Orangepekoe

As evangelicals look for their conscious concerning global warming, the self-proclaimed evangelical leaders are taking a shot at defining the term evangelical. In a recent article, the religious right among the evangelicals are warning their flock against losing their focus on their signature issues of abortion and gay marriage.

Meanwhile, the moderate evangelicals are trying to push additional issues onto the agenda such as poverty and global warming.

The article states:

“The signatories — most of them activists, not theologians — expressed dismay that an evangelical emphasis on global warming was “contributing to growing confusion about the very term ‘evangelical.’ “

In religious terms, an evangelical is a Christian who has been born again, seeks a personal relationship with Christ, and considers the Bible the word of God, to be faithfully obeyed.

But Dobson and his fellow letter-writers suggested that evangelical should also signify “conservative views on politics, economics and biblical morality.” “

Finally, what Dobson has been hinting at for years has been said plainly, the assumption is that if you proclaim that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the assumption of the religious right is that you also buy into the political agenda of the right. This is NOT true and it’s time that more Christians stand up and say, we love Jesus, we do not believe in the political agenda of right wing whatevers.

What has become even more painful is that the leaders in some of these churches are making people feel uncomfortable if they don’t by into the political agenda. I have heard too many times of people who are being told that God will not love them if they don’t follow a specific part of the right wing agenda. People who love God are finding themselves theologically homeless because of this new definition of evangelical. Not that people want to be evangelical, they just don’t want to be defined by people who claim to come in God’s love and end up hurting them with cruel words. Another term that is being defined is “Jesus loves you.” That use to mean that God loves you and that his Son loves you because you are God’s creation. Now, thanks to Dobson, it means, you are ok in the eyes of the right wing agenda. We need new sign, how about, the Anti-Christ loves you? Mmmmm. Doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy?
What kind of theological dancing has to happen to reconcile the Christian mandate of loving your neighbor with, God will not love you if you love the wrong neighbor? Surely, this logic will fail, after all, the idea that we would recognize Christian by their love for one another (John 13: 34-35) is now being lost to the reality that the world will know if you are an evangelical if you define love by who you hate.