This past week I ran across the web site of Steve Camp. Way back in the 1980's, shortly after becoming a Christian, I had a Steve Camp cassette. He was part of what was quickly becoming a market-driven, thoroughly compromised genre of music called Contemporary Christian Music or CCM. Steve has written what is known as The 107 Theses - A Call for Reformation for Contemporary Christian Music. It's a fantastic piece written in the hope that artists who serve Christ will strive to make sure that Jesus remains the focus of their work, not money, fame or fortune.
Steve has also recently written on what he calls "Evangelical Cobelligerence." In a nutshell this involves Evangelicals rounding off the sharp edges of the Gospel in order to find union with others, even non-Christians, in order to advance a set of moral or political goals. Increasingly, conservative Christians are being used by those in government to assist them in their "art of compromise" which is the definition of political work. After voting in every presidential election since I was 18 back in 1984, I sat out last November's election precisely because I had become sick and tired of feeling like some tool in the RNC's toolbox. I had and still have some very strong disagreements with George W. Bush and I would not choose the lesser of two evils just because I am a Christian and that's what good Christians do.
Moralism and legalism are not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If Christians were to gather all their political clout and eliminate abortion, put an end to homosexual unions, stop practices like alcohol abuse, smoking and gambling, and fill the halls of Congress and the President's cabinet with right-wing Christians, would the Gospel of Jesus Christ have been advanced? Not necessarily and probably not.
I can't recall anywhere in the Bible where we see Jesus or Paul or Peter wringing their hands wondering how to seize power from the Emperor so they could advance their agenda. Christ's Kingdom is not of this earth, so we shouldn't expect to see him trying to master the machinery of politics to win over the masses.
Steve Camp says it much better than I can, so without further rambling, here are links to his 2-part series on Evangelical Cobelligerence. Friends, Steve's site is chock full of really good, sound, Biblical stuff - check it out!
Grace and peace,
R.J.
The Dangers of Evangleical Cobelligerence
The New Downgrade? 12 Dangers of Evangelical Cobelligerence
Steve Camp's Audience One Webpage