What Evangelicals Get Right
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in ReligionRecently, American evangelicals have been increasing the pressure on the United States to do more to help the Darfur region of Sudan. This increased pressure has been cited as the main reason why Bush recently called for stepped-up action to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
This is hardly the first time that evangelicals have embraced decidedly liberal international causes. Evangelicals have been instrumental in increasing awareness and providing assistance to African AIDS victims. They have fought against Chinese religious oppression. And they have worked toward improving human rights in North Korea.
For anyone who uses “evangelicalâ€Â? as a pejorative and reflexively thinks of this diverse group as gay-hating, abortion-clinic protesting, Creationism-pushing wanna-be theocrats, it is important to remember that people are never so black-and-white. At the heart of Christianity rests a great and noble compassion. And while many of the so called Christian Right are wrongly focused on attacking homosexuality and breaking the barriers of Church and State, many, many Christians still hold in their hearts a desire to bring grace and mercy to the world’s least fortunate.
That is why it is no surprise that Christians have been at the heart of many great causes, including the abolitionist movement, women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement.
All this is not to say Christians have a monopoly on compassion. Nor do I seek to minimize the many wrongs that have been committed in the name of Christianity. My point is simply this: Christians can be powerful allies in the promotion of social justice. And anyone interested in issues like stopping the genocide in Darfur or ending the AIDS epidemic in Africa would be wise to make common cause with evangelicals and other Christians.
Too often in my dealings with those on the secular left, I find great contempt for Christianity and religion in general. As a church-going Christian who is very far from being part of the Christian Right, I am saddened to see so many on the left losing touch with religion. I hope this is just temporary, an understandable reaction to the rise of religious zealotry; because the Christian call to help the sick and poor can be a powerful motivating force in bettering the world.
Christianity and traditional liberal values have a lot in common. Just something to think on.
This entry was posted on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 3rd, 2006 at 10:58 am
Long time reader, first time writer – just wanted an honest take. While AIDS eradication would be much worse off without the support of the evangelicals, I am somewhat troubled by what I see as excessive emphasis on abstinence promotion. Not to quibble with the support, just to note that evangelical engagement often results in an evangelical solution.
So in the case of Sudan, how much of the outrage comes from the genocide (which I felt was lacking in Rwanda) and how much of it comes from the fact that the genociders are Muslim persecuting Christians in grizzly fashion?
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:23 am
“This increased pressure has been cited as the main reason why Bush recently called for stepped-up action to stop the ongoing genocide in Darfur.”
Hold on a sec. An article by the Christian Science Monitor is hardly proof that evangelicals behind action to stop the evildoing in Sudan, especially from the Bush administration. A letter from Kofi Annan to John Bolton, an expanding UN peacekeeping mission and a globally-growing awareness of the problem might also be behind it, just a smidgen.
While Christian values are certainly not unlike the values of ANY moral person, on the left or right, don’t be so quick to give them credit for any good deeds being done. It doesn’t take a Christian, in the right or the left, to know what is the right thing to do in Sudan.
This coming from a non-Church going, non-religious conservative.
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:35 am
W,
The phrase was “has been cited” which it has. I wasn’t implying I had any proof that the evangelicals were behind Bush’s statements–just that some believe that to be the case.
The evangelicals are hardly the only ones calling for more action in Darfur, but they have a powerful voice and I am more than happy to welcome them to the cause.
March 3rd, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Christianity and traditional liberal values have a lot in common. Just something to think on.
Indeed, it also goes to show that the Christian right, for all the vilification that they’ve had to endure from the hard-secularist Left in America and Europe, are like cuddly kittens when stacked up against the “religious right” from a certain other religion, which, for that very reason, the hard-secularists rarely criticize publicly (with one recent exception).
March 3rd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
and how much of it comes from the fact that the genociders are Muslim persecuting Christians in grizzly fashion?
That’s not really the case, at least not in Darfur, where most of the Sudanese killed have been Muslim. The thing is, they’ve been dark-skinned Muslims, and the janjaweed are light-skinned Muslims.
Of course, the previous years of genocide in Sudan were Muslims killing Christians.
March 3rd, 2006 at 6:53 pm
The Question of the Christians
In a recent article I penned for The Carleton Progressive, I lauded Kansas Senator and staunch evangelical Sam Brownback for his aggressive stance on Darfur and North Korean human rights, and urged Democrats, on these issues at least, to “Be Like Sam…
March 4th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Well, I have met some evangelical christians that were fine folks
I have met some muslims that were fine folks
Even know some far left liberals tht are OK
BUT, in each case there are some crazy assholes that scare the crap out of me. they are the ones who think they speak for the whole … and all too often it seems like they do.
To borrow a christian phrase … Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. OR better yet … try to get along, but make sure you are armed like an Israel!