From the President: American Evangelicalism I: Faith or Ideology?

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 02 March 2004

Recently I have had some disturbing conversations with my Jewish and Muslim friends. These friends have an overwhelmingly unfavorable impression of American evangelical Christianity. Their experience is that evangelicalism is strident, hidebound, unforgiving, "political." It appears to be an ideology, not a faith.

This saddens me deeply. As I imagine the encounters these thoughtful friends must have had, it pains me to think that they did not experience love and reconciliation. In other words, it appears that in each encounter, they had little or no opportunity to meet Christ.

How is it that many non-Christians have come to the conclusion that evangelicalism is an ideology? Evangelicalism, by definition, announces the good news that because Christ, the son of God, died for all of us, we might live.1 Those who choose to follow Christ have a responsibility to share this good news by deed and word. But do American evangelicals walk their talk? Or has American evangelicalism in fact become an ideology, a religion run roughshod by Pharisees who trade in simplistic stereotypes?

Faith or Ideology?

When we engage in intra- and inter-faith dialogue about God we must start with a strong dose of humility. We cannot know fully, even as we are fully known. While we should never pretend that deep religious differences are not present, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are all created in the image of God.

It is my gathering conclusion that religions, including Christianity, often inhibit people from knowing God. Despite the best of intentions, we often create narrow constructs through which we try to understand God in an orderly manner. These constructs, unfortunately, tend to hinder as much as they help.

We often seek to interpret God with the purest of hearts, but the simple fact is that we cannot fully interpret God because we cannot fully understand Truth. With a touch of arrogance and a dash of ignorance, however, any religion can quickly become a regulating check-list of "dos" and "don'ts" through which its members become other-defined instead of God-defined.

Forgetfulness

American evangelicals, to their great credit, are focused on the person of Christ, celebrating and sharing the good news of his victory over death. But in my own experience with evangelicalism over the years, there is sometimes a tendency among us to ironically "forget" three basic things: The Fall, The Follow-Through and The Follow-Up. When we forget these kinds of things — things that stand at the core of Christianity — we position our faith to become an ideology.

The Fall: Accountability in Love

We sometimes forget that we are indeed fallen and sinful people. Despite the good news that Jesus died for our sins, we are still responsible for the evil that runs through each of our hearts. Actions have consequences and we are accountable. Not only are we accountable as individuals, we are accountable as a corporate body for each other. For example, evangelical "leaders" have taken to publicly denigrating Islam in a manner that is rather un-Christ-like. Yet evangelicals are reluctant to correct fellow believers within their respective churches or amidst their public presence.

If the body of Christ cannot be accountable for its own, how can it be relevant to the world? Strident statements by Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham and others about Islam betray the essence of our faith, turning off the many in our world today who are seeking meaning. Non-Christians, who also have the law of God on their hearts, sense the hypocrisy immediately; "evangelical" becomes a dirty word. If only we remembered that we are called to gently admonish each other, perhaps the name of Jesus would not be tarnished so.

The Follow-Through: Integrity in Action

We often forget to walk our talk. Anyone can be a Christian, but it is a much different thing to live a Christian life. Do we, as Scripture exhorts in the book of James, show our faith by what we do?

Evangelicals can be so focused on faith that we forget the works that our faith calls us to do. We have conversations that divorce "evangelism" and "social action," as if the two were separate. We forget the words of St. Francis of Assisi: Go into the world and preach the gospel; use words if necessary.

Do we live a life that begs the question? Or are we indistinguishable from the rest of the world? What have we done with the pain revealed around us? What are we doing for those that are persecuted, those in poverty, those who suffer? Is the worth of the gospel being demonstrated so that the Truth might be revealed?

The Follow-Up: Patience in Discipleship

We celebrate conversions