Your first letter reminded me of a discussion I had with some close friends in early 2003. I was ranting about how misguided I felt Christians were in their politics–poverty a side issue, racial justice a non-issue, and hatred too common a trait. One of my friends encouraged me to hold off on saying anything public because I needed to be more positive in my story, less angry and more broken.
The unsolvable mystery of faith is trying to figure out why two days later I had the car crash and tumor diagnosis, and why it all happened in the earliest hours of Palm Sunday Morning.
The book is direct fruit of the whole experience. The hurdle I had to overcome, however, wasn’t so much what to say about the Bush White House. It had more to do with whether I could tell the true story of how I ended up in religious conservative politics–a girlfriend’s abortion in college–and whether I could honestly depict the hatred I developed so that by mid-1992 when watching Pat Buchanan’s Houston convention speech, I spewed these words to a college friend who questioned Buchanan’s speech: “At least he is not some gay lover from Arkansas.”
As I wrote in the book, I couldn’t believe those words came from my mouth, and as I recounted them in the book, I felt sick. I feel sick now because that hatred is so antithetical to the love of the Jesus I follow now and purported to follow then. But I had to write them as confession, as repentance, and as warning to others not to follow my path of confusing Jesus with politics.
As I read “The Conservative Soul”, I couldn’t help but identify with so much of what you talk about regarding Christian fundamentalism–the insularity, the profound insecurity and need to present everything as airtight. Of course, as you point out, that isn’t faith at all; it is dogma.
But I think you may define “Christianism” too broadly. For while it applies to whatever it is that I had become and to the vast majority of the self-appointed “Christian” political power brokers, I do not think that it applies to those Christian leaders most well-regarded in the Christian community–Billy Graham and Rick Warren, to name just two–and to the scores of millions of Christians with an orthodox theology as enunciated in something like the Nicene Creed.
Is it possible that when you talk about Christianism you really mean those Christians who have sold out to the idol named “politics” and to those practitioners of “natural law” (who you describe in your book) who may or may not be operating from a Jesus-centric attitude?
I know what I was–a fundamentalist in the worst sense of the word. But I also know what I have become–a broken man embracing the life that Jesus promises and trying to believe his love for me. And I think (hope?) that most Christians in America are more like who I am and not who I was.
Christian political leaders? Well, that is another story.
Read: “Dear Andrew: Part One”
posted November 1, 2006 at 10:53 pm
[beg pardon for not reponding here to Andrew Part 2] David: Just wondering if you’d heard of the Emergent Church Network, an evangelical movement that strives among other things to break the popular association between “evangelical” and “politically conservative”. I hadn’t heard of it before the linked story was broadcast locally on Minnesota Punlic Radio.
posted November 2, 2006 at 3:34 am
Being broken is a defining characteristic of a Christian. Only the broken can truly embrace Jesus. I always rejoice when I hear of a broken person looking toward Jesus. I know God is at work. Looking forward to reading your book.
posted November 2, 2006 at 6:08 am
Please excuse me for being off-topic. I couldn’t figure out your email address. I found your Charlie Rose appearance very moving for your commitment to the poor and the strength of your beliefs. Best wishes. I’m a liberal Democrat.
posted November 2, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Like Neil, I’m here because I couldn’t find an email address for you; like Neil, too, I’m a liberal Democrat. And (since I find myself on the BeliefNet site) a Jew, an agnostic, and an athiest. In no particular order. In any event – I’m reading Tempting Faith, and enjoying it. I’d like to know if you have a book tour scheduled that will take you through San Diego.
posted November 2, 2006 at 8:42 pm
I’m another “liberal” , but not necessarily a Democrat and I have really been intrigued by the responses to your book. I have also been a “born-again” (in the Bibical sense, not the fundamentalist sense) for some years. I have been totally unsuccessful in finding a church because they all seem to be so political and un-Christian, as I understand what it is to be Christian. And then your book comes along and I find there are a lot of us. And also a lot of dogmatic “Christians” who feel the need to rip you. So it seems there are great divides between people who truly strive to follow Christ and those who just think going to church on Sunday is a sacrifice to some God they must obey. WE have all done mean and hateful things and some of us come to Christ on our knees out of a recongnition that that is not the kind of people we want to be. Often a choice born out of pain and shame. What amazes me is the sort of mysterious way Christ takes the meanness out of us when we truly want it to be gone. Sorry to ramble, just want to thank you for brining this sort of discussion to such a public forum.
posted November 3, 2006 at 4:55 am
I wonder if people know what fundamentalism was historically. The word today is used today in a prerogative sense like commie or red was back in the 50-60s, but do you know what it means? People who describe other people as fundamentalist in my opinion reveal a degree of arrogance unbecoming a Christian. It also reveals an ignorance of history, a history that can teach us all about the relationship between politics and religion. The fundamentalist of the early part of the last century can teach us a lot about how to distance and position ourselves from the secular powers to be. So I suggest Google history of fundamentalism. You might be surprised.
posted November 3, 2006 at 8:00 pm
David, I have heard/seen you on NPR, Comedy Central and several other media and I think very highly of your views. One aspect puzzles me though: how an abortion led you to work for political right-to-life causes. How can you work to deprive others of the freedom you and your girlfriend exercised when faced with an unwanted pregnancy? This seems somehow hypocritical to me. I can understand the emotional trauma and wanting to channel your energies in a direction you deem moral, but wouldn’t those energies have been more appropriately devoted to 1) PERSONALLY resolving never to have another abortion in any future relationship and 2) working to educate as many people as possible on the possibilities of completing the pregnancy, raising children, choosing adoption etc. Choosing to work politically to ban individual freedom seems counter to many of the conservative views you espouse. I would love to hear your perspective on this.
posted November 3, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Thanks for being brave enough to make those confessions, David. What I find most heartbreaking about the conflation of Christianity with politics in recent years is the extent to which a faith that is ostensibly about love and forgiveness has become best known for being used as a weapon. Christian history is full of cautionary tales about the tragedy that generally results when church leaders allow their religion to be twisted to political ends. Too bad Bush & Co haven’t read enough history to avoid repeating its mistakes… I truly believe that our best hope for finding a way out of the present darkness is for more Christians like yourself — who have learned, sometimes the hard way, that hate is *not* a family value — to to speak up, loudly and publicly, and disavow the actions of your misguided coreligionists. So blessed be, David, and keep sharing your testimony.
posted November 4, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Has David Kuo spoken with Cal Thomas about their shared experiences with politicians? If my memory serves me correctly, Cal had developed similar opinions after Reagan/Bush41 as David has after Bush43. Where is the Protestant voice regarding illegal immigration? I’ve heard some compassionate rhetoric from Catholic clergy in California, but the Protestants are silent. Is this a repeat of the 1960′s civil rights movement when white Protestants were MIA?