{"id":5747,"date":"2022-02-21T04:52:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T10:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?p=5747"},"modified":"2022-02-20T21:16:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T03:16:16","slug":"focusing-on-the-fringe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/","title":{"rendered":"Focusing on the Fringe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Take any issue and at the far edge to the right, you\u2019ll find a few who seem to be out of touch with the reality of the situation. And with the same issue, there will be those on the far left who occupy a different sphere.<\/p>\n

In the middle is where most of us reside. We may lean left. We may lean right. But we have this in common \u2013 we reject the fringe.<\/p>\n

But thanks to social media, it\u2019s quite easy to find them. The Google search engine can easily find pastors who sport \u201cLet\u2019s Go Brandon T-shirts\u201d at the church picnic, or tired preachers stirring the old racial pot.<\/p>\n

I am particularly offended when I am lumped in with these fringe players, especially when it comes to the Evangelical Church.<\/p>\n

There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America and about 90 million Americans<\/a> can be classified as Evangelical. That\u2019s 25 percent<\/a> of the population.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and broad-brush them to the entire Evangelical population.<\/p>\n

\"Pulpit\"<\/a>
Photo by\u00a0Adrien Olichon<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David French and the Fringe<\/h2>\n

The voices in the middle are far and few between. In the past, conservative thinker David French has been one of those, and his column for many years resided in this very space. He and his wife helped my early journey at Patheos. I\u2019ve always regarded him as thoughtful, reasonable, and not easily swayed. I don\u2019t always agree with the conclusion, but I respect his mind and admittedly, his words often check my enthusiasm and keep me grounded.<\/p>\n

Recently he\u2019s been focusing on the more radical elements of the church, especially those who bang the drum a little too loudly for Trump or have suspect racial politics.<\/p>\n

Respected thought leaders in the Evangelical church who are taking umbrage at French\u2019s words regarding these fringe players. Megan Basham, one-time contributor to World Magazine and currently writing for the Daily Wire outlined the concerns in her article, \u201c Major Pastors Rebuke David French Over His Repeated Criticism Of Churches And \u2018White\u00a0Evangelicals<\/a><\/u>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She referenced an article French wrote,<\/a>\u00a0in which he asked, \u201cWhere are America\u2019s most dangerous political radicals.\u201d The answer was \u201cin churches, by the thousands, in city after city. In church after church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basham quotes Jonathan Leeman, Kevin DeYoung, Todd Pruitt, Albert Mohler, and Carl Trueman who as individuals avoid the radical side of any argument. But all of these leaders are concerned about this spotlight on those who cling to the most radical ideas.<\/p>\n

I have had my share of church experiences in many traditions and both modern and traditional expressions. Even in today\u2019s hyper-partisan world, I\u2019ve never heard a message or a study that crossed into these radical paths. With millions of adherents, I\u2019ve no doubt shared a pew with fringe players on either side of any issue. It\u2019s simply not an issue. We are there to worship Jesus and little else matters. That\u2019s the beauty of the gospel.<\/p>\n

In French\u2019s article, he does circle back. \u201cIt\u2019s possible to overreact to this, to paint with too broad a brush, he says. Millions of Republican Evangelicals \u201care legitimately aggrieved when they\u2019re lumped into a movement and an ethos they find strange and appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the criticism, I appreciate that he sees me \u2013 and scores of other believers who simply want to serve God in simplicity and truth.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not who Evangelicals are<\/h2>\n

We do have a duty to call out sin and especially deviation from the gospel message within our churches and our leadership. And yes, to David French\u2019s point, we have a moral obligation to root out the bad and replace it with the righteous, true gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n

But I reject the notion that some try to use that Evangelical Churches are racist. I reject the notion that Evangelicals are guilty by association of trying to overthrow the government because of a few, out-of-control rioters on Jan. 6. I reject the principle that politics have infused our pulpits.<\/p>\n

Most of these people are making these accusations against the Church are basing their beliefs on presumptions. And those presumptive biases are illustrated and confirmed by a few bad actors.<\/p>\n

We have seen the nation\u2019s civility devolve which also corresponds with the pervasiveness of social media.\u00a0 Admittedly, I am too often drawn to stories that are shocking. I mean, SHOCKING!\u00a0 \u00a0And I often go down the path of pushing people into the same clown car of craziness.\u00a0 Left-wing rioters held Portland under siege for months last year. But is it fair to hold my Democrat friends complicit for these crimes? Should I make them equally guilty and responsible?<\/p>\n

But the reality is that \u201cthey\u201d are not all that way.<\/p>\n

Neither should Bible-believing Christians be presumptively characterized.\u00a0 The vast majority of Evangelicals are moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, business people, lay people, hard workers who are your neighbors simply looking for a better way to live.<\/p>\n

And if you doubt me, I challenge you to spend a few Sundays in church and you can judge for yourself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by\u00a0James Barr<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":5753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFocusing on the Fringe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focusing on the Fringe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-21T10:52:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-21T03:16:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/580\/2022\/02\/james-barr-IfOaeAdecpA-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/\",\"name\":\"Focusing on the Fringe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-21T10:52:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-21T03:16:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Focusing on the Fringe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com\",\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Focusing on the Fringe","description":"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Focusing on the Fringe","og_description":"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/","og_site_name":"David Rupert","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","article_published_time":"2022-02-21T10:52:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-21T03:16:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/580\/2022\/02\/james-barr-IfOaeAdecpA-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Rupert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rupzip","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rupert","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/","name":"Focusing on the Fringe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-21T10:52:01+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-21T03:16:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81"},"description":"There are 380,000 evangelical churches in America with 90 million members. It\u2019s intellectually dishonest to take the actions of the fringe and link them to the entire Evangelical population.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/focusing-on-the-fringe\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Focusing on the Fringe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/","name":"David Rupert","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81","name":"David Rupert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Rupert"},"description":"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com","www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}