A new Evangelical Manifesto has just been released. It is an attempt by several American-Evangelical leaders to clarify what the term “Evangelical” actually means.
The Steering Committee comprised:
Timothy George – Dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
Os Guinness – Author/Social Critic
John Huffman – Pastor, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, CA Chair, Christianity Today International
Rich Mouw – President, Fuller Theological Seminary
Jesse Miranda – Founder & Director, Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership, Vanguard University
David Neff – Vice President and Editor in Chief, Christianity Today Media Group
Richard Ohman – Businessman
Larry Ross – President, A. Larry Ross Communications
Dallas Willard – Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California Author
Other signers of the manifesto include Jim Willis of Sojourners.
Not surprisingly, other prominent Evangelicals leaders such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Gary Bauer of American Values, and Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, have not signed on. IMHO, these are the Culture War groups of the Religious Right that have by degree moved from being Evangelical to being more Fundamentalist – or at least have been so compromised by seeking after political gain that they truly represent a shrinking, although still active and influential, group of people.

There has been a return to the early Church Fathers by many on the Evangelical and Fundamentalist side of the American Church Universal. This is a very good thing, I think, but what do they take away from the early Fathers’ writings? In their perception and interpretation, what are they really saying?
There is this organization I came across a number of years ago. I’ve watched it grow over the last few years. Their emphasis on fostering a Christian Worldview is a good thing, I think. I’ve been teaching about the significance of “worldview” since the mid-1980’s. We Americans have very limited understanding of the concept of worldview and the effects of culture on the way we understand just about everything – truth, meaning, current events, etc.
This group, Worldview Weekend, strives to teach Christians about the “Christian Worldview.” When I originally heard about this group I was encouraged. “Finally,” I thought, “an Evangelical Christian organization was taking seriously the concept of “worldview.” But, I became suspicious when I took their “Worldview Test” to determine what my worldview actually was. I came out as a “Secular Humanist.” I don’t think so. Really, me, a secular humanist?
The problem begins when we think about what they consider to be a true “Christian Worldview!” What are they saying? How do they take, interpret, and apply the writings of the early Church Fathers – Polycarp, Ireneaus, Ignatius, Athanasius, Augustine, Basil, Ambrose, Tertullian, or Chrysostom.
I know the audience for this website and organization. I know the way these people think. While I’m glad they are referencing such luminary Christian thinkers, it bothers me that they use these thinkers for their own purposes. (Yes, yes, I know we all tend to do this, but this is a different kind of animal – its more propaganda than honest use of the Fathers’ teaching, I think.) The whole “worldview” of the early Christian Fathers does not fit within the “worldview” of this or like organizations and their members. My impression is that these groups selectively quote and use the early Church Fathers’ writings when it suits their purposes, but I know that they will reject the basic premises of what these Christian thinkers espouse as Christian truth and praxis in so many other areas. I don’t think they go to the Father’s to learn, but to find justifications to their already determined perspectives. What doesn’t fit, even if is essential to understanding the Fathers’ purposes or premises, they simply ignore. It’s like proof-texting with the Bible.
It gives them an air of authority and understanding, but for those who do comprehend the overarching thinking of the early Church Fathers (and I’m not suggesting that I do, but I know enough to understand that they and American-Fundamentalists are not on the same page) – it just doesn’t jibe. American-Fundamentalism and segments of Evangelicalism find language in the early Church Fathers’ writings and interpret it according to the 21st Century, modernist, imperialist, American-Christian “worldview,” not according to the actual “worldview” of the early Church Fathers. Many do this with the writings of C.S. Lewis, also. The language may sound similar, but the understanding of meaning and intent of that language is very different in too many circumstances. It makes me wonder whether they really do understand “worldview,” but rather use the term to advance a particular sectarian mindset and agenda. My goodness, do they think Origin would really agree with their theological, social, or political agendas?
Anyway, go to this article on Worldview Weekend’s website written by Steve Camp, the Contemporary Christian entertainer popular back in the day, entitled: Your Weekly Dose of Gospel… beware of the subtlety of spiritual treason
You may agree with him. You may not. I do agree with parts of what he says, but I’m certainly not with him. As he says, there are elements of truth in all heresy (even his own). But, I really don’t think he rightly applies the teachings of the early Church Fathers. He uses them for his own purposes, incorrectly. My goodness, again, when he calls the Roman Catholic Church a demonic “angel of light,” does he not know how the Church Fathers ordered themselves?

