The Lies of Theological Liberalism in American Politics

Beware the lies of theological liberalism—or, as they like to call themselves today, progressive Christianity.

While most theologically conservative pastors would prefer to focus on teaching the Word faithfully and avoid directly addressing political controversies from the pulpit, there are times when the discussion is unavoidable. This is one of those times.

Andrew Daugherty, a pastor writing for Salon, took on the Christian right in a defense of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Talarico is the openly gay Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas who claims to be a Christian and often quotes Scripture as part of his defense of progressive political views. What we have here is a case of theological liberalism defending political progressivism and condemning conservative Christians to do so.

We ought to define one term first. The Christian Right is not a monolithic body. There are some who are full-throated endorsers of Donald Trump, some who oppose him, and probably every variation in between. I know of very few on the Christian Right who would claim Trump as a fellow Christian. He is not. He gives no indication that he is a Christian. We are thankful for the times when he acts in supportive ways toward causes that matter to us. He is more like Nebuchadnezzar than King David.

The issue I have with Daugherty’s article is the way in which he lies about the message of the Bible and how it intersects with the world today. “Lie” is a strong word, but it applies here. Let’s unpack it for a moment.

Lie #1: Quoting Jesus is an innocent thing.

This is from Daugherty’s article:

“The passages in question are familiar ones, found in Matthew 22 and Matthew 25. Love God and love your neighbor. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. They are, in fact, in the Bible.”

He is making the case that Talarico is being unjustly criticized for innocently quoting Jesus. Talarico’s appeals to the words of Jesus are not innocent.

The question at hand is not whether you quote the Bible, or even if that quote is accurate, but whether the context and application of that quote align with the message intended by the text. Satan quoted the Old Testament in his temptation of Christ in Matthew 4:1-11. He even quoted it accurately. However, his application of those verses was intended to accomplish his own agenda in subverting the plan of God. Peter warns about the destructive result of twisting the Scriptures as Satan does:

“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:16)

So, the legitimate question is whether Daugherty (and Talarico) is twisting the Scriptures.

Lie #2: All on the Christian right just carry the Bible for show.

Here is what he said:

“The Christian right spent decades narrowing the Gospel down to two issues, abortion and gay marriage. Talarico told Stephen Colbert something that’s obvious to anyone who has read past the cover of the Bible, rather than carrying it around for show: Jesus never mentions either of those things.”

Do you see what he did there? He claims that everyone on the Christian right only carries their Bible around for show—otherwise they would agree with him. What Daugherty is doing here is claiming the law of love while denying the law of love in practice, namely the application of 1 Corinthians 13. He is judging the sincerity of all on the Christian right, which is truly a violation of Matthew 7:1—a verse which he has no doubt quoted in his own self-defense.

Lie #3: Jesus never addressed abortion.

This is a silly statement. Jesus never addressed cybercrime either. The development of a baby in the womb was a mystery in Jesus’ time. If the ancients did not want a child, it was much safer to kill the baby after birth—and this is what they did.

Modern medicine has clearly shown us that an unborn baby is a person and has all the characteristics of sentient humanity. The baby has cognitive function, all the human parts, and feels pain and emotion. Scientists no longer argue this. So, does Jesus address children and the protection of the innocent?

Jesus’ most graphic words of judgment are reserved for those who would harm children:

“Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:5-7)

The Old Testament repeatedly calls the child sacrifice of the pagans an abomination (Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5, Deut. 18:10-12, 2 Kings 17:17, Ezekiel 16:21, 2 Kings 21:6, and many more). Some would argue that this is different since it is religious sacrifice. However, the purpose of the sacrifice of these children in the minds of the superstitious pagan worshipers was to appeal to their gods. They wanted to avoid calamity, enjoy financial prosperity, and see the greater good of the community. All these excuses are used to justify sacrificing babies in the womb today.

It is a marvel how theological progressives, shouting the law of love, can use “love” as a motivation for the destruction of innocent life. It is very similar to how Satan handled the word in his temptation of Christ.

