Why Are Conservative Christians in Retreat?

 by Jerry Bowyer

Guest Column

The Keating Files – September 24, 2020

 

Me: "Company X did something really bad."

 

Conservative Christian Kneejerk Response: "I'm going to sell Company X from my portfolio."

 

Me: "If Congress does something stupid do you instruct the department of elections to remove your name from the list of registered voters?"

There is something deep in the current Christian psyche that automatically opts for retreat. There is something in the general conservative psyche of the moment that is drawn to the role of standing outside the castle yelling at those inside.

 

The other side, on the other hand, seems to have a governing mindset. They don't have a good governing philosophy. They've left a wide trail of failure behind them. And yet, they still tend to govern our institutions. 

 

They take the mandate of Jesus to “occupy” more seriously than we do - but without His true principles. They take more seriously than we do the command to “disciple the nations,” except not the part where Jesus said to teach them all things HE commanded. They disciple the nations away from his commandments, while we don't really think in terms of discipling them at all.

 

Of course, I'm not talking about all of us. If you are reading this, you probably do not fit the standard pattern. But there is a factory installed default to conservative Christians when it comes to nation building and that default setting is “retreat.”

 

__________

 

Jerry Bowyer is the editor at Townhall Finance, and his new book is The Maker Versus the Takers: What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics.