[Note also: 10 Ways the Religious Right Is Wrong – February 28, 2024]

There are troubling trends taking hold in the Church today where:

  • Facts don’t matter. Opinions do.
  • Right is wrong. Wrong is right.
  • Talk much. Listen little.
  • Anger first. Understand last.
  • Truth before Justice. Justice without Truth
  • Grace is privileged. Mercy is merited.
  • Love is without Sacrifice. Sacrifice is without Love.

Consequently the Church in North America has drifted from it’s mission, compromising its identity & character in Christ, and has struggled to bear witness to the Light within, which is intended for the World in Darkness.

The Left is not right when it:

  1. Suggests Scripture is informative not authoritative
  2. Sees Truth to be relative not absolute; contextual not universal
  3. Confuses Equity with equality, and Unity with uniformity
  4. Undervalues the Cost of freedom at the Expense of lost liberty
  5. Criticizes the Actions of others publicly, while Practicing them privately
  6. Considers Self before others, rather than Others before self
  7. Demonizes individuals on the Right, while it Deifies individuals on the Left
  8. Promotes Justice and Love proudly, yet doesn’t tend to walk humbly with God
  9. Applies Principles and Positions inconsistently across issues of the day
  10. Places more hope in a Candidate or Administration than hope in Christ!

Consequently The Religious Left has developed their own GOSPEL:

A god without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgement through the ministration of a Christ without a cross. – H. Richard Niebuhr

What should Christians on the Left or the Right DO?

Obey the commands of God. This is easier said than done! Life gets complicated and confusing. However, because only God has the end goal in mind, and only He has the greater perspective (the “Big Picture”) in view, we must ask some hard questions:

  • Am I reacting or responding in this situation?
  • Is my opinion or view based on part of a Text or the whole counsel of Scripture?
  • Do I often speak before I listen?
  • Is this about me winning vs. losing the argument, or about my understanding it?
  • Am I quicker to place a verdict on the opposing person or place value?
  • Is my “attitude” out of control or is it in check?
  • Is my vehement discourse really all about them or is it actually all about me?
  • Am I seeking to leverage God’s approval by my action, or seeking to love God intimately?
  • Am I more willing to love the lovable than to love the unloveable?
  • Am I placing my hope and trust in something/someone else or in God?
  • AND, is my practice to bring it all to God in prayer?

NOTE: This is not to imply “The Religious Right” is therefore always right! Much sensitivity to the direction of the Holy Spirit, along with the counsel of the Holy Word is required for healthy discernment on both sides.

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
~ Micah 6:8 ESV

—RWO/MAST