The Myth of the Republican Church
Christians are accused of being political; they probably aren't political enough
For this blog I am borrowing the title of a column by Daniel Darling in World magazine. He cites the latest research and his own observations on the topic. How political are our conservative churches?
Darling begins his column: “If you have been reading most political and religious coverage over the last several years, you’ll come away thinking that the biggest threat to American democracy are evangelical Christians, and especially those who attend church every week. A virtual cottage industry supports an endless stream of articles, books, sermons, and podcasts that give the impression that Sunday morning in conservative churches is like a Republican pep rally with prayer.”
When I was writing my doctoral dissertation in the 80s it was common for my secular university colleagues to accuse Christians of crossing the line between church and state. They said that Christians were trying to take over the government and impose a Christian theocracy on the rest of America.
I read online constantly about Christian nationalism and the threat conservative Christians are to the American way of life.
I spend a lot of time with pastors, and, granted, they often complain that they are being pressured by a small minority of their members to be more political. “Why don’t you do more to defend Trump?” So I know it happens. A number of our congregants are strongly political and want their churches and pastors to do more to support conservative political causes.
But overall, the accusation is nonsense. Darling cites recent research that says “only a very small fraction of American pastors invoke politics from the pulpit.” “To listen to many analysts, you’d think that in evangelical contexts, members are catechized every week in Republican talking points, given the latest tracking polls in their bulletins, and offer prayers to a statue of Ronald Reagan. And yet the opposite is true.” Most conservative church goers will go a lifetime without ever hearing a politician’s name mentioned in the pulpit.
During my 50 years of pastoral ministry I have never once supported a political position from the pulpit and to the best of my knowledge have never once made a political reference or mentioned any politician, liberal of conservative.
My grandfather was a pastor in West Virginia. I have most of his sermon outlines which are often quite detailed. He had very strong political opinions which I often heard in private conversations when I was a kid. In perusing his sermon outlines never once does he mention politics. Most of the outlines are from sermons he preached in the 1930s. Never once does he mention the great depression. I could take any one of his outlines, walk into any church in America, and preach from it without changing a single word.
I have a son who is a pastor and he is the same way. Like almost every evangelical pastor in America he never once mentions anything political in any sermon.
If you want to hear politics from the pulpit you need to go to Progressive/Left wing churches where it is a constant theme. Research shows that people attending mainline churches are far more likely to hear a political reference.
When Barack Obama was first elected he was viewed by the Left as a messianic figure. Benjamin Plotinsky chronicles this in City Journal. “the American Left, for all its claims to being “reality-based” and secular, is often animated by the passions, motivations, and imagery that one normally associates with religion. The better we understand this religious impulse, the better we will understand liberal America’s likely trajectory in the years to come.”
The reason for this is quite simple. I am a political conservative, but it is not my religion. Christianity is my religion. It’s what I care about. I have very little interest in your politics and a great deal of interest in your soul. But if you are a member of the Progressive/Left politics is your religion. In the words of Joseph Bottom, “You save your soul by the way you vote.” So people on the Left care far more about politics and churches on the Left are far more political.
Thanks for listening. May our glorious God bless you this day in a mighty way.
More: Daniel Darling’s column in World magazine:
Benjamin Plotinsky: Political Liberalism as a religion: https://www.city-journal.org/html/varieties-liberal-enthusiasm-13283.html
Two excellent books on this topic: Joseph Bottum, An Anxious Age: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joseph+bottom+an+anxious+age&crid=3IW2BZANY8JB2&sprefix=joseph+bottom+an+anxious+age%2Caps%2C169&ref=nb_sb_noss
Thomas Reeves, The Empty Church—The Suicide of Liberal Christianity: https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Church-Suicide-Liberal-Christianity/dp/0684828111/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31XNUA0SEECRL&keywords=the+empty+church+thomas&qid=1665512778&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjU1IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=the+empty+church+thomas%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1
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