OPINION:
This has been a week of complete and utter lunacy, a week of riots, a week of chaos, a week of hypocrites doubling down on their hypocrisy and liberals flaunting their illiberality, a week where the free press continued to undermine freedom, a week where “law and order” conservatives broke the law and fomented disorder.
This was a week where those who have so courageously shouted to defund the police cowered in fear behind the very police they were hash-tagging to defund.
This was a week that began with a Congress that pretends to be feminist, expunging any reference of the feminine from the Congress.
This was a week where an ordained “Christian” minister prayed to a “monotheistic” Hindu god that, by definition is one of 300 million gods in a religion that is explicitly not monotheistic and not Christian. This was a week of etymological nonsense and the coining of words that make no sense.
This was a week where Atlanta, the cradle of America’s march for a color-blind society, elected a man who is shamelessly fixated on color, a week where the “red” state of Georgia voted for politicians dressed in communist red, a week where #MeToo voted for misogyny, a week where those championing the cause of women elected a chauvinist charged with assaulting his wife.
This was a week of madness. Pure madness.
But the winner of this week’s award for cognitive crackpottery does not hail from the ranks of secular politics but rather from the pulpit. Consider David Drury, an “evangelical leader” from our nation’s heartland who, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, posted this on his social media: “For those mixing Christian faith and [political activism] at my nation’s capital, there is sin in the camp. Know when to stop blowing trumpets and start self-examination. Replace this losing Christian Nationalism with prayer and confession.”
One might rightly ask Mr. Drury what he means by “nationalism” and why he considers it a bad thing? Does Rev. Drury not understand that Merriam-Webster defines nationalism as a preference for and loyalty toward one’s nation or, as Richard Lowry writes, “nationalism is [merely] a people’s natural devotion their home and their country.”
What exactly does Mr. Drury think nationalism is? Is nationalism not synonymous with national pride and love of country? Does nationalism not imply national service, national sovereignty, national borders, a national motto, a national pledge and a national flag? What about believing in the exceptionalism of one’s nation? Is this not nationalism? And if so, why does Mr. Drury disparage all this? One has to wonder why the good pastor considers all this to be bad and not good?
And does not Mr. Drury understand that he betrays himself by his own language? Doesn’t he notice that when he indignantly scolds others for their nationalism at “HIS” (emphasis mine) nation’s capital, that he has just demonstrated his own nationalism? How can something so obvious escape his attention?
With predictable postmodern arrogance, this evangelical leader shows us everything that is wrong with today’s evangelical church. Mr. Drury’s presumption of redefining politics to fit his own politics while criticizing others for their politics smacks of shameless manipulation and hubris.
But this is what the woke and the righteous do. Condemning you for your sins while exonerating themselves for doing the same has become an art form to them. Dumbing down the definitions of words while claiming to preach the Word is part and parcel of today’s progressive pulpit. If the definition doesn’t fit, then, by all means, change the definition; don’t change yourself.
And what are we to make of Mr. Drury’s pejorative slam against “Christian” as a predicate to nationalism? Well, if he is arguing against integrating our Christian convictions with our public engagement, he is stunningly ignorant — ignorant of our history, ignorant of our laws and ignorant of the Bible.
Whether he likes it or not, it is irrefutable that the United States is steeped in Christianity. Everyone from Jefferson, Washington and Adams to FDR, MLK and even our Supreme Court has affirmed that the “Christian religion” is coursing through our nation’s historical veins. The moral DNA of Christ and His church is rife within the country that Mr. Drury claims as “his.”
Evangelicals like this have become the sound of one hand clapping for a reason. No one is listening because they have nothing worth listening to. When your sermon is little more than a milk toast version of the latest socialist screed, you shouldn’t be surprised to find yourself thrown out and trampled underfoot by a culture that has zero interest in your message.
Self-examination, Mr. Drury? I agree. But maybe start by looking in the mirror rather than out the window. Perhaps then you won’t completely miss the irony of condemning others for their “Christian nationalism” while ignoring the post-Christian nature of your own.
• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery).
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