A New Social Gospel

This article was submitted in a comment made by Ali on our previous post about "Values Voters". The article discusses a shift in thinking among Evangelicals who are growing more discontent with the direction of the "Religous Wrong Right".

First, in reacting against the harsh tone of some on the religious right, many have been led back to the text of the Bible itself. Throughout the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures and the teachings of the New Testament, social arrangements are judged by their effect on the weak. And while this perspective isn't utopian--perfection being unavailable in this fallen world--it can be radical. In our country, that faith-based radicalism helped drive the abolition movement, the cause of women's suffrage, the reform of prisons and mental hospitals. It was not long ago that the three-time Democratic candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan--who championed legalizing strikes, giving the vote to women and a progressive income tax--was also a fervent, Bible-quoting evangelical. A politically progressive evangelicalism is not an innovation, it is a revival; not a fresh track in the snow, but a rutted path of American history.

While many evangelicals are impatient with the priorities of the religious right, it would be a mistake to argue that they are disillusioned by politics itself. The new evangelicals are not calling for cultural retreat, but for broader engagement. Politics, at its best, has the goal of serving your neighbor.

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