Culture Wars

          There is an ongoing culture war in the United States. It’s a timeless war that ebbs and flows with the winds of change. The current wind is political, but it’s also religious. As strange of bedfellows as politics and religion may seem, this is America and we are not surprised. The battle between church and state and the resulting culture wars are more American than mom, apple pie, and baseball. This pastime has been nothing short of a national lovers’ quarrel from our founding.
          Our culture wars evolve as the issues evolve and the battles may take various forms such as between: White vs. Black, North vs. South, urban vs suburban vs rural, conservative/traditional vs. liberal/progressive, Christian vs Non, and so on. But there is always that pervading element of culture in each pushing forth the notion that groups must preserve and protect their beliefs and ways of life. If we could simply stop at preservation of culture, then there’d be no war. The aspect of war comes from one group’s collective fear that a group with opposing or differing beliefs and values poses a threat.
           The issues include the debate between Evolution and Creationism, gun-rights/gun-control, homosexual marriage, affirmative action, abortion and women’s rights, access to healthcare, poverty issues, social justice issues, school prayer, 10 Commandments displays and nativity scenes on public property, English as official language, and immigration and the list goes on.
          Our country has had some knock down and drag out fights including the one that almost cost us the Union, other unfulfilled threats of breaking up, many mind games, lots of back-stabbing, but the prevailing sentiment has been to stay together for the sake of the kids. We the citizens are the kids in this scenario, but our two parents of church and state seem always to get back together without ever reaching a lasting compromise. One might suggest marriage counseling, but should it be from a secular or Christian counselor? 
          Convenient targets though they are, the culture wars are not the fault of your least favorite politician. Obama didn’t start this, nor did Romney, and regardless of who wins in November neither will end it. We are fighting battles that are older than our country, much older. I’m in the U.K. right now and as I am wont to do I have been talking the two subjects we are often taught to avoid in polite conversation: politics and religion. Our British allies appreciate our struggles and one cannot help but perceive them enjoying wry amusement at our expense as they observe our young country as we squabble amongst ourselves much as their older nation has done lo these many years.
          It is tempting, though it would be fruitless in this discussion to compare the Obama years to the George W. Bush years. Most of us are convinced one way or another, so instead of casting blame on the one whom many on the right think is unworthy for their believing he’s the foreign-born, Muslim, antichrist or the one who many on the left think was ineligible because of the perceived partisan decision of the Supreme Court who decided the election or because of a lack of faith in his intellect, let us look at ourselves individually and at our nation collectively. No matter how we break it down, this is about all of us, individually as well as collectively. What are the roles of both church and state, and what are the cultural ramifications? Should the church tell the government how to operate? Should the government dictate the actions and procedures of the church?
          We seem simply incapable of the notion of “live and let live”. Too often it is not enough to simply disapprove or not partake of another culture, we want to denigrate it, regulate it, legislate it, or eradicate it. We as Americans love and celebrate our freedoms, and rightly so, but so often we have difficulty extending to others their freedoms if we believe they are wrong. We in God’s Kingdom seem to want to do legislatively what we have failed to do relationally. Our individual Christian witnessing and the collective work of the church has not provided the results we long for, that we feel God wants of us, so we turn our attention to the United States government to enforce our beliefs. In so doing we have divided the church, divided the nation, run off younger generations of believers, and alienated non-believers to the point that our beliefs are of little consequence. Those we wish to reach, are called to reach, have written us off because they have seen our rampant hypocrisy, incessant power-grabbing, bruising infighting, and unrestrained greed.
          Neither of our two major political parties can claim a monopoly on God or morality. Democrats may, if they bother at all, rather uncomfortably and often unconvincingly, pick up the religious banner when vying for black and Hispanic votes, just to lay it down in the world of academia or Hollywood just as Republicans bible thump significantly more when in evangelical strongholds than they do with Wall Street and Country Club Republicans. It wasn’t Scripture that Obama was quoting that helped him raise massive funds in Hollywood no more than Romney was telling the story of the rich young ruler to the millionaires at his now infamous Florida fundraiser.
          Without delving in to the content, the title of Jim Wallis’s book says it all: “God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.” As long as we hold to positions that declare our side is right no matter what, we lose. Regardless of which side you take on any of the culture war issues, there are good people on the other side. Yes, even the issues that seem so open and shut, cut and dry, and that you have a crisp little Scripture to place behind, maybe especially those issues. It is also true that there are forces and influences on both sides of these issues that are suspect and bear watching. This should motivate us, not paralyze us, but let us look as critically at our side of the culture wars as we certainly do our opponents. Spiritually speaking, my friend Charlee refers to the role of God in such exercises of humility as the Giant Mirror. On both sides of these various issues we are so busy attempting to remove that speck from our opponents’ eyes that we fail to see the beam in our own.
          Winston Churchill once acutely observed with penetrating insight that, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing . . . after they have exhausted all other possibilities." It’s one thing for that to be said of us as Americans, but what is truly mournful is that it could also be said of the church in America. No matter your stance on these significant cultural issues, if you are a follower of Jesus you are first called to love. No matter how sincere, how right, or how justified you may feel in your position, it is meaningless if your viewpoint is not grounded in love. But what about your opponents whose beliefs aren’t rooted in Christ or on your biblical interpretation? Love them anyway. No, love them especially.

