Dear Evangelicals, You’re Being Well-Served

Last week I commented on a Daily Beast article entitled Dear Evangelicals, You’re Being Had.

On Monday, I received a note from a friend here in Michigan that I deeply respect, who, while agreeing with the problems of Evangelicals being too enamored with the political process and their naïvety about the ways politicians want to use them, also wanted to offer some gentle pushback.

While sympathetic to my main point about prioritizing heart-change more than law-change, he felt I painted with too broad a brush and had undervalued the good work that is being done by Christians in the political arena.

He didn’t ask that I publish his points, but I contacted him and he gave permission for a summary to be posted. Here it is below:

• Although many Republicans don’t give a rip about evangelical Christianity, a great many sincerely do.
• There are regular prayer meetings of Christian Republicans who serve in the State Capitol.
• I can think of one elected Republican who though not a Christian himself, yet has many around him who are and are trying to make the best decisions for the state and for the glory of Christ.
• In the last ten years numerous states have passed strong pro-life measures at the state level—invariably these have been passed in GOP-controlled legislatures.
• In Michigan right now there is a fierce debate about religious freedom and its relationship to the LGBT issue. It’s almost certain that our state would have more onerous restrictions on religious freedom were it not for Republicans.
• The State of Michigan requires abstinence-based sex education and each district’s sex education committee is required to have clergy participation.
• The Attorney General is a Christian and a Republican who took a big hit in the polls for upholding our state’s marriage amendment.
• The district court for this region (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee) is the only one to rule thus far that a state’s marriage amendment is not unconstitutional. Our Attorney General’s office defended the marriage amendment in court. This would not have happened under a different administration.

As I said in my original article, “I don’t believe that Christians should give up the political battlefield – there’s still an important role there for some Christians.”

But in the light of my friend’s comments, let me also express my deep gratitude for the Christians who do serve Christ in the political process and thank God for the successes in Michigan as outlined above. I’m sure this is duplicated in other States as well. May God continue to bless these worthy efforts for the good of many.