If religious liberty is THE political issue for Christians. . .

Last updated on: February 11, 2015 at 10:07 am

February 12, 2015 by Gene Veith

My post on Russell Moore’s contention that religious liberty needs to be THE political issue for Christians in the upcoming elections is approaching 500 comments, and the discussion–despite a few fights that broke out–has been quite good. But there are some misconceptions I want to address and some implications that I want us to think about.If religious liberty is THE political issue for Christians, that means that other issues–such as trying to stop gay marriage, rolling back abortion, etc.–should NOT be the main issues. That’s quite an admission for a Southern Baptist like Dr. Moore, and maybe for some of us Lutherans too.

Also, if religious liberty is THE political issue for Christians, that means that religious liberty has to apply not only to Christians but to Muslims, Candombléans

, and, yes, atheists. Dr. Moore’s contention is an admission that Christians no longer hold a privileged position in this country and that what we need in this new climate is simply a protection of our Constitutional rights, especially because those now in cultural power (not us, anymore) don’t like us and show signs of wanting to punish us. Again, this is quite an admission for a Baptist. And are the rest of us ready to face up to this possibility?

Or are we not at that state quite yet?

What do you think of all this?