The Political Rift Within Evangelicalism

Mark D. Roberts, is a widely read and widely respected author, speaker, blogger (here), and Senior Director of Laity Lodge.

There does seem to be a “widening rift” between politically conservative and politically liberal evangelicals. The use of the word “rift” implies that we’re not talking just about political diversity among evangelicals, something that has been around for as long as I can remember. Rather, we’re dealing with “tensions” between evangelical factions, not only respectful differences of opinion, but sometimes rather nasty disputes.

I want to address briefly two causes of this tension-filled rift. They may not be the main causes, but they are significant factors that deserve our attention.

First, many evangelicals speak and act as if they regard their political opinions as inerrant or infallible (choose your favorite word). When I last checked, we evangelicals are supposed to regard Scripture in this way, but not our own interpretations and applications of Scripture. Relating biblical truth to the complexities of political reality surely involves judgments on our part that may turn out to be wrong. Only in the rarest of cases are political issues so morally definitive that they demand only one response from Bible-believing Christians.

Most political opinions depend on our preferred political theories as well as our understanding of the facts. But these theory and “facts” can be wrong. Remember the WMD in Iraq? Thus, although we are surely free to advocate our political views with gusto, acknowledging our limits should lead us to a measure of humility in our advocacy.

Yet I hear evangelicals on both sides of the aisle who seem so absolutely convinced of their political views that they are unwilling to listen to those with whom they disagree, to take into account facts that do not support their views, or even to weigh their opinions in the balance of Scripture. Such arrogance keeps us from growing in the truth. It widens the rift between us and those Christians who disagree with us—especially if they are equally convinced that their views are error-free.

What could we do to address this cause of the rift between evangelicals? Each of us could recover for ourselves a health dose of humility. God alone knows all things; Scripture alone is without error. We could be open to new perspectives from those with whom we disagree, to new information that might cause us to revise our views, and to new insights from Scripture. We could, as communities of Christians, help one another to have the mind of Christ. As we read in Philippians 2:3-5: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus….”

Second, I am deeply concerned that evangelicals have begun to communicate in ways that are common in the world but contrary to our calling as followers of Christ...

[See the remainder of Dr. Roberts’ answer at the Cross and Culture blog.]

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