crazy christians

I believe in pluralism, but recently I have been confronted with some difficult issues.

I have always believed in the possibility of working together despite differences to embrace a common moral good. While I don’t usually publicly proclaim it, I’m also an evangelical. I credit a professor – Dr. Hamilton – for redeeming this identifier for me. It doesn’t have much or anything to do with the Religious Right, and I resent the gross manipulation of evangelicals by political power. Nevertheless, I am an evangelical. I don’t identify with James Dobson or Pat Robertson. I identify with Christ and his teachings.

I’m frustrated when the media talks about the “evangelicals” or those who are “born again” as if it is simply a monolithic political category. They usually only reference this category in relation to the Republicans (notice we never hear how many evangelicals voted for Clinton or Obama). At the same time, how do I bring my faith convictions into the public sphere? I’m not interested in conversion. I’m interested in action and change. I am willing and I want to work with people who are different than me towards justice and peace. The question I guess I never though of until now is: do they want to work with me?

I respect the moral convictions that guide people towards working on behalf of the poor and oppressed, whether they are atheists, Hindu or Muslim, and I intuitively expect that my convictions will be respected as well. I don’t expect we will agree on ideology, but ideology seems to be something that must be sacrificed in part or at least bracketed when it comes to working for the common good. Take the issue of abortion for example. I think everyone can agree on tackling the underlying roots of unwanted pregnancies, such as poverty or lack of sex education. At the same time, too often different factions can’t come together to take action because of ideology. A “pro-life” evangelical and a “pro-choice” liberal refuse to meet together and work to reduce unwanted pregnancies because they can’t agree on moral motivation even though the end goal is the same.

From my perspective, in instances like this you shouldn’t give up your moral convictions, but you also should be willing to make space to embrace the other and their convictions for the sake of the common good. This is a fundamental principle in any type of situation of difference where there is a common goal. Chances are, neither party will be completely satisfied, but this is what it means to give up power for the common good.

There was an op-ed published last week by Nicholas Kristof encouraging liberals and evangelicals to join together on social causes. Personally, I appreciated the column and found it astonishingly refreshing. However, I was surprised by the reaction of some who argued vehemently that on no circumstances would they work with evangelicals. Why? Because they didn’t share their ideology. Granted many evangelicals act the exact same way. Can you believe the hysteria right now by people like Dobson over the nomination of Senator McCain?

All this disturbs me. Right now, it is clear that for some power and ideology are more important that working together to confront the world’s problems. It was telling to me when Nicholas notes that the only people who are left in parts of Africa are “crazy doctors and crazy Christians.” My guess is most of these crazy Christians don’t wear a badge identifying them as such. They are too busy working.