Room in the Kingdom

Sometimes church and churchy people make me want to scream. I feel like an outsider among my own people. From being with a few individuals or crowds of thousands of evangelical Christians, I can feel that I’m simply the only one in the room that is hearing what’s just beneath the surface – cultural, religious, denominational, political undertones and sometimes even sexist, racist, and anti-poor undertones. At one such recent event, I heard a famous lady prophet rail against homosexuals and those who defend them all in the name of our God who so loved the world. She shouted that America should model our government after Israel. (Israel, by the way, in its current state is a secular state that has universal healthcare). Then, she railed against secularism and universal health care. She shouted how the church should be about love, then she announced raising up 500,000 intercessors to pray against our President so we can “take our country back.”

I wanted to absolutely scream. I wanted to yank the microphone out of her hands and. . . well, scratch that. Anyway, this lady, who loves and serves the same Jesus that I do, said such ludicrous things that I was embarrassed to be present. I was literally praying to God that my face not be caught on camera and later be shown on youtube being in this crowd listening to this shrieking woman. I was embarrassed and ashamed for myself, for her, and for the thousands of people in this church building applauding wildly as she spoke and “prophesied.” I realize that I’m in charge of my own thoughts and attitudes, but this woman made it difficult for me not to speak in tongues and I’m talking redneck tongues not the heavenly kind. Not only did I not agree with her, I thought she was horribly out of line on so many levels and I did NOT believe that she was getting her information from God, which would be the indication since she considers herself a prophet.

I actually had a few moments before I walked out in protest where I said to God in my mind, “I am so ready to be done with this whole movement, I am sick of these people.” Now, there’s no way I’ll ever be done with God. He’s my Rock. I could not live, would not want to live without Jesus, but once again the lyrics to the country songs, “Me and Jesus got our own thing going” and “I don’t believe that Heaven waits for only those who congregate” called to me in my desire to just do my own thing.

Then, God spoke. I was complaining and sharing my list of reasons for wanting to walk away from evangelicalism including the speaker who was violating my ears as well as a growing list of other offenders – Lou Engle for rallying support for an anti-gay bill in Uganda with the death penalty being one of the consequences for the “guilty”, for Pat Robertson saying that it’s okay to divorce a spouse with Alzheimers, for the pastor in Florida hosting a Koran burning, for that old preacher-man in California telling of how the Lord told him the world was going to end last year, for my Conservative friends who demonized Bill Clinton for his affairs now turning a blind eye towards Newt’s infidelities, for my Republican friends who criticize Obama’s version of Christianity if they recognize it all now defending Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, for the Texas televangelist referring to the Catholic Church as the Great Whore, for the same televangelists claiming that largely black New Orleans deserved Katrina going on to express sympathy for largely white Joplin during the tornadoes there, for preachers, pastors, and the media for making the word evangelical synonymous with Conservative politics.

I felt surely I had made a good case to God for why I no longer wanted to be an evangelical Christian. I believe in an Ever-Present, Living God, who yet speaks. I believe that I know my Father’s voice. There are many times when I feel like God lays something on my heart or that His Spirit impresses something on mine. Here’s what I heard:

I did not call you to be a Christian, I called you to follow Christ. I did not call you to be an evangelical, I called you to share the Good News. I did not call you to follow any Christian man or woman, but to love them whether you agree with them or not.

