alberta interviewed\u2014 prominent figures in the evangelical world who promote the alliance of faith and political power. In their conversations with Alberta, some seem to pause for self-reflection, conflicted about their involvement. Have they gone too far? Others seem so invested that they won\u2019t second-guess themselves.<\/p>\n

Since Jerry Falwell\u2019s Moral Majority of the late 1970s, evangelicals have flirted with using religion to gain cultural and political power. Today, though, a new form of religion has emerged from a troubling mix of Christian nationalism and the cult of personality. Riding a wave of misinformation, this new faith is ripping at the soul and identity of evangelicalism. To many of those looking on, \u201cevangelical\u201d\u2014once a statement of loyalty to Jesus Christ\u2014 has become synonymous with right-wing political extremism. This new religion has damaged the witness of the Christian church in America, obscuring the gospel of grace and Jesus\u2019 message of personal restoration. As Alberta observes: \u201cThe forces of political identity and nationalist idolatry, long latent, now fully unleashed in the form of Trumpism, were destroying the Evangelical Church. . . . Churches were not a bride to be loved, but a battlefield to be conquered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political power as a substitute religion falls short. \u201cThe problem within evangelicalism,\u201d one pastor confides to Alberta, is that people \u201cworship America.\u201d This idolatry is fueled by the belief, in Alberta\u2019s words, that \u201cAmerica is a kingdom ordained by God and must be fought for as though salvation itself hangs in the balance . . . as if God himself would be defeated if an election is lost.\u201d This exclusive focus on America is ironic, given the universality of Christ\u2019s message: the gospel of the cross and resurrection is for all humanity, not just America.<\/p>\n

Finding Our Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are megachurches, dominating the culture, and winning elections really the endgame for the Carpenter from Nazareth?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe in the United States have such an inadequate view of what a Christian is called to be,\u201d one concerned Christian tells Alberta. \u201cThe Bible tells us that we are broken beyond repair\u2014all of us\u2014and that Christ came to heal us. Churches are supposed to be hospitals for the sick. And once we\u2019re healed, we\u2019re supposed to be helping others get healthy too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel Denhollander, well-known former gymnast and now a lawyer, was one of the prominent evangelicals interviewed by Alberta. \u201cDefine your identity,\u201d she told him. \u201cWhen you lose sight of your identity, it\u2019s easy to lust after power, and to justify the moral compromises necessary to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a powerful, sobering statement, one that represents the bottom-line question facing evangelicalism: Which identity will it ultimately choose?<\/p>\n

The good news is that a crisis can sometimes lead to self-reflection, forcing us to pause for a reality check. It can lead us to reconsider what Jesus and His teachings are really all about. What we<\/i> are about.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s book introduces us to pastors and congregations across America shattered by the storm of Christian nationalism and extremism that is raging through faith communities. Many pastors have seen hundreds of their parishioners vacate pews, moving on to other groups that fully embrace a gospel of political power. Yet there are also evangelicals who have decided that their identity is in Christ, regardless of discouragement, harassment, or threats. Alberta tells their stories, too, and the hope they embody.<\/p>\n

As I was writing this review, a bizarre new political video ad flashed across my computer screen. I paused in disbelief. In solemn, messianic tones, a narrator calls candidate Trump \u201ca shepherd to mankind.\u201d The tagline\u2014\u201cSo God Made Trump\u201d\u2014repeats throughout. The religious flavor of this promotion is shamelessly directed toward people of faith. The political manipulation is transparent. Just a few years ago, could such a blatant use of religion for political gain have even been contemplated?<\/p>\n

It is a powerful demonstration of why Alberta\u2019s compelling new book is a must-read, both for evangelical Christians caught in the maelstrom and for those trying to understand it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Alberta\u2019s new book takes an inside look at the struggle for the soul of American evangelicalism. Picture this. A pastor finishes his sermon, offers a closing benediction, then closes his Bible. He has just preached a moving homily on the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew\u2014a cornerstone teaching<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358],"tags":[190],"class_list":["post-6690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-march-april-2024","tag-march-april-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}