2012 ELECTIONS LOSSES Bigger Than White House

The results of the recent elections were very disappointing for evangelicals. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, some 80% of evangelicals voted for Republican candidate, Mitt Romney. According to pre-election polls, Romney received a larger slice of the evangelical vote than any previous Republican presidential candidate. However, Romney and the Republicans lost.

At the state level, evangelicals also lost on a number of social issues. Voters in more than one state passed referenda supporting gay marriage. This marks the first time for any state to legalize same-sex marriage by the expressed will of the people, rather than through court rulings or legislation. Other social issues included abortion funding and legalization of marijuana.

In light of these losses, Ed Stetzer, President of Life Way Research believes “we should begin thinking about what it looks like to be the church in a ‘post-culture war’ era.” Simply put, evangelicals seemed to have lost a worldview battle, often referred to as “the culture war”.

According to Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “evangelical Christians must see the 2012 election as a catastrophe for crucial moral concerns.” Mohler believes “we face a worldview challenge that is far greater than any political challenge.” The question facing us is clear – how can we winsomely convince Americans to share our moral convictions about marriage, sex, the sanctity of life and a range of other moral issues?

It was with that question in mind I shared in a recent post-election sermon – when it seems okay to ridicule a priest because his prayer to God was unacceptable, you know we are in trouble. Or, when it seems okay for a political party to remove the need for God and the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from its platform, you know we are in trouble. Actually, before our eyes we are witnessing the reshaping of a culture that is against the idea of Christian values in the marketplace.

 The results of the November elections made it clear that politics is not the answer we need to confront the moral decline in America. In the words of Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, “we need to go back to the basics of living as disciples of Christ, living missionally for Christ and demonstrating the Gospel in tangible ways within our schools, workplaces and communities.” In other words, Christians need to get back to what we know best – serving others with the support of our faith communities, rather than to the beat of political drums.

The admonition of the Apostle Paul is appropriate at this time. In Romans 12:2, he urges the Christians in Rome to discontinue the practice of allowing the world to squeeze them into a mold. This is how The Message describes the verse: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.” Or, “don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world” (NLT).

The New Testament writers are saying to us that we should not allow non-Christian ways of thinking to influence our thoughts or actions. For instance, the political practice of demonizing your opponent in order to dissuade others from voting for the challenger is a non-Christian practice. It must be opposed vehemently, regardless of the party responsible for the demonizing. Our commitment to civil discourse must not be defined in political terms. Whenever we allow such practices to guide our thinking, we are allowing a non-Christian worldview to squeeze us into its mold.

Rather than give-in to conformity, we should be “transformed by the renewing of [our] minds” (Romans 12:2). In essence, we ought to arrange our thinking to reason ‘Christianly’. Our values should not be defined by politicians. Our values must be in line with our primary allegiance – and that is not to ‘Ceasar’, but to God.

We must call on our politicians to pursue the common good – to care for the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor and the immigrant. We must continue to stand in defense of life, marriage and religious freedom. Like Cardinal Timothy Dolan, we must pray for the President and everyone in leadership – “that they help restore a sense of civility to the public order, so our public conversations may be imbued with respect and charity toward everyone.”

The cultural war is not an imaginary battle. It is real and must be fought in the spirit of Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (allow such things to shape your thinking).