Disentangling the Gospel from Politics

From Plough-


If the early Christians understood who they were and what their mission was so clearly, why do Christians today find it so hard to imagine following Jesus apart from political affiliation?
One well-known reason has to do with the birth of the Religious Right and how it aligned itself with the Republican Party to help elect Ronald Reagan, which has had effects to this day.

But that’s not where the current politicization of American Christianity began. As Princeton historian Kevin Kruse details in his book One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, already in the 1950s business leaders plotted to link Christianity, Republican politics, and libertarian economics tightly together. Why? To help drive a wave of public piety and create a feeling of solidarity between Christians and corporations who might both see “big government” as a common enemy.

More here-

 https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/politics/disentangling-the-gospel-from-politics

The Christian Right is on the ropes

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

Since the 1980s, the bulwark of the Republican Party has been its reliable support from conservative evangelical and born-again Christians, as well as conservative white Catholics. These groups compose the core of what is called the Christian Right, and it is unimaginable that the GOP can win the presidency without strong support from these voters.

During this same period, the GOP has nominated for president candidates who either had a very strong affinity with the Christian Right and its agenda (Mitt Romney, George W. Bush) or were authentic conservatives who pledged support for the movement’s positions on social issues (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain). Never in this time has the movement seriously been confronted with the dilemma of whether to support the Republican nominee, sit out the election or vote for the Democrat or a third-party candidate.

Election data show that all of these previous GOP nominees commanded huge majorities of votes from the Christian Right. In the era of Donald Trump, the solid support of its constituencies for the GOP nominee now seems in doubt.

More here-


http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2016/08/07/The-Christian-Right-is-on-the-ropes/stories/201608070050