Power, Politics and the Fragmentation of Evangelicalism by Collins Kenneth J.;

Author:Collins, Kenneth J.; [Collins, Kenneth J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

6

Beyond Ideology

The Renewal of Catholicity and the Challenges of a Modern, Liberal Democratic State

By 2008 the evangelical left already bewailed what political power the Christian right had amassed during the administration of George W. Bush, and the movement continued to define itself in a contrarian way with respect to conservative groups such as the now weakened Christian Coalition. With hope for change in the offing, Jim Wallis employed a strategy that he had tried earlier, and not only announced that the Christian right was dead (was this more the expression of a desire than a reality?) but also that his particular brand of leftist politics was nothing less than the movement of God upon the nation, giving evidence of what he called “a great awakening.”[1] Indeed, the title of his recently published book during this election year says it all: The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America.

Actually at the beginning of this presidential year the outlook did not look very promising for the evangelical left. Granted it had made some headway with its ongoing criticism of the war in Iraq, especially since most Americans had by now grown weary of the conflict, but it continued to struggle for a greater share of the evangelical audience, only to find that many young people, college students in particular, had already learned how to spell the word Republican. And when at times the evangelical left broke out of its oppositional rhetoric (“please don’t mistake us for the Christian right”) to articulate its own positive program, many began to wonder how enhancing the powers of the state would usher in the kingdom as promised. Indeed, the evangelical left chaffed under the ongoing reality that when most Americans outside the evangelical community thought about born again Protestants and what they stood for (both politically and religiously) they hardly had the names of Wallis, Campolo, McLaren or even Carter in mind. Back in early 2008 the fortunes of this wing of evangelicalism were never as bright as its own spin doctors had imagined. But all of this was about to change.

The Rise of Barack Obama

While still serving the thirteenth district in the Illinois Senate in July 2004, Barack Obama was tapped to be the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention in Boston. Bright, articulate and poised, Obama thundered from the podium, “We worship an awesome God in the Blue States.” [2] Attempting to bring the values of religious faith back into a conversation that had gone flat during John Kerry’s primary campaign, Obama reassured the delegates that evening that “Those of us on the political left . . . trust that big government can be a tool of righteousness—we also love God.”[3] The crowed roared in approval.

Many evangelicals were surprised, and some were outright stunned, by this engaging speaker from the state senate in Illinois. Growing up in churches that had become overly identified with the Republican Party, they had been schooled on the notion that Democrats simply do not appeal to faith in the national arena.

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