Biblical Disputes Revive Question: What is an Evangelical?

From the Associated Press via Christianpost.com ... Biblical Disputes Revive Question: What is an Evangelical? In full ...

University of Akron (Ohio) polling finds evangelical Protestants are the largest segment of actively religious Americans, outnumbering Roman Catholics. But the definition of "evangelical" is open to dispute.

That issue arises with "Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament" (Basic Books), a caustic tract by historian Randall Balmer of Barnard College in New York. He says the evangelical activists' agenda "is misguided, even ruinous" to "the nation I love and, ultimately, to the faith I love even more."

Unlike many recent books that attack the "religious right," Balmer grabs attention by claiming to defend God and country from within evangelicalism, though he acknowledges that many would deny him that label.

The loosely knit evangelicalism includes millions like lay Episcopalian Balmer in pluralistic "mainline" denominations, as well as members of conservative denominations and congregations.

By Balmer's definition, an evangelical "takes the Bible seriously" and often literally, emphasizes personal conversion to Jesus, and sees a necessity to evangelize.

Similarly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) theologian Jack Rogers says evangelicals believe that people need a personal relationship with God through Christ, the Bible is the final authority for salvation and life, and everyone should hear about Jesus.

Like Balmer, Rogers has had his evangelical credentials questioned because he advocates full acceptance of same-sex couples and gay clergy, as in "Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality" (Westminster John Knox). Years ago, he taught at evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary and opposed gay behavior.

Balmer complains that evangelicals refuse to read Paul's "apparent condemnations of homosexuality" as rooted in, and "arguably" limited to, "the historical and social circumstances of the first century."

Conservative scholars have published thorough rebuttals of the Balmer-Rogers stance.

Balmer is equally agitated about abortion, which set the pattern for later evangelical activism on gay issues. A libertarian, he believes abortion is "properly left to a woman and her conscience."

He charges that conservatives grabbed abortion "as the issue that would propel them to prominence," indicating that moral principle wasn't involved, only "shameless pursuit of affluence and power" through politics. He likewise says conservatives within mainline denominations exploit the gay issue to build their power base.

Defending that harsh judgment, he says evangelicals "take pride in a kind of slavish literalism" on the Bible, which never forbids abortion as such. Conservatives say biblical teaching requires opposition.

Balmer believes the activists "would love nothing more than to dismantle the First Amendment and enshrine evangelical values and mores as the law of the land," impose "intelligent design" upon biology classes, and end separation of church and state. Of course, liberal agitators continually enshrine the opposite values.

Balmer says, "I'll put up my credentials as an evangelical against anyone," and expects to be cast out because of this book, including possible ouster from the masthead of Christianity Today, the movement's flagship magazine.

Asked whether Balmer and Rogers are evangelicals, that magazine's editor David Neff (another lay Episcopalian) says they're "in a very small minority" on issues like gays and abortion. He'd consider them still within the fold "if they employ evangelical discourse and display evangelical piety," basing conclusions on the Bible rather than on current social science.

Neff considers Balmer and Rogers part of the evangelical family the way Woody Allen is Jewish — not representative of the group but shaped by it.

The question remains: Does Christianity have social ramifications? So preach the non-evangelical Protestants who enjoyed political influence through much of the 20th century. Balmer appears to believe the less activism the better and that faith is purer and more effective when it's unsoiled by politics.

He pronounces both the mainline denominations and the Democratic Party "virtually moribund."