I felt the Spirit lovingly challenge me, How can you hate Lou Engle when he is my child, your brother? How can you criticize him for his involvement with something you see as hateful, then turn and hate him? Why spend time criticizing the man in Florida for burning a Koran when you haven’t handed someone a Bible in years? Pray for these men and for yourself. Why speculate on whether Pat Robertson is right or wrong when you have friends that need encouragement in their relationships and yours could use some work? Why choose to be identified with just evangelical Christians which is a manmade term, when I speak of one church and Kingdom? Why be exclusive when I am all-inclusive? Why allow the loud-mouths who get the microphone and media attention to run you away from the Kingdom? Why turn your attention towards them when you’re called to be seeking first the Kingdom of God?

I was momentarily humbled, but not finished, so I tried again. I was pitiful in my whining before the Lord, hinting that He should be merciful with me, that He should excuse me from being associated with certain Jesus followers who in my opinion are mean-spirited morons. God wouldn’t have it, not even after I stated my case so clearly. I cherry-picked evangelicals of note whom I deemed as racists. I hand-selected televangelists who I’ve decided are money hungry and greedy. I reminded God of the Moral Majority getting started because middle class black families were sending their children to private Christian Schools in the South and the U.S. Supreme Court said the schools had to allow this much to the chagrin of the “Christian” segregationists. God still wouldn’t budge.

I shared with God my version of Christianity and was even nice and patient enough to explain to Him how much superior my version was to that of many of my peers on opposite sides of the proverbial church aisle. They preach a health and wealth prosperity Gospel, while I count more verses calling us to love and serve the poor. They preach a traditional, conservative way of life, while I honor diversity. They preach good stewardship of finances, when I like the verse about the rich young ruler being told to go sell all that he has and follow Him (as long as I’m not the rich young ruler).

I went on and on about how all in the name of Christianity our country stole this land from the Native Americans, more or less killed them off, and then went on to enslave another race of people for generations and continue to benefit from their labor. All of this while many of the slave owners considered themselves devout Christians. I reminded God of how many of the descendants of these slave owners continue many of the same tactics all these years later. I even reminded God that the Southern Baptist Convention didn’t officially apologize for their role in slavery until 1995, and that they didn’t support the Civil Rights Movement in its day either.

I tried to get God to see that the liberals in the It Gets Better commercials/ads show more love without mentioning Him than the preachers and pastors making Adam and Steve jokes. I reminded God of MLK’s words that 11:00 on Sunday is still the most segregated hour in Christian America. I urged God to consider the millions of dollars that have been spent on Pro-Life causes by Christians who do not adopt or foster homeless children, nor support programs that provide housing and healthcare for destitute women, infants, and children. I even pointed out to God that these same Pro-Life people are often very pro-death penalty and pro-war. Surely, this would make God take it easy on me.

I reminded God of Ann Coulter’s quote about His Creation, “God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.” I pleaded with God to remember all of the Christians who laugh in the face of the science that God created and say global warming isn’t real and the ones who believe that the gifts from God that are our air and water can be compromised in the name of profit for a few at the top.

In essence, having made my case, I sat back, crossed my arms, felt smug, and waited on God. His response to my asking Him to save me from his followers? He reminded me of the Greatest Command as stated in Matthew 22:36-39:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Man, that second one gets me every time! Love God, check. Love others, d’oh! However, it can be asked – this stings! – that if we do not love others, do we truly love God? God does not call us to agree with what is disagreeable to us. God does not call us to be ‘yes’ men or women to everything the preachers or politicians say regardless of whether they claim to be Christian or not. It’s pretty simple – love God, love others (all others).

In all its splendid nonsense the modern church has in many cases divided itself along lines of doctrine, theology, class, race, ethnicity, politics, denominations, etc. However, the collective Kingdom of God is diverse. Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God has called us to love Him, love others, share His Good News, be a representative (to re-present Him). It really isn’t that hard until we start looking at what divides us, then it’s crazy hard – insurmountable! Despite what the media and certain political or religious leaders may suggest, God is trying to get people in the Kingdom, not push them out. But, if you listen, He’ll likely remind you as He did me that “There’s room in the Kingdom for you.”

Disclaimers: I clearly and admittedly have cultural and political biases. I have Conservative friends who challenge me on the regular and whom I challenge every chance I get. When we do this in a respectful manner, it’s edifying – iron sharpening iron. I just like to be a reminder that there are other voices and faces within Christianity other than the dominant ones and that it is healthy for the church that this is so, and that there is room in the Kingdom for diversity.