Yes, the Christian right has sought legal protection for the unborn, but they also fund crisis pregnancy centers. They reach out to young mothers in particular who are in trouble because of pregnancy. They provide counseling, pay for medical help, help with care, and even help with adoption placement if that is necessary. Thousands of Christian families [including my own] have taken these unwanted children into their own homes and lovingly raised them as their own. They protect young women from husbands and boyfriends who would force them to get an abortion, from a predatory medical industry that makes millions of dollars from killing babies to sell their biological parts, and from eugenics proponents who see children with disabilities as unworthy of life. This is the appropriate ethical outworking of Jesus’ message about the value of children and loving your neighbor.

Lie #4: Jesus never addressed gay marriage.

Again, it is true that Jesus never addressed gay marriage as an institution—because there was no such thing as gay marriage in ancient Israel. However, Jesus does address marriage, and He specifically addresses the male/female aspect of marriage:

“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

God invented marriage, not man. God designed what marriage should be. He created one man and one woman. He created a woman to be similar, yet distinct from the man. He designed marriage for companionship, but also for procreation. In fact, procreation is the first command God ever gave to humans (Genesis 1:27-28). There were no provisions given for same-sex unions in Genesis or in the writings of Jesus, and the essence of biblical marriage would deny it. This is aside from the many biblical condemnations of homosexual practices, both in the Old Testament and the New.

What Jesus does say is that mankind has corrupted marriage and turned it into something that God had not intended. The principle that applies to divorce in Jesus’ day also clearly applies to same-sex marriage in our day.

The Christian right stood for the historic and biblical definition of marriage. That is what we must do and will continue to do as Bible-believers. We lost in the courts. Now our nation and those who practice and promote it must be accountable to God for it. We must leave this matter in God’s own very capable hands.

Lie #5: Conservative Christians just use the Bible to oppress immigrants.

Here is what Daugherty says:

“I have spent the last decade of my ministry watching Christianity get used as a facade for fascism against immigrants, the poor and anyone else who doesn’t fit the preferred demographic of a particular political coalition.”

Conservative, Bible-believing Christians have been sacrificing themselves and billions of dollars to take the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world—to every nation, language, color, and creed. They have seen lives transformed through the power of the gospel, built hospitals and orphanages, distributed food and medicine, built colleges and universities. They have brought many from these countries here to educate them and help them grow. The conservative Bible-believing church in America today is ethnically diverse. Some specialty churches cater to specific foreign language groups, while most churches are worshiping together in multiple languages. They regularly preach against ethnic bigotry and racism.

The accusation that Daugherty makes is not just unkind, and unloving, but slanderous. While claiming the law of love, he mischaracterizes those he disagrees with as fascists.  At the same time, he promotes immigration practices that produce chaos, oppression, and have fed hundreds of thousands of children and adults into trafficking. To characterize the Christian Right as fascist is a lie, it is slander, and the Bible clearly condemns it (James 4:11, Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8, 1 Peter 2:1).

Almost every conservative pastor I know has people in his church who are undocumented. Many came to this country years ago and now have found Christ here. Part of the discipleship process is to help them find appropriate ways to become legal residents and be in a right relationship with the government under which they now live (Romans 13).

We love these people. They are precious to us. They are friends. In many cases, they have been abused by the people who supposedly helped them to get here. Would we love to find a way for them to stay? Absolutely! We also understand that the immigration practices during the Biden administration did them all much more harm than good.

A Hispanic pastor I know put it this way. “We need a higher wall and a wider gate.” Bad laws can be oppressive, but having laws that are arbitrarily applied is how abusive dictators run their countries. We need good laws applied consistently. That is justice and that is what the Bible says rulers should do (Romans 13:1-7).

The mischaracterization of the words of Christ, and the mischaracterization of those with whom you disagree is not Christ-like, it is deceptive. And if it is not Christ-like, who is it like?

Jesus told us who the father of deception is.

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Audio version of this post here: The Lies of Theological Liberalism in American Politics