Ron Sider and the Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility

Ron Sider's comments from last week appear in today's e-Pistle:

a. Evangelicals have sometimes been accused of having a one- or two-issue political agenda. We have sometimes been accused of being concerned with the sanctity of human life only from conception to birth. Others can decide if that was ever fair. But this document makes it clear that a vast body of evangelicals today reject that approach. The declaration insists that it is precisely because the Bible makes it clear that God cares a great deal about marriage and the family and the sanctity of human life and justice for the poor and care for creation and peace and freedom and racial justice, that “faithful evangelical civic engagement must champion a biblically balanced agenda.” This in no way represents abandoning a vigorous commitment to the sanctity of human life and a biblical understanding of marriage. But it does mean that racial and economic justice and care for creation are also central evangelical concerns. Especially noteworthy perhaps is that this is probably the first centrist, consensus evangelical document with a substantial section on creation care. This document demonstrates that evangelicals are not one-issue voters.

b. Evangelicals have sometimes been accused of not understanding structures and systems. Some polls have found that most evangelicals think the only way to change society is one person at a time. This document is clear: social problems result both from bad personal choices and unjust systems and therefore we must correct social problems both by personal spiritual conversion and institutional, structural reform.

c. Evangelicals have sometimes been accused of confusing God and country. Again, this document is clear. “Our primary allegiance is to Christ, his kingdom and Christ’s worldwide body of believers, not to any nation.” We recognize the “potentially self-destructive tendencies of our [American] society and government.”

Comments

[dlw]

good stuff, except that Sider still gives a good deal of weight to the religious right's frames of social issues in the consideration of what a biblically-balanced approach to policy activism and that severely reduces his effectiveness on the other issues.

dlw