For previous posts in this series, see here and here.
Anderson turns now to an examination of one incident that illustrates the bad way for social conservatives, and particularly Christians, to engage in the public square:
One incident, in particular, illustrates how Huckabee narrowed the appeal of social conservatism. While stumping to a largely Evangelical audience in Michigan, Huckabee said: “I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do—to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
Now both Anderson and I take issue with Huck on this one, but for very different reasons. Anderson seems to dislike this approach because it is electorally counter-productive. He writes, “Arguing that ‘God said so’ won’t persuade anyone who doesn’t already agree with you.” In other words, seeking to bring “the word of the living God” to bear on the Constitution is a non-starter and politically futile.
In contrast, I think amending the Constitution to conform to God’s standards for explicitly religious reasons is a fine idea, but effectively futile, at least for the country as we currently know it. The problem isn’t merely that people won’t be persuaded by our appeals; it’s that imposing God’s laws on a godless people is a fool’s errand. When rebels get placed under Law, they simply find more creative ways to rebel. In other words, Huck’s prescription is a classic example of putting the cart (godly legal system) before the horse (widespread embrace of the gospel).
Anderson quotes two reactions from two conservative writers at NRO, Lisa Schiffren and Andy McCarthy. While it’s difficult to tell if Anderson agrees entirely with their sentiment, he appears to at least recognize that such opposition from those who ostensibly “agree” with Huck on the issues renders Huck’s approach DOA.
However, the reaction of Schiffren and McCarthy demonstrate one of the fundamental issues in the debates about Christians in the public square: How much Christ is allowed in here?
Lisa Schiffren quickly pointed out: “Mike Huckabee is going to force those of us who have wanted more religion in the town square to reexamine the merits of strict separation of church and state. He is the best advertisement ever for the ACLU, even if you share his ultimate views on the definition of marriage, or the desirability of abortion on demand.”
Got it? “We thought we were getting a little more religion in the public square. Then this Jesus guy came barging in here, turning over tables and acting like he owns the place. He even had the audacity to tell us what to do. Who does he think he is?” Schiffren’s view of “the separation of church and state” is more accurately described as the separation of Christ and state. In my view, Christians should rightly desire to keep the Church (as Church) separate from the state. Meaning, among other things, that Rick Warren should not be the pastor of Saddleback and Governor of California.
But, at the same time, we should insist, against all protestations to the contrary, that the State, as much as the Church, exists under the authority of Christ, and has the duty to acknowledge this fact out loud where everyone can hear. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, including authority over America’s public square. Christians, of all people, need to be clear on this.
McCarthy’s response was even more illuminating:
“Part of my usual response . . . focuses on the Taliban, their imposition of sharia (i.e., God’s law), and the marked contrast to our system’s bedrock guarantee of freedom of conscience. . . . Where has Huck been for the last seven years? Does he not get that our enemies—the people who want to end our way of life—believe they are simply imposing God’s standards?”
Now, I read McCarthy a fair amount over at NRO. He’s a great repository for information about radical Islam around the world. But there is simply no way to avoid imposing the standards of some god or another. That’s what “law” is, an imposition rooted in a culture’s understanding of ultimate reality. And laws restricting abortion have zero to do with “freedom of conscience” and everything to do with the freedom not to be slaughtered in-utero.
As far as his comparison to the Taliban goes, the reason that Muslims don’t have the right to impose sharia law on the rest of us has nothing whatever to do with the fact of their imposition and everything to do with their imposing the laws of a false god. The principle is not “Never impose any law rooted in a god.” Rather, it’s “Only impose laws rooted in the living God and his Son Jesus Christ.” And then, only in areas that he has placed under the jurisdiction of the State.
Such equivocation between Christians and Muslims, Jesus and Allah is fundamentally misleading. Allah, like all the other principalities and powers, was disarmed and subdued by Jesus at the cross (Col 2:15). Which means that, while Allah has absolutely no standing to tell me what to do, Jesus does. He triumphed. And all men everywhere are now commanded to repent and trust him, including Supreme Court Justices, Senators, and NRO bloggers.
Anderson laments that “the Bible doesn’t carry the authority it once did. And many of those who generally hold the Bible in high regard consider it ‘dated’ and ‘out of touch’ on certain controversial moral questions.” Aside from the oxymoronic idea that someone can simultaneously rule the Bible “out of touch” and “hold it in high regard,” Anderson and I approach this observation of political fact (and it is a political fact) differently.
He seems to take this as a baseline political reality, one with which we Christians must learn to live. “Bible-thumping used to work, but we’re way past that now.” But movement away from biblical authority is precisely what got us into this mess. It’s why in this country, filled as it is my professing Christians, mothers can kill their unborn children at any time during pregnancy, judges can be willing and ready to sanction sexual rebellion as soon as the proper Supreme Court case is mounted, the State can continue to borrow and spend money it doesn’t have to pay for things it can’t afford, and a host of other social, moral, and political ills. Before any of these things can be addressed at any fundamental level, the Bible has to regain some of that long-lost authoritative mojo.
I’ll close with this: Liberals (rightly) recognize the threat to their idolatries posed by the Risen Christ. They read “All authority in heaven and on earth” and get the message, loud and clear. “No square inch of reality left unclaimed by Jesus, huh? Well then, we’d better get rid of him.”
Conservatives, on the other hand, often pay lip-service to the role of “religion” or “God” in society, but look for loopholes to his reign. The public square, governmental affairs, education: we cede such realms to the nice secularists in exchange for some temporary protection from the rabid ones. We then act surprised when the State shuts us out of the negotiations over which group of individuals will be dehumanized, taxed, or marginalized next so that people can continue to enjoy the Handbasket to Hell Ride a little longer. “No more,” says I, “The world belongs to Jesus, bought with his own blood. This we proclaim, and this only.”
