Are conservative Christians too political?

OPINION:

This past week, as we watched the unfolding stories of illegal immigrants beating police in New York, chaos on our southern border, and the Middle East teetering on the edge of World War III, one of the most insidious bits of news that might have escaped your attention is called “the after party.” 
 
What is this “after party,” you ask? It’s a curriculum funded by Democratic billionaires that “evangelicals” such as David French and Russell Moore are promoting in churches across the country. The purpose of the after party is simple and straightforward. Its primary objective is to convince conservative Christians they are too political. “Jesus was neither a Republican nor a Democrat,” we’re told. “Partisan politics is divisive and only distracts from the message of Christ. The church needs to repent of its Republican bias.” 

How should Bible-believing Christians respond? Well, maybe we should do what Jesus did when confronted by a political opponent and ask some basic rhetorical questions. In other words, copy Christ and come up with our version of “Whose face is on this coin?” 

For example, we might ask these “evangelical” Democrats: 

Aside from the fact that Jesus obviously was neither a Republican nor a Democrat because neither party existed at the time, can you tell us what particular Republican policies concern you? In other words, can you show us some specific cases where Democrats are right and Republicans are wrong? 

Please provide some evidence of why neo-Marxist “social justice” is right and biblical justice is wrong. 

Can you tell us why denying the biological fact of the female is right while defending the empirical reality of a woman is wrong? 

And can you explain why killing our youngest children is right while fighting to protect them from a political party that is hellbent on their execution is wrong?

Surely, these are questions that those who presume to be our political instructors should answer, aren’t they? 

But there’s more. For example, we might ask Mr. Moore and Mr. French, who clearly fancy themselves our spiritual superiors, questions such as: 
  
Can you explain 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? 

And please help us understand why the confiscation of private property 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. 

Furthermore, can you provide any 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? 

Or can you share your proof 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? 

And finally, please tell us 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 all our unalienable rights is wrong. 

Please show us where dividing our country by race and color is right while working to unite it by the content of our character is wrong. Do you have any evidence that your constant emphasis on identity politics is right, while the Republican focus on personal responsibility is wrong?

I may be crazy, but I’d suggest that these people who pedantically presume to enter our churches and lecture us about what to think and do need to stop telling us we are too political. Can’t we agree that, at the very least, they should answer our basic political questions as they flagrantly flaunt their own politics? They include: 

If you believe in freedom, shouldn’t you vote for less government rather than more?

If you believe in women’s rights, shouldn’t you vote for someone who understands that if women aren’t real, they have no rights?

If you believe in creation care, shouldn’t you vote for someone who believes in the Creator?

And where does God ever bless and protect a people who deny his existence, boo him at their national conventions, mock his standards of morality, celebrate the killing of his youngest children, sexually groom 5- and 10-year-old boys and girls, and celebrate behavior he calls damnable?

Please, Mr. Moore and Mr. French, tell us where any of this lunacy is correct and why challenging it as suicidal is wrong.

One last question: Didn’t Christ himself call the smug and self-righteous “whitewashed tombs, snakes, and vipers,” and didn’t he warn that some of his harshest judgment would be for Pharisees who are little more than wolves in sheep’s clothing? 

Finally, Mr. Moore and Mr. French, we’re just curious: Does any of your “after party” curriculum include any of this? 

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host.