The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some\" \/>\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\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\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\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/\",\"name\":\"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1","description":"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some","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\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1","og_description":"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/","name":"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00","dateModified":"2006-07-24T09:50:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, An Evangelical's Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1546,"date":"2006-07-24T04:50:58","date_gmt":"2006-07-24T09:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/"},"modified":"2006-07-24T04:50:58","modified_gmt":"2006-07-24T09:50:58","slug":"the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2006\/07\/24\/the-case-for-liberal-evangelicals-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Liberal Evangelicals 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Thy Kingdom Come<\/a>: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America<\/em>, An Evangelical\u2019s Lament, by Randall Balmer, is bound to create some controversy for those who read it and who are willing to face the tough suggestions and observations he makes. I will be looking at this book over the next two weeks, but only on MWFs.
\n\u201cI write as a jilted lover,\u201d he opens up. \u201cThe evangelical faith that nurtured me as a child and sustains me as an adult has been hijacked by right-wing zealots who have distorted the gospel of Jesus Christ, defaulted on the noble legacy of nineteenth-century evangelical activism, and failed to appreciate the genius of the First Amendment.\u201d That\u2019s the second sentence. On the next page he contends there are more politically liberal evangelicals than you might think. He\u2019s right. There are.
\nAn evangelical according to Balmer is (1) someone who takes the Bible seriously, (2) believes in the importance of conversion, and (3) believes in the imperative to evangelize. Balmer claims to be both an evangelical and a political liberal, in the sense that a liberal believes in the progressive creation of freedoms for humans.
\nThis \u201clover\u2019s quarrel\u201d with evangelicals is a call \u201cevangelicals to their better selves \u2014 or, more accurately, to remind them of the teachings of Jesus, as well as the exemplary work of nineteenth-century evangelicals.\u201d
\nChapter 1 is about abortion, homosexuality, and the ruse of selective literalism.
\nHere are some central claims of this hard-hitting, wonderfully-written, and stimulating chapter:
\nThat the Religious Right propagates the abortion myth<\/em>, namely that the Roe v. Wade decision galvanized evangelicals into a formidable political block. Not so, argues Balmer. In fact, it was the Supreme Court case in 1975 about the right of Christian schools to maintain their own standards that was under threat. Balmer claims, with major support from major Religious Right figures, that it was the Bob Jones IRS case that galvanized the Religious Right. Bob Jones University wanted protection for its racial dating policies, and the Religious Right entered the fray to contend that Christians schools could not be interfered with. (Balmer notes that calling themselves \u201cnew abolitionists\u201d is violently inconsistent for what the Religious Right was actually defending was the right to segregation.)
\nBalmer has had a personal conversation with Paul M. Weyrich who admits that \u201cabortion\u201d was only added to this agenda at the last of minutes as leaders participated in a phone conversation on what should be on the agenda of the Religious Right.
\nBalmer claims that evangelicals abandoned, and have abandoned, their biblical and tough commitment against divorce as they slid into an awakening to the potential power of the abortion issue. (He quotes some evangelicals who defended the Roe v. Wade decision, not the least of whom was W.A. Criswell.) They have become selective in what they want the American public to stand for.
\nHis question on this one: \u201cIf you are serious about your professed commitment to biblical literalism, why are you not working to outlaw<\/em> divorce?\u201d (10)
\nBalmer believes abortion is a travesty; but he contends that abortion is both a moral<\/em> as well as a legal<\/em> issue. He\u2019s libertarian: \u201cthe government should have no jurisdiction whatsoever over gestation\u201d (19). But, he thinks abortion is a morally lamentable. He thinks the Democratic Party, among which he identifies himself, \u201chas utterly botched the abortion issue\u201d (21).
\nHe then turns to homosexuality.\u201dLike abortion, it [homosexuality] allows evangelicals to externalize the enemy, based on the supposition that no true believer could be gay or lesbian\u201d (26). He thinks the Democrats, like mainline Protestants are virtually moribund.
\nHe also warns that what happened to mainline Protestants is what could happen to the Religous Right: joining the culture poisons the gospel and erodes the prophetic stance, just as politicians who get too chummy publicly with people of faith \u201cinevitably fall prety to self-righteousness, intolerance, and fanaticism\u201d (33).
\nWhat I\u2019ve seen in this book makes me think the conservative evangelical will be offended, the emerging Christian who leans left will love the book, but the most important group that needs to read this book may not read it: the Democratic Party.
\nI\u2019ve long been a reader of Jim Wallis, but I thought his God\u2019s Politics <\/em>was little more than a scrapbook of \u201chere\u2019s what I said to this group, and here\u2019s where I went next.\u201d Balmer is a bright observer of American evangelicalism, and a master of American history, and these two attributes make him a bright light for those of us who want to see through the thinness of politics we now witness and who want to land on the solid ground of a genuinely evangelical and politically liberal (properly defined) politics \u2014 something called \u201cpurple politics.\u201d The challenge for purple politics is to avoid letting it turn blue.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"