OPINION:
A pastor sent me a message this week.
After spending some time highlighting my limited knowledge of social psychology as well as my ignorance of cognitive and moral development theories, he proceeded to chastise me for what he termed my “confirmation bias.”
How was I guilty of such ideological foreclosure?
It seems my sin was my persistent criticism of the ineffectual and bankrupt thinking of ’Progressives.’
“Jesus was neither a Republican or a Democrat,” said my clerical coach. “Your focus on partisan politics only distracts from the message of Christ. Surely, if you were more open minded, you could find some examples where Democrats are right and Republicans are wrong?”
Knowing context is always king, I decided to ask a question or two before succumbing to the temptation of venturing an answer: “Aside from the fact that Jesus obviously wasn’t either a Republican or Democrat, because neither party existed at the time, can you tell me what exact political policies are of concern to you? Please be specific,” I said.
Failing to get a response, I decided to double down a bit.
“Please show me,” I asked, “some specific cases where, as you say, ’Democrats are right and Republicans are wrong.’
“For example, please provide me some evidence as to why politically correct justice is right, and biblically correct justice is wrong?
“Can you tell me why denying the biological fact of the female is right, while defending the empirical reality of a woman is wrong?
“Why is killing our youngest children right, while fighting to protect them from a political party hell-bent on their execution wrong?
“Please tell me where it is ever right to hide the physical consequences of unbiblical sex, while it’s wrong to educate people of its harmful effects.
“Please explain to me why it’s right for the state to presume to define marriage (a sacrament of the church), while fighting to keep the government out of the church’s business is wrong?
“Please help me understand where the confiscation of private property (i.e. stealing it through taxation, debt, and inflation) is right, while defending the right of all citizens to work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labor is wrong?
“Can you provide evidence that ignoring our nation’s sovereignty is right, while defending our country’s borders (as God told Israel to defend its own) is wrong?
“Please share your evidence proving that indoctrinating our children in schools committed to moral nihilism is right, while ’training up our children in the way they should go’ is wrong.
“Please tell me why you think denying God’s existence and expunging any mention of Him from our courts, our Congress, and our classrooms is right, while honoring Him as the author and giver of our unalienable rights of life and liberty is wrong.
“Please show me where dividing our country by race and color is right, while working to unite it by virtue and character is wrong.
“Please provide evidence showing that the constant emphasis on my identity and my victimization is right, while the focus on my responsibility and my obligations is wrong.
“Please tell me where God ever — ever — blesses and protects a people who deny His existence, boo Him at their national conventions, mock His minimal standards of morality, celebrate the killing of His youngest children, debauch 5 and 10-year-olds on the altar of sexual politics, and define themselves by behaviors He calls damnable. Please tell me where any of this lunacy is right, and why challenging it as suicidal is wrong.”
I didn’t get answer from my pastor friend. In fact, his deafening silence is as dumbfounding as his initial question.
There is a reason for the religious bigotry we see rife in our culture. There is a reason for the Christophobia pervasive in our Congress and our courts. There is a reason for the infatuation millennials have for big government. There is a reason our progeny smirks at American exceptionalism while they faun over socialist regimes mired in the blood of millions. There is a reason media talking heads don’t even understand the basics of male and female physiology.
There is a reason so many of our schools don’t seem to understand the importance of the imago Dei and instead treat their students as if they are little more than the imago dog. There is a reason our elected leaders celebrate the “choice” of killing children 60 seconds before they’re born and even 60 seconds after.
There’s a reason self-righteous pastors and politicians protect themselves behind the walls of their offices while telling all the rest of us that a wall to protect our country is wrong. There is a reason our electorate can’t think its way out of a paper bag and can’t tell the difference between what is true and what is false; what is evil and what is good; and what is right and what is wrong.
There’s a reason for all of this.
Could it be that reason is found in what is being preached from our pulpits?
• Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, is the author of “Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery 2017).
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