{"id":38562,"date":"2018-09-03T11:20:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T15:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=38562"},"modified":"2018-09-03T11:20:52","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T15:20:52","slug":"evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html","title":{"rendered":"Evangelicals Have Long Pursued Political Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Christianity Today<\/em> recently published an article<\/a> by Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary, California. In his article, Horton took issue with Trump\u2019s recent statements that evangelicals are \u201cone election away from losing everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Horton explained:<\/p>\n

In a Monday meeting with evangelical leaders at the White House, President Trump reportedly warned of violence against conservative Christians if the GOP loses in November. Evangelicals, he said, were \u201cone election away from losing everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

As evangelicals, we would do well to correct the president on this point. If an election can cause us to lose everything<\/em>, what is it exactly that we have in the first place?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Horton argues that evangelicals only\u00a0lose everything<\/em> when they cease to preach the true gospel, not when they lose political power. He says evangelicals need to correct the president\u2014as though numerous evangelical leaders weren\u2019t saying the exact same thing.<\/p>\n

Horton continues:<\/p>\n

\n

Anyone who believes, much less preaches, that evangelical Christians are \u201cone election away from losing everything\u201d in November has forgotten how to sing the psalmist\u2019s warning, \u201cDo not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save\u201d (Ps. 146:3).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The trouble is that conservative media has been trumpeting this message for years\u2014they claimed that Obama\u2019s election would lead to evangelicals being sent to concentration camps, for crap\u2019s sake. Evangelicals have been riding on the outcome of individual elections for decades now, tying their boat to that of what Horton calls \u201cprinces.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Horton wants to turn this around, he needs to do more than counter one statement by Trump. He needs to admit conservative media\u2019s\u2014and evangelical leaders\u2019\u2014role in convincing evangelical laypeople that their very survival is<\/em> dependent on elections.<\/p>\n

Horton also would do well to question the broader implications of the wedding of evangelicals and Donald Trump. It is not as though this close embrace is new. Trump is only threatening evangelicals with dire consequences if they lose the midterms because evangelicals willingly tied their boat to Trump two years ago, and, arguably, elected him.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another issue in play\u2014Horton is concerned that Americans will come to view evangelicals as more interested in political power than in preaching the gospel.<\/p>\n

Something tremendous is at stake here: whether evangelical Christians place their faith more in Caesar and his kingdom than in Christ and his reign. On that one, we do have everything to lose\u2014this November and every other election cycle. When we seek special political favors for the church, we communicate to the masses that Christ\u2019s kingdom is just another demographic in the US electorate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This concern is a bit late. That ship sailed a long<\/em> time ago.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals have been entangled in politics for decades now\u2014forever warning of horrific consequences if elections do not pan out in the direction of evangelicals\u2019 favored candidates and political party. Evangelicals have ridden on elections for close to half a century.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014I\u2019m glad Horton is warning evangelicals not to listen to Trump\u2019s dire warnings. What he misses is that evangelicals set themselves up for this a long time ago.<\/p>\n

As progressive evangelical John Fea wrote recently<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Why do so many evangelicals believe in Donald Trump? Because they privilege fear over hope, power over humility, and nostalgia over history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eight in ten white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. For all Horton\u2019s words, evangelicals made a conscious choice to tie their ship to political power. Trump is not the primary one proclaiming doom if Republicans lose the next election. Evangelicals are.<\/p>\n

Horton is a bit late in his warnings.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservative media has been trumpeting this message for years—they claimed that Obama’s election would lead to evangelicals being sent to concentration camps, for crap’s sake. Evangelicals have been riding on the outcome of individual elections for decades now, tying their boat to that of what Horton calls “princes.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":38565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nEvangelicals Have Long Pursued Political Power<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Conservative media has been trumpeting this message for years---they claimed that Obama's election would lead to evangelicals being sent to concentration camps, for goodness sake.\" \/>\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\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evangelicals Have Long Pursued Political Power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Conservative media has been trumpeting this message for years---they claimed that Obama's election would lead to evangelicals being sent to concentration camps, for goodness sake.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-03T15:20:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2018\/09\/supreme-court-building-1209701_1920.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=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html\",\"name\":\"Evangelicals Have Long Pursued Political Power\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-03T15:20:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-03T15:20:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Conservative media has been trumpeting this message for years---they claimed that Obama's election would lead to evangelicals being sent to concentration camps, for goodness sake.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/09\/evangelicals-have-long-pursued-political-power.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Evangelicals Have Long Pursued Political Power\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. 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