A Moral Minority

Recent election and polling results are making it more and more obvious (if it wasn’t already) that any pretensions to a moral majority in the US are an illusion. The strategy of attempting to cobble together a coalition of disparate morally guided Americans to steer the political and cultural direction of our country has been tried and found wanting. The harsh reality is that, at this time in our country’s history, the majority is not guided by anything remotely resembling biblical morality and ethics.

But from my perspective, this problem was baked into the cake from the git-go. The art of politics in a representative democracy like the United States necessarily entails compromise. To govern a society comprised of people from different backgrounds with different ideological presuppositions, it’s necessary to find the right balance of give and take to arrive at a happy medium that will alienate as few of the general population as possible. But Christian discipleship is about absolute loyalty to the lordship of Jesus. And while faithful discipleship, properly understood, necessarily entails heart attitudes such as kindness, civility, and reasonableness, it doesn’t leave the door open to moral compromise.

As Christians, we’re engaged in full-out spiritual warfare. But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, and we don’t wrestle against flesh-and-blood enemies. In the material world in which we live, however, we also face the tragic reality of physical warfare fighting human adversaries with flesh-and-blood victims. To deal with the thorny implications of this reality, thoughtful Christians over the centuries have delineated a series of principles that have come to be known as Just War Theory. One of the principles of Just War Theory is that a war, to be considered just, must not only be fought for a just cause and a just goal, but must also have a realistic chance of reaching that goal.

I’m not claiming here that Just War Theory is infallible or a perfect guide for life in general. But I do think that wise minds over the centuries have reflected on these issues and weighed them in the crucible of God’s Word to the degree that there’s good reason to suppose that there are some principles there that are worth considering. The point I’m coming to is this: In the culture war and/or spiritual war that we as Christians are fighting, the principle of “a realistic chance of reaching the goal” should be taken into consideration.

I’m not saying that culture war and spiritual war are the same thing. They’re not. There’s some overlap—but in the end, we’ll not win spiritual battles with political/cultural weapons. And in my opinion, a large contingent of American Evangelicals have been trying to do just that over the past several decades. And the chickens of the futility of that approach are now coming home to roost.

From my understanding of Christian theology and eschatology, the existence of a moral majority is a chimera. Jesus told us way back in the beginning that the path of truth is narrow, and few are those who find it. The world’s not getting progressively better. And approaches based on a presumption of a moral majority are doomed to backfire. 

I believe that’s what we’re seeing now in American culture. A key case in point is that, despite the recent Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade, in state after state the pro-life convictions of the public are showing themselves too weak to stem the rising tide of abortion culture. Abortion is not the only example. Far from it. But it’s a good case in point on which Bible-believing Christians can generally agree. We could also talk about racism or corruption or any number of other issues.

One proposed response to this reality is the so-called Benedict Option. Based on the book by the same name written by Rod Dreher, this approach suggests a temporary retreat from the culture wars with the purpose of regrouping and shoring up the values of the moral and faith community with a view to preparing for a better-resourced assault on the forces of worldly immorality at some time in the future. To a certain degree, from a human perspective, this approach makes sense. But ultimately, I think it’s still based on the false premise that Jesus has promised us victory in the culture war in this already-but-not-yet stage of the divine economy in which we now live or that He’s called us to wage our spiritual warfare from the perspective of that presupposition or aspiration.

The truth is that we in America and around the world are not going back to pre-Enlightenment Christendom. And even if we could, I’m not so sure that would be a good thing. The same goes for the God-and-Country blend of civil religion and cultural Christianity of 1950s America. Those days are not coming back. The writing’s on the wall.

But here’s the important point: The spiritual battle of the blood-bought Church of Christ has not been lost! Indeed, we have the promise of Jesus that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it! The final chapter of the epic of redemption has been written, and in the end, we win! But the battle we’re fighting is more than anything else the battle for the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. It’s the battle of making disciples from among every nation, tribe, language, and people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to faithfully obey the commands of Jesus.

To be certain, some of these commands have to do with matters of sexual morality. Some of them have to do with economic justice. Some of them have to do with treating fellow image-bearers of God with the inherent respect they deserve. And some of the ways we carry out these commands may well call for participation in certain political and cultural initiatives. So, I’m not suggesting a total divorce of spiritual discipleship from responsible citizenship. What I’m saying is that as a moral minority in this world in which we live, we’re called to a counter-cultural approach to spiritual warfare.

While with all likelihood we should take a more chastened view of the viability of occupying seats of power and influence in secular society, we shouldn’t adopt a quietist approach toward the fundamental objectives that fuel our battle as the People of God. We’re to fight more fiercely than ever the battle for the souls of men! More than ever, we’re to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, mind, soul, and strength! We’re to go right on loving our neighbors as ourselves! And we’re to go to extreme means to excel in the love we show! We’re to have high standards of morality and ethics regarding our personal behavior and the causes and movements we support. We shouldn’t lower the bar with a view to building a broad enough coalition to win elections and/or to get our foot in the door of one of the Seven Mountains of Cultural Influence.

When the carrots of seats of power or influence are dangled before our eyes, the temptation to reach out and grab them can be strong. When it seems they're right there within reach, the temptation can be even stronger. But in the Kingdom of God, a faithful moral minority is more valuable and ultimately more effective than a compromised “moral” majority.