Jack Hibbs, whom I have not known of until recently, is the founder and senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California and has a daily half-hour program on Bott Radio. This post was sparked by a Jan. 21 article by Hibbs on The Christian Post’s website.
The “Christian
Values” of Conservative White Evangelicals
In the just-mentioned piece, titled “What’s next for evangelicals post-Trump,” Hibbs (b. 1958) declares that “President
Biden is clearly not interested in the concerns of evangelicals.”
“So,” Hibbs asks, “what are we to do, now that Trump is
leaving office and we have a new president who goes against our values?”
The “we” he refers to, I assume, are most of the readers of The
Christian Post and those who attend his church, said to be about five thousand
adults each Sunday, not including teens and children.
Hibbs concludes that “we need to look to 2024 with an eye
towards finding the next president whose policies will be in line with our
values.”
What, though, are the values of this conservative evangelical
pastor? Well, we have some clue in the last five of the 15 points in Hibbs’s
church’s “statement of faith” (see here).
Those “Christian values” were succinctly expressed in a Facebook
post of West Virginia singer David Ferrell (shared by one of my FB friends
earlier this week): “No pastor can support same sex marriage, homosexuality,
transgender, abortion and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
But, where in the Gospels do we find Jesus condemning same-sex
marriage, homosexuality, transgender, or abortion? The values that Jesus emphasized
seem to be quite different.
Jesus’ values are largely affirmed by progressive Christians,
including many prominent Black pastors, most of whom were strongly opposed to President
Trump—in spite of his being extensively supported by conservative White evangelicals
because of his championing “Christian values.”
The Values of Progressive Christians
Last month I read The
Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope (2017), a powerful book by Wendell Griffen,
who is both a pastor and a circuit judge in Arkansas. He also wrote a
provocative Jan.
21 article titled “The end of Trump’s presidency does not end America’s
root problem.”
In stark contrast to Pastor Hibbs, Pastor Griffen asserts,
Trump will forever be remembered as the most vicious, politically incompetent and corrupt president in U.S. history. He left office dishonored, defeated and despised by most people who value justice, truth, integrity, peace and hope.
Griffen also extols
the Christian values of MLK, Jr., including his
condemnation of racism, materialism, and militarism.
The same emphasis on
the Christian values articulated by Griffen—and ignored by Hibbs—is prominently
seen in other noted Black pastors, such as William Barber, Jr., of North
Carolina; Raphael Warnock, our new Senator from Georgia; and Episcopal Bishop Michael
Curry, among many others.
What gall to suggest
that these Black pastors—and the many progressive Christians, White and Black,
who agree with them—all of whom spoke out in opposition to President Trump, are
opposed to Christian values!
Which Christian Values Do You Endorse?
In his January 3
sermon, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor of a church near Dallas said that
President-elect Biden would be a “cognitively dysfunctional president” and then
asked: “what if something happens to him and Jezebel has to take over? Jezebel
Harris, isn’t that her name?”
According to this
1/29 article, that pastor, Steve Swofford, also said that the Biden-Harris
administration would not likely be “doing things our way,” so he urged his
congregation to maintain their “convictions for Christ”—or, in other words, to
stand firm for the “Christian values” of evangelicals.
On the other hand, in
the Conclusion of his book Griffen challenges his hearers to “prophetic citizenship,” which,
he says, focuses “on the needs of the people God cares most about.” That is, “people who are hungry, thirsty, homeless, frail, imprisoned, and unwelcomed.”
So, in reflecting on
these different sets of values, which do you endorse as the more important and
most in harmony with the teachings of Jesus?
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Directly related to this blog post is the following information received in an email yesterday from Public Religion Research Institute, "Nearly half of white evangelical Protestants (49%) believed that former President Donald Trump modeled religious values with his actions and leadership while only 18% of white evangelical Protestants said the same of Joe Biden."
ReplyDeleteThe above statement was included in the email about this new post that I sent to my Thinking Friends. I assume this was what Local TF Ann Henning was referring to in her one word response:
Delete"Shocking!"
I appreciate these kind words from local Thinking Friend Bob Southard:
ReplyDelete"Thanks! You have put words to dynamics that are flooding around everywhere. This adds some clarity. We need your voice!"
And then Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago emailed me these comments before 7 a.m."
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for your comments about evangelical morality.
"I had wanted to comment on your last posting about Coretta King, who did so much with her husband to help in the battle against racism. I often believe that if America ever defeats racism, it will be black women who will have led the way--women such as Coretta King, Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and many others.
"As for evangelical morality, I am puzzled by evangelicals who praise Donald Trump, the most corrupt and immoral president in U S history. These evangelicals seem to be focused on homosexuality and abortion. The Gospels do not contain any remarks about abortion or homosexuality, but there is much said about compassion, caring for the poor, the sick, and the marginalized in our society. Do these people ever read the Gospels? I wonder.
"Yesterday a friend sent me a famous quote from John Kenneth Galbraith, who wrote, 'The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.' Ayn Rand gave it her best, but unconvincing, shot.
Next I received the following email message from Thinking Friend Dan O'Reagan in Louisiana:
ReplyDelete"First of all, in what time I have remaining in my 90 plus years of life, I refuse to fill my life with negativity and division. I have come to be weary with all the negativity and division about race and politics. I am amazed at how many good Christian people differ with each other about Biden and Trump and race.
"I have come to believe that any reference to race, white or black, is in itself divisive and racist. The song I learned as a small child, still applies – 'Jesus Loves The Little Children.' The Gospel is a gospel of love. Love is the thing that is missing from today’s discussions.
"What if Trump would say, 'As a Christian, I am commanded to love Joe Biden, and pray for him, and I do both of those things right now?' What is Joe Biden would say the same thing about Trump? What if all my criticism was said in prayer to God? How different I would be!'"
Thanks, Dan, for taking the time to send me your comments regarding this morning's blog post. I appreciate your emphasis on the "gospel of love," for the primary characteristic of Jesus' values is surely love.
DeleteBut what does it mean to love those who are injuring other people? Does not Jesus teach us that we are to love victims as well as--or more than--the victimizers? What are we to make of Matthew 23:13-39 in light of all that Jesus said about love?
Yes, I, too, sang "Jesus loves the little children" when I was a boy--and with my children when they were young. We sang about how those children were "red and yellow, black and white," and we sang about how "Jesus loves the children of the world." And indeed he does!
But what do we do when local customs or local or national government policies clearly show more love to white children than to children of color? What do we do when the government tries to take care of American children but puts children seeking refuge with their parents in cages?
Along this line, I encourage you to read the article by Rev. Wendell Griffen this morning after I posted my blog article in which he is mentioned and quoted:
https://goodfaithmedia.org/white-christians-present-obstacle-to-end-white-supremacy-religious-nationalism/
Here are significant comments from a local Thinking Friend dedicated Christian scholar whom I greatly respect:
ReplyDelete"It has been, and still is, incomprehensible to me how evangelical 'Christians' can so thoroughly ignore the Beatitudes which, I think, reflect the values Jesus pointed us to, and believe that Trump somehow embodied those. It is a surreal situation. I know many people--some long term acquaintances whom I have respected--who wholeheartedly support Trump with the faith reminiscent of a cult; who say that anyone who does not support him cannot possibly be Christian. It has caused me to cease referring to myself as Christian so as not to mislead them or provoke sneers and pointless argument. If they are Christian I cannot be and at least locally they are the clear majority, firmly convinced of their rightness. Raised in what I had believed to be the Christian faith with its end of life implications, as I approach the inevitable end of mine this is not the comfortable believing, trusting mindset that I had hoped for."
Thinking Friend Virginia Belk in New Mexico was a college classmate of June and me, back when we were all conservative Baptists. Here are comments she sent a few minutes ago, comments with which I basically agree:
ReplyDelete"I think the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us to care for 'people who are hungry, thirsty, homeless, frail, imprisoned, and unwelcomed.'
I also think we should support same sex marriage, homosexuality, transgender, those who want/need abortion. These are ways we can demonstrate our love for God with all our heart, mind, and soul and our neighbors as our selves."
Leroy, I do not share the set of values promoted by the conservative evangelicals you identify.
ReplyDeleteYour post elicited this paraphrase evoked by Howard Thurman [“Jesus and the Disinherited,” p. 93, Beacon Press, 1976 (orig. 1949).
In the character of Jesus, I am confronted by the insistence of God that makes it impossible for me to remain a person characterized by my sense of privilege. I have to take my “place alongside all the rest of humanity and mingle [my] desires with the longing of all the desperate people of all the ages.”
No easy calling. No easy task. Thanks for reminding us of this!
This afternoon between 2:00 and 3:00 I received two widely variant emails regarding this blog post. The first was from a woman who for most of the year she and her husband were in Japan regularly attended the Fukuoka International Church in Japan where I was the part-time pastor. She was and still is, as far as I know, pastor of a church in Georgia. Here is the entirety of the email I received from her:
ReplyDelete"Leroy, Leroy, Leroy ...
"I do not agree/disagree completely with either of these. Rather, I agree with Jesus in what he said and did. I meditate upon the Words Of God and the Word of God continually.
"What I read here leads me to believe you an elitist ... a political animal! You know the Words of God (Bible) but it’s seems you do NOT know the Word of God (Jesus).
"I pray for your awakening ... "
A half hour or so after receiving the above comments, I had this email from Thinking Friend Les Hill in Kentucky.
ReplyDelete"THANKS LEROY!
"Your presentation stands significant at this time when Evangelical Christianity has begun pouring itself down into a valley-of-lost-influence likely to last decades.
"I appreciate the good responses better than I can share, but an illustration may help. The last Prayer Breakfast I recall seeing on TV included a church leader’s closing remarks. He spoke from Jesus’ Beatitudes saying finally , “We should love our enemies." President Trump stepped up immediately to follow him and began saying basically, “I don’t believe that!”
