Christian Conservative On Knife’s Edge

Jan 19, 2021 by

By Rod Dreher, The American Conservative:

I received a version of this letter from a reader today. I asked him if he would rewrite it to take some specific identifying information out (to protect himself and his family), so I could publish it. He did, and so I share it with you. I think it’s very powerful:

[…] Last year, I began to see something that I had not seen before. This came after I read your book, Live Not by Lies. I saw that the church in America was not faithfully serving God like she claimed, but rather serving a country. I also saw the other side where the church began to serve “wokeness” in the name of compassion only to find that “compassion” whiplashed with societal whims.

Then January 6th happened, and my whole American dream came crashing down. I saw a pastor I knew post online his praise for the raiding/occupation of the Capitol Building. I saw other professing Christians on social media, many whom I know in person, calling for states that voted for Trump to cut ties with states that did not. I saw the title “demoncrat” again and again, calling those on the other side of the political aisle “enemies” and “evil” as if it were some sort of war.

My own friend, mentor, and pastor called Vice President Mike Pence a traitor — a traitor — on social media for not pulling some magical string to keep Trump president. I am still in shock about it because this was not like him.

After all of this I have realized something: I am stuck in the middle. I cannot and will not align myself with these professing Christians who sound like they are the “conserva-woke” who replace “white oppression” with “deep state” and “every negative incident against a black person is proof of systemic racism” with “every negative incident against Trump or a supporter is proof of the pedophile deep state that wants to bring the new world order.” But I also cannot and will not align myself with the “woke” church who does just as much damage, if not more, to the Gospel than the conservative church by bowing to cultural desires and lusts. While I support conservative policies and believe that progressive policies and ideology hurt everyone, I cannot join with these friends, acquaintances, and ministers I know who claim the name of Christ, yet clearly proclaim allegiance to the tribe of Trump.

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