I was reading some recent e-mail updates from the Religious Right Culture War groups. This particular article comes from Concerned Women for America (CWA).
In the ongoing Culture War, misinformation, defamation, mischaracterization, bearing false witness, and all that are fair game in order to achieve the end goal. The means by which the end goal is achieved no longer matters, just so the end is achieved. This may be considered acceptable behavior in the secular world these days, but it should never be acceptable within the Christian Church. Within Christianity, the means are everything. There may certainly be an end goal to achieve, but the way the struggle is conducted is everything for the Christian. When we descend into the same methods as the “world,” our witness is shot, the cause of Christ is defamed, and our eternal souls are corrupted. That is exactly what the Religious Right Culture War organizations do – they engage in these methods to attempt to achieve their goals. And, the world looks on and stays as far away from the church as they can.
So, a latest round of attack concerns the “Day of Silence” (DOS) sponsored by Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). As stated on the website, here is the purpose of DOS,

“The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools… Hundreds of thousands of students came together on April 25 to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior.”

The DOS has been going on for a few years now, and it always gets the ire of the Religious Right groups. This year, various Religious Right groups sponsored a walk-out to protest a schools participation in the DOS. The following article from CWA is a follow-up to the walk-out. It is an example of spreading misinformation, bearing false witness, etc., rather than relying on good, sound argument.
Frankly, sadly, it cracks me up to read the author of the following article use words like “disruption” and “freethinking.” I lived over half my life in American-Evangelicalism. I’m glad I did; there is a lot of good within the tradition. However, the Religious Right groups are something different and I know how they think. They know what they are doing. Just like Karl Rove and the means he devises to win elections, these people calculate ways of winning and imposing their narrow perspective (theologically, culturally, politically), and it has nothing to do with freethinking. Their use of “spin” and propaganda is amazing.
I have no problem with people stating their views and attempting to persuade others of the rightness of their cause. The freedoms we enjoy in this country demand such activity. However, as Christians we are to be above board in all that we do and say and avoid being so influenced by our culture that we end up lying to win. That is what too many people who are a part of the Religious Right are doing, and it is wrong. It is defaming the cause of Christ and destroying our witness.
One more thing: read the comments made over at the Onenewsnow.com website where I first found out about the article. The idolatry expressed concerning the USA through unabated nationalism is too much. I love the US, but as a Christian whether this nation-state exists or not is irrelevant. The Religious Right has made an idol out of the USA.
Here is the article concerning DOS from CWA:
Enough with the ‘gay’ stuff!
Matt Barber – Guest Columnist – 5/5/2008 1:40:00 PM
On April 25, adult homosexual activists with the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) held their annual “Day of Silence” (DOS) propaganda push. During DOS, teachers and students in roughly 3,000 middle schools, high schools and colleges across the country are cynically used as culture war pawns in an effort to legitimize conventionally immoral, objectively deviant and demonstrably high-risk sexual behaviors.
Kids and teachers are encouraged on DOS to disrupt the school day by refusing to speak in class as a show of support to students who self-identify as “GLBT” (No, GLBT has nothing to do with bacon, lettuce and tomato; it’s liberalese for “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender”).
DOS purports to confront the alleged systematic harassment and bullying of sexually confused students who consider themselves “GLBT.” Naturally, where there is actual bullying, anywhere, anytime, for any reason, those responsible should be firmly disciplined. However, the reality is that DOS has very little to do with “bullying” and has everything to do with pro-homosexual, anti-Christian indoctrination.
Consider that during DOS, many kids who hold time-honored traditional values relative to sexual morality (i.e., that human sexuality is a gift from God to be shared between husband and wife within the bonds of marriage) are frequently and ironically tagged as “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “homophobic.” (Who’s doing the bullying?)
But this year, something extraordinary happened on the way to the brainwashing. Kids at schools all over the country stood tall and said, “Enough is enough!” Untold thousands of students participated in a peaceful, pro-family counter effort called the “Day of Silence Walkout.”

Continue reading →

Let’s talk about Radical Welcome, errr, I would rather talk about “Radical Identity!”
I’m going to get into trouble, I just know it!
I think I want to talk about “Radical Identity,” by which I mean that I identify not with any earthly or human ideology or scheme, but I identify with Jesus Christ. Identifying with Jesus Christ is a radical endeavor in our society these days. To identity with Jesus one has to die to self, to one’s sense of fairness, to one’s sense of justice, to one’s sense of affirmation. To identify with Jesus one has to give up everything. (Of course, in giving up ourselves, we find ourselves. Don’t you love oxymoronic notions of things!)
It isn’t very politically-correct to identify with Jesus considering how terribly exclusive Jesus is when he says things like, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” or, when Jesus wouldn’t allow the rich-young-ruler to follow him on the rich-young-ruler’s own terms. Jesus just let him walk away – he must have felt very rejected. Jesus and his community completely missed out on this rich-young-ruler’s gifts and talents and voice, let alone all that money!
So, while others may want to identify with this or that new and improved “radical scheme,” I’ll be a recalcitrant who-knows-what and just stick with radically identifying with Jesus, as much as is possible with me and with God’s help.

A new documentary film by Dan Merchant about the wrong turn the Church-general has taken over the past however-many-years and the results.

Lord Save Us From Your Followers
Trailer: