Dear Alyse

The Confusion of Church and Politics in America

No, this is not a screed arguing for ‘separation of church and state,’ whatever that means. And it’s not a call for Christians in America to be more leftist (necessarily). And this is most certainly not a call to be more rightist, though we know where my heart is, don’t we? I’m angry about 1 thing today: how we bring political words into the way we speak about God and each other. Have you ever heard someone say, “I left a liberal church/denomination”? I’ve done it millions of times myself. But don’t we mean ‘unfaithful’ or ‘apostate’? Why don’t we say this more often instead? But many of us use ‘liberal,’ wondering why we get identified with the Right. Granted, a lot of us are right-leaning politically, but not all. And in fairness, there’s nothing liberal about it when people abandon the truth of the gospel. Nothing good or progressive at all.

Therefore, I commit myself to not using ‘liberal’ when describing apostasy or error. And I feel bad for liberal groups about to receive these sorts of people too, even if they don’t. Postmodernism destroys eventually everyone and everything with which it is associated. Think about this next time one hears a person proclaim himself or herself free of belief in ultimate Truth. Then politely ask such a one why he or she is so outraged about female genital mutilation, or working conditions for the poor in a less-developed country. A robust, healthy leftism can’t even survive nihilism. And at the heart of a belief in nothing is self-absorption: “Nothing matters except me.” Self-worship is the gravest sin. Apostasy is self-worship.