There Aren't That Many of Us

David French blogs at Patheos under the blog name The French Revolution.  He recently wrote An Open Letter to Young, “Post-Partisan” Evangelicals.

In the article he describes his own journey of rebellion, young idealistic political views that focused on justice and the poor and eschewed the culture wars - until gradually he came to a place where he became a full fledged conservative.  It is worth a read.  A couple of highlights:  (More)

French describes his "pro-life" views and how he tried to walk the fence by being quietly pro-life while attempting to be non-partisan.  Eventually his pro-life views collided with the real world.

"If I’m “whole life” without talking about unborn children then I’m functionally pro-abortion, but if I’m “whole life” and bring unborn children into that conversation in any meaningful way, then I’m right back where I started.  Besides, the effect on life of driving a Prius over a pickup truck can’t be measured with a (metaphorical) electron microscope.  But if an abortion clinic shuts down or a young mom is persuaded not to abort, a real live human being is born — a person of incalculable worth.  Yes, I want them to grow and flourish in a just society, and yes I want them to have economic opportunity. 

"But it’s tough to enjoy justice and opportunity when you’re dead."

Indeed.  I've never understood the position of Christian "non-partisans" on that point.  If one believes that abortion ends the life of a human being who is totally innocent and totally helpless, how can any response other than strenuous opposition be taken?

French also had taken a non-partsan view on gay marriage, believing it was "inevitable" and that the state had no right to get in the way.  But, perhaps it was knowledge and maturity that led to a change of mind.  If marriage was only about the self fulfillment of individuals, what was the point of marriage at all?

"Weren’t legal regimes that were focused entirely around adult self-actualization having measurable and devastating effects on our culture? Why then would we continue down the path of marriage as a legally recognized means of adult self-actualization rather than marriage as a legally-protected institution of cultural preservation?

"Then, as a lawyer, I saw the catastrophic effects that normalization of same-sex relationships was having on religious liberty.  And I realized I was wrong."

Ah yes.  Religious liberty.  I read today that Canada has filed between 200 and 300 proceedings against those opposed to gay marriage. In the name of expanding the rights of a small minority of the population, the religious rights of a huge percentage of the population is thrown into jeopardy.

But the real kicker is that all the media frenzy about conservative culture warriors turned out to be based on a rather glaring exaggeration.  French continues:   

"As I decisively entered the “culture war” I discovered something shocking: there aren’t that many of us.  (What’s that?  Are you telling me that Christians aren’t obsessed with gays and abortion? That’s what all the polls say!)  As I traveled around the country and spoke at churches, Tea Party rallies, and conferences, I realized that the number of Christians who truly fight the culture war is quite small.  How small?  In 2011, I researched the budgets of the leading culture war organizations and compared them to the leading Christian anti-poverty organizations.  Here’s what I found:

"How do those numbers stack up with leading Christian anti-poverty charities? Let’s look at just three: World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse. Their total annual gross receipts (again, according to most recently available Form 990s) exceed $2.1 billion. The smallest of the three organizations (Samaritan’s Purse) has larger gross receipts than every major “pro-family” culture war organization in the United States combined. World Vision, the largest, not only takes in more than $1 billion per year, it also has more than 1,400 employees and 43,000 volunteers.

"In other words, Christians are overwhelmingly focused with their money and their time on the poor, not on culture war issues. Then why are Christians portrayed differently?  Because the media is obsessed with the sexual revolution and demonizes dissent."

So French came to understand two of the great lies of the left about Christian conservatives.  Since the real numbers of conservative Christian activists is small and most are content to sit on the sidelines, the nonsensical portrayal of conservative evangelicals as a swarm of power hungry theocrats is demonstrably false.

Second, the thing that drove him away from the old guard was a concern for putting social justice above the culture wars, but in the end he finds that most of the charitable giving by Christians went to humanitarian causes and not all that much was given to the culture wars in comparison. 

So while progressive Christians spend time and ink decrying the lack of balance - that too much attention is paid to culture war issues like abortion and gay marriage, the reality is most of the money goes to food and medicine and aid to the poor world wide and only a few are brave enough to put time or money into the great moral debates of the age.

The old adage goes, repeat something enough and it will be accepted as true.  But the image of the Christian right as power mongers who don't care about the poor is a lie that needs to be refuted.