News Update

Outsider Looking In

My introduction to evangelicalism was a confusing one. I was raised in a nominally Roman Catholic household, so I had no real understanding of what ‘evangelical’ meant. This remained true until, when I was 17 years old, I was saved in a Southern Baptist church. I loved Jesus, and I wanted to love his people, but the cultural quirks made it feel like I was entering into foreign territory.

Gen Z Politics

Parallel to my spiritual conversion was my political conversion. For much of my time in high school, the received wisdom among my friend group was that leftism was the compassionate, loving political position, and that conservatives were evil, nazi-adjacent, hateful bigots. Through the influence of conservative parents, a few friends who were exceptions to the norm, and the influence of conservative “new media” (i.e. podcasts and YouTube personalities), I did not get swept up into the leftist whirlwind.¹ Admittedly, much of my early conservatism was not grounded in anything other than a kind of libertarian pragmatism, but nonetheless I was further to the right than most of my peers.

A Strange Collision

Taking these two realities together—my political conservatism and my entrance into evangelicalism—made for a confusing period in my life. At the Southern Baptist church I attended early in college I got the impression that talking about politics was outside the purview of the church, or that it was at least impolite. Of course, many of my fellow church members were conservative in their politics, but it wasn’t clear to me if anyone else had biblical grounding for their politics. I know I didn’t. There were also many counter-examples of professing Christians who held more left-wing politics.

I suspect that a few additional factors compounded my confusion. First, many of the people I was spending time with at the church were also college students, and leftism was pervasive among college students. Second, I started college in 2016, during the candidacy and first-term presidency of Donald Trump, and Trump gave a lot of evangelicals more heartburn than they’d like to admit.² Finally, the most impactful and concerning reason is that there simply wasn’t much, if any, teaching on politics from the pulpit. Of what little discussion there was, it often consisted of arguments for an unhelpful kind of political neutrality. In hindsight, this lack of clear teaching was the most difficult of all the factors. I can recall times in my college years when I, having been confronted with questions about my conservative outlook, felt as though I had to resort to mere pragmatism (i.e. conservative economic policies work and socialism doesn’t, so of course I’m a conservative). While those points were often true, I would have liked to tie my politics to a fully orbed Christian worldview. Even worse, there were times when fellow students, who were aware that I was a Christian, would call into question my conservatism, protesting that “The bible says to love the stranger” (in support of lax immigration policies), or “Jesus cared for the poor!” (in support of socialist policies). Then, these students would brand me a hypocrite. Looking back, I can rightly appreciate the absurdity of some of my peer’s claims, but at the time, being the young Christian that I was, this brought me a considerable degree of doubt. Was I a hypocrite? Were my political beliefs at odds with the teaching of Jesus? Careful, godly teaching would have been a great help to me.

In some ways, my lack of familiarity with American evangelical Christianity was beneficial. Because I was not exposed to largely negative trends within evangelical political culture, I was able to avoid potential pitfalls in political thinking that were fairly common. Nonetheless, a considerable degree of confusion worked its way into my thinking over those early years. I could easily imagine a situation where I, without my generally conservative upbringing, would have been strongly tempted toward political liberalism when faced with the objections of my peers.

A Wider Cultural Trend

My experience is not unique. I think that in a majority of theologically conservative evangelical churches across the United States there is a reticence to discuss the ways biblical faithfulness is compatible with political conservatism. There are many examples of how this has worked out, but the most widely-known is in the ministry and wider influence of Tim Keller (1950–2023). Over the course of decades, Keller sought to chart a “third way” for evangelicals to engage with the American political landscape.³ As a pastor in a major metropolitan church, Keller sought to reach an urban, largely liberal population with a “winsome” approach. In theory, this approach would recognize some of the merits of both conservative and liberal political positions.⁴ While this is appealing in theory, this approach is rarely viable in practice. At best, Keller’s “third way” led to a near-complete neglect of how the Bible ought to inform our politics. Due to the predominance and increasingly vocal nature of the political left, this search for “winsomeness” resulted in conservative positions being pushed out of polite conversations, whereas politically liberal positions were treated with kid gloves. In other words, Keller, and people like him, had a habit of “punching right” and “coddling left.”⁵

