On Being Neither Liberal Nor Conservative

I guess I should say upfront, I’m not from the US. ¬†As an outsider I find a fair share of the Liberal vs Conservative rhetoric pretty toxic and worldly. ¬†It saddens me when Christians buy into it.

Not that Christians should avoid thinking about or discussing politics.  In fact the opposite is true, our faith demands political awareness and concern.

But when our faith is defined by allegiance to a political ideal or party (or hatred of such), then we are guilty of idolatry.  To me, it is that simple.  The moment we feel closer to non-Christians who share our politics than to Christians who do not is the moment sin has won.  

Moreover, dividing everyone up into either liberal or conservative on political issues is crushingly narrow and jejune in my view. ¬†Opinion, is not that easy to classify (e.g., in the UK many of the most economically conservative voters are very socially permissive and not at all “conservative” on moral issues).

I used to call myself a liberal Christian, simply because the best ideas of my denomination (Baptist), were originally liberal ideas centuries ago; liberty of conscience, religious freedom, extempore prayer, etc. ¬†However, amidst all the sound-bite logic these days, it’s just too hard; the word liberal is like a red rag to a bull.

I’ve tried the word moderate and feel a lot of resonance with moderate Baptists in the US. ¬†However, you then get folks who want to run the whole “watering down the faith” line. ¬†It’s just so dull.

In the end all you can do is be honest about your faith and not make concessions to the world, which includes concessions to media-inspired ways of avoiding debate and reflection.

Jesus is my personal lord and saviour. ¬†I hold to all 66 books of the Bible as the inspired word of God. ¬†My faith is historic and attentive to the debates and creeds of the early church. ¬†I’m personally committed to mission in the world and seek to avoid sin within it. ¬†If that is not enough and people want to call me names because I don’t bow and scrape before the political idols of our day, well, there is not much I can do about that, is there?

[tags] Liberal, Conservative, Political Theology [/tags]