Why Evangelicals have been slow to discern Right-wing distortions of the Gospel

But he felt compelled to voice his disagreement publicly with those advocating that revisionist sexual ethics be embraced in the denomination, and he penned an article defending the historic Christian view on the subject. In his essay, he carefully distinguished why skin color and sexual conduct are not the same categorically and argued that conflating the two is not in keeping with Scripture.

But this pastor’s words were maliciously twisted, and accusations of racism and bigotry started swirling. A seminary professor with notable influence in the denomination even went so far as to say that LGBT-identified people should show up at his congregation and engage in subversive acts. 

Unfortunately, I know many similar stories like this, as do many theologically orthodox Evangelicals across several traditions. These Christians found themselves in the middle of a conflict they weren’t looking for, and they were branded as racist bigots. That has been the rhetorical weapon of choice for years from bad actors, and people crying wolf where there is no wolf.

On some Christians, those who are sensitive to the racial issues that have bedeviled our society for decades, the accusations work. Wholesome types do not think like the devious schemers and ideologues who accuse them of those awful things. So, they then fall over themselves explaining that no, they are not racist, and articulate why they abhor white supremacy. But it’s all part of the disingenuous trap set by the bad-faith actors.

Aside from these anecdotes with which I’m familiar, it wasn’t all that long ago when these dynamics were broadly seen on a societal scale, only six years ago. In the heyday of the summer of 2020, I remember observing how many Evangelicals were disturbed by the death of George Floyd, and how they were quick to say that they absolutely believe that black lives matter, because every person is made in God’s image. 

Amid percolating discourse about systemic racism in the media, I also remember seeing numerous Christians and pastors expressing a greater willingness to examine blind spots, reconsider certain policing practices, and lend a listening ear to the troubling experiences that racial minorities have had with law enforcement. That season was a cultural inflection point in an already overwrought time, as people’s nerves were frayed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But when some started expressing misgivings about the Marxist underpinnings of the larger movement being heralded across culture amid the chaos? When they voiced hesitation about municipalities defunding the cops? 

Many Evangelicals and others immediately discovered that doing so was a no-go zone. Black squares flooded social media as wall-to-wall institutional enforcement of the approved narrative manifested in corporate media. Unequivocal moral pronouncements emanated from the highest realms of culture, reading from virtually the same script. Even the most even-handed questioners were regarded as bad, bigoted people if they weren’t fully on board. Accusations of racism were intense and relentless against decent people who raised important points. And, crucially, the accusations were largely untrue. Even with our lingering problems, most Americans are not, in fact, deeply racist people.

That’s the thing about wolf-crying. Because it’s false, it wears people down psychologically, and people then start to regard legitimate warnings and cries for help as nonsense to be tuned out. 

What, then, when actual wolves and racist sentiment start proliferating in greater measure, as is presently happening, especially online? Many have been conditioned to ignore them.  

Are there some professing believers in Jesus who embody the ugliness in those pejoratives? Regrettably, yes, and there are degrees of this, to be sure. But is it true of your average, normie evangelical Christian? No, not by a long shot.

Consider also how many of those men have seen the weak-sauce response from the generations before them. They have been told ad nauseam that masculinity is “toxic” and that being nice and winsome is the pinnacle of all of the Christian virtues. They’ve gotten the message that godliness looks like being a passive doormat and that they must take it all on the chin. They are supposed to engage in performative disavowals and denunciations of people on the far-Right fringes, even if they are not associated with them. 

Meanwhile, Progressive churches brazenly change God Almighty’s pronouns in their liturgies, declare themselves allies of things that are evil, and their thought leaders who wear Jesus like a costume occupy societal perches with tremendous cultural capital. But observant Christian men who notice this double standard are supposed to accept and absorb that blasphemy and just be meek and mild. Or something.

None of that is an excuse, to be clear. A man who internalizes those offenses and then exchanges passivity for white nationalism and hatred of Jews has just found another way to run from responsibility. It is indeed a convoluted, ungodly response. 

But there’s another, larger problem. 

The theological and cultural Left continue to have a disproportionate amount of elite institutional power, are flush with shadowy money, and have a near-total grip on major media, while still claiming to be the people who champion the downtrodden and oppressed. The reversals never cease. Some of this has morphed with the rise of the alternative press and podcast world, a considerable amount of which is rancid, conspiratorial garbage. But in all honesty, most earnest, Bible-believing Evangelicals I know are flat-out exhausted and heartbroken after watching for years as denominations and churches splinter over destructive heresies that have come mostly from the left. They’ve seen the Left as the more destructive force because, in many ways, it has been. 

Many Evangelicals have lived through not only all the wolf-crying but the intense pressure of trying to preserve and maintain biblically rooted standards and a value for God’s righteousness against a pervasive tide of rebellion and apostasy. Critical theory and revisionist sexual ethics, as previously mentioned, have been significant challenges in the past few decades, as has been resisting the new-fangled universalism, emotional manipulation, and other insidious teachings from writers like Rob Bell and the late Rachel Held Evans. 

But God isn’t mocked, and He’s not impressed with any flavor of sin and idolatry, Left-wing or Right-wing. 

Classy as ever, he said: “We don’t look to the Right or the Left for our hope. And so, we need not give a pass to the Left or the Right when we see foolishness. We draw our marching orders from the hope and the wisdom found in the One who overcame every enemy and who has the words of life.”