Like Keller, Francis Collins and Russell Moore also advocated for the “third way.” In the fallout from COVID, Collins and Moore frequently described taking the COVID vaccine as an act of “loving your neighbor,” over-and-against the concerns of a wide range of Americans. This was a not-so-subtle attempt to bind the consciences of hundreds of thousands of Christians on a highly contentious issue, while also making a dubious appeal to scripture.⁶ Likewise, David French, who was at one time highly respected in conservative evangelical circles, has more recently identified conservative Christians as dangerous “radicals” for being politically motivated by conservative issues, while at the same time promoting left-wing causes and candidates.⁷

My contention is that this attitude toward politics led to situations where church leaders looked down on conservatives, while not offering the same condemnation for those who voiced liberal positions. As a result, conservative viewpoints (likely held by the majority of congregants) do not get a hearing or a proper biblical evaluation, while the same reticence is not true for liberal viewpoints. In the worst cases, this results in pride flags and wokeness infecting previously healthy churches. But most commonly this means a near-complete silence on politics at a time when people (young men in particular) are searching for answers to the exact questions that churches are refusing to address.

My Encouragements for Pastors

This incongruity ought not to be so. At a time when many young people—many young men particularly—are returning to both political conservatism and church attendance, I hope that pastors might consider teaching, preaching, and discipling their congregations on the merits of political conservatism from a biblical perspective. As someone in Gen Z, this is what helped my Overton window to move.⁸ While I am not a pastor myself, here are my two humble suggestions to pastors who want to engage with these issues.

1. Be Biblical: Make the Hard Applications

In recent years, the call to be “gospel-centered” has often been used as justification to avoid “controversial” issues. While we should certainly strive to be as gospel-centered as possible, that doesn’t mean that the gospel and God’s word don’t touch other parts of life. Imagine a bicycle wheel. It requires a central hub to function, but it also needs spokes to reach the outer rim and make contact with the road, propelling the machine forward. Likewise, the system of Christian truth has a center. It is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, without which nothing can hold together. But I would suggest that numerous issues radiate from the center, and many of them are very practical issues which touch down very impactfully in people’s lives.⁹

Recognizing this reality allows pastors to teach the whole counsel of God. Cornelius Van Til said, “The Bible is thought of as authoritative on everything of which it speaks. And it speaks of everything.”¹⁰ To apply this to the current discussion, to “be biblical” is fundamentally to “be political” because scripture speaks on even the most controversial political issues. Ultimately, attempts to find a “third way” to approach politics is an exercise in futility, because it seeks to blunt and soften the scriptures where they speak with clarity and boldness. Further, the scriptures, despite left-wing efforts to the contrary, present a fundamentally conservative worldview. Much could be said on this point, but I would want to simply direct you to this helpful sermon series by Dr. Heath Lambert, which covers a wide range of political issues, from voting, to taxes, to border security, to abortion, and more.¹¹

2. Be Bold: Use the Pulpit to Serve a Confused Generation

As a pastor, you already know that there will likely be headwinds when you speak politically. A couple decades of training in supposed political neutrality has given many faithful churchgoers reason to feel uncertain when their pastor discusses political issues. In addition, the forces of liberalism continue to push the Overton window leftward, sometimes making conservative viewpoints feel unspeakable. But for young men like me, your boldness will make a massive impact. If you don’t disciple us from the pulpit, we will likely either grow up to be weak men or become discipled by bold (but often rash) internet personalities.

Not every sermon needs to be a political rally, but where scripture speaks, I hope you feel empowered to speak. Even if some walk away taking offense, I would encourage you not to let this dissuade you. I hope you can say, like Luther before you: “Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.”

Conclusion

Ultimately, what I (and many like me) needed as a college kid was pastors who were ready and willing to shepherd me through what the Bible says about the most difficult cultural issues. Frequently, that did not happen. While I harbor no ill will toward any of the pastors I had at the time (in many ways, this problem has only become clear with the benefit of hindsight), it would have been better if some of them had been “more political.” While this requires careful attention to gentleness, care, and humility for how to approach one’s own specific congregation, it nevertheless is my hope that pastors everywhere would be encouraged that for this gen z-er (and many others), Biblical conviction and boldness in the area of politics is the need of the hour.