Strange Rumblings in the Mega Churches

The NYT is reporting that at least one mega-church pastor is distancing himself from the Republican Party machine, Religious Right politics and the nationalism that is America's civic religion. The Rev Gregory Boyd is a conservative, in that he believes abortion and homosexuality are wrong, but he outright rejects militarism, jingoism and reactionary outrage over sexual issues in society.

“I am sorry to tell you,” he continued, “that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”

It is worth noting what this cost him. While some pastors and Christian leaders whole-heartedly back the leavening of the Christian message with Republican Party propaganda, sometimes the story is more complicated than that. When Boyd preached a sermon series attacking attempts by Christians to impose their beliefs with coercion ("power over others") rather than with persuasion and the example of service ("power under") many congregants walked out in the middle of the sermon and never came back. His 5,000 member church shrank to 4,000 almost overnight and an ongoing fund-raising campaign aiming for $7 million dollars only raised $4 million requiring 7 staff to be laid off. The church's Sunday school lost twenty key volunteers. Even those who stayed asked pointed questions of Boyd when he held meetings to discuss his book, "The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church," based on the sermon series.

Not to suggest that this was the wrong move, those who left Woodland Hills Church were mostly white suburbanites and new members have are increasingly African-Americans, Hispanics and Hmong immigrants from Laos. It's just important to realise that there are stiff penalties for not being the stereotypical American evangelical pro-Republican.

What this means for the big picture is also quite exciting. With Bush's approval ratings just above all-time lows, the Iraq war grinding on, legislation repeatedly stalling in Congress, the Katrina debacle and budget cuts beginning to bite there appears to be a window opening up for American evangelicalism to debate its approach to politics and a desire emerging to reposition itself more towards the center with a willingness to criticize both sides (e.g. regarding environmental issues). In short, the co-opting of American evangelicalism might be coming to an end.

UPDATE: The Columbus Dispatch has another article profiling three more megachurch pastors who are distancing themselves from political entanglements. What's impressive is that rather than returning to the 'two kingdoms' theology that justifies political apathy these pastors are simply encouraging congregants to keep politics out of the church. Do it in a para-church operation, do it with grassroots organizing but don't force church members into a second baptism into your chosen political party before they can come and worship God. It's walking a thoughtful line.

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