"In contrast our pastor noted an account from his childhood church. It faced good results from its new busing efforts. But the new people and their children in particular raised such a problem that the membership called for a meeting to solve the problem. At one point, his father stood up to spoke. Our pastor says he only remembers his father saying: 'If Jesus did not die for these children He did not die for me.' Influence that led the church membership to an effective Christian decision.
"Who’ll care enough to open the door for DACA children-citizenship, even if all are not perfect? Like ourselves who came by birth not choice. What about the 600 children separated from their parents on the border without adequate records making it difficult to reunite them?
"White Evangelicals have steps here toward redeeming their undeserved adoption as Jesus’ children.
"Les Hill, retired missionary from Southeast Asia."
Thinking Friend Ichwei Indra came from his home country of Indonesia to study in Japan one year, and he was my student in a couple of classes taught in English with him as the only student in those classes. Here are comments from Ichwei that I received about 30 minutes ago:
ReplyDelete"Dear Prof. Seat,
"I'd rather prefer 'both/and' than either one! Some people/pastors of Americans seem to see values from their (human/man's) perspective which tend to concern only 'here and now situation/end, only 'love your neighbors' and 'love one and another.' In my opinion, however, we need also to see people from God's perspective who knows better where the 'root of evil' is. So need to add: love your neighbors/one and another IN CHRIST!"
This afternoon I also received an email from Thinking Friend Lowell Houts, who is also my cousin. Lowell has long been a pastor and a Christian counselor. Here is part of what he wrote:
ReplyDelete"The Good News of Jesus is for those whom the Fundamentalists judge and condemn: those who have been marginalized."
Leroy:
ReplyDeleteOne of your best blogs yet and very reflective of your books. Perception is a weird thing. One of the best examples I've heard is the statement that if several people observe an accident, they may each have a different version of what happened. Quite frankly, I am very concerned about the expression of "Trumpism" in the future. It is like a disease that distorts reality and dilutes, if not destroys, truth. I think it may be providential that the end of the Trump presidency co-existed with the beginning of the Covid-19 virus. It seems so simple to me that Jesus' inaugural address to his followers--the Sermon on the Mount--is so totally ignored when Christian "values" are discussed. When asked by the Pharisees about the greatest commandment, Jesus' answer was so clear about explaining that loving God first, and then loving one's neighbor, answered that question for then and eternity. I have just wanted to shout to the Trump people, "What part of loving your neighbor don't you understand?" I never dreamed I'd live to see the day when Christian "values" were so distorted, perverted and mis-understood. Perception and reality are "many splintered things."
"Better-late-than-never" Truett Baker
Truett, thanks much for sharing your important comments--and I assume your posting this means you are recovering from your recent bout with covid-19, and I am happy that that seems to be the case.
DeleteThe following biblical texts (among others) instruct and inspire my faith and life: Ps 103:8: "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Isa 11:1-9, the peaceful kingdom. Rom 3:21-26; 5:8; Eph 2:4-5, 8, we are saved and justified by grace. Mk 12:28-34, love God and neighbour. Matt 25:31-40, deeds of lovingkindness. Mic 6:8: "He has told you, O moral, 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?" Gal 3:28: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Lk 9:23: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Garth, for your listing many Christian values which are explicitly found in the Bible. I would hope that more and more people, regardless of their political preferences, will seek to live by those values.
DeleteMy Baptist Sunday School class recently completed the difficult reading of Robert P. Jones' 2020 "WHITE TOO LONG." The title comes from a quote from James Baldwin in the February 2, 1968 New York Times. It has been too long for way too long. A more recent entry in the discussion of American evangelicalism is Politico's February 4, 2021 "It's Time to Talk About Violent Christian Extremism." A theology that was honed to defend slavery has never found a way to reconcile itself to actual Christian values. For far too many evangelicals, Christianity remains but a cloak for a wolf within. That wolf must be confronted. You can read Politico's essay here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/04/qanon-christian-extremism-nationalism-violence-466034
ReplyDeleteThanks, Craig, for your comments. I thought the Politico essay was a helpful one. It talked a lot about Christian nationalism. As you probably know, possibly from your SS class discussion of Jones's book, which I highly recommend, there is now a movement called "Christians against Christian nationalism." Here is the link to their website:
Deletehttps://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/
Leroy, thank you for your the blog topic. I have read with great interest and am reminded of my embarrassment as a Christian. With Trump-ism for the last four years and now the Biden political machine I find no comfort as I look to the future.
ReplyDeleteIt has now been fifty-five years since God stepped in to my life and the life of my father. God rescued our family from addiction and poverty.
With my father having an eight grad education and being a product of the Dust Bowel he never asked about Christian values or pretended to know that such values existed. All he gave in his testimony was Jesus loved him. That God had changed his life. When he would witness to others he never suggested that his values were better than that of another. His only promise to others and to himself was God loved him.
Like our ninety year old friend I am tired of all the talk. I give no witness to the Christian name but do offer the promise that God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit changes our lives with his love.
I and my family were once the enemy of God and I have no desire to be the enemy of my neighbor. The only way I can live out my faith is by seeing others as God sees them. His children looking to be made whole.