{"id":1067,"date":"2008-08-28T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2008-08-28T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2008-08-28T08:00:02","modified_gmt":"2008-08-28T12:00:02","slug":"whats-left-and-right-for-evangelicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2008\/08\/28\/whats-left-and-right-for-evangelicals\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Left (and Right) for Evangelicals?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Schaefer Riley and I have talked before. She interviewed me for God on the Quad<\/a> in what seems like a lifetime ago. I know that she was, then, trying to be the go-to gal for urbane but fair analyses of conservative Evangelicalism. For the most part, she nails it, except when she seemed to journalistically indulge a crush on my kind but nerdy students who showed her around campus.<\/p>\n

So I wonder if the same thing is going on here. In the WSJ<\/span>‘s “What Saddleback’s Pastor Really Thinks About Politics<\/a>” she claims that Rick Warren is the new figurehead for the Evangelical right.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Overhyped.” That’s how the Rev. Rick Warren describes the notion that the evangelical vote is “up for grabs” in this election. But what about the significance of the evangelical left, I asked the pastor of Saddleback Church after his forum with the presidential candidates last weekend. “This big,” he says, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meh. Can we believe the new Right-leaning figurehead when he describes his opposition as insignificant? Is he just whistling past the graveyard?<\/p>\n

I still think he misses the point.<\/p>\n

I do agree with him when he says that the younger Evangelical sort is actually more concerned with abortion than their parents. No one believes more strongly than I that life is a precious thing that begins at conception. Because I have four children in Heaven, I have studied the Scriptures at length on the issue. I want to foreground the biblical attitude toward children at every turn<\/a>. The ancient Hebrew, for instance, was radically different from all her contemporaries in the way she honored the life growing in her womb<\/a>. To the ancient Greek or Roman, childhood was a necessary evil on the path to adulthood where real significance began. But even before birth, that Hebrew child was part of the Covenant. The casting-out of infants<\/a> was so common in the ancient Near-East that historians marvel that the Hebrews didn’t<\/span> do it.<\/p>\n

I appreciate Warren. He has entered the political conversation and improved it. He demonstrates tolerance and <\/span>integrity. He takes his Christian values “to the streets.” If he’s the new Evangelical figurehead over James Dobson<\/a>, I’ll be the first to applaud. Heck — I’ll give him a standing ovation!<\/p>\n

But this ever-so-slightly-left-leaning Evangelical would like the figurehead to shake things up even more. I think that’s what Warren’s not hearing. The divisions are too calcified. We’ve lost sight of our purpose. Warren’s way closer than Dobson, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n

So don’t dismiss me yet, Pastor Warren. Even if I am only “this big.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Schaefer Riley and I have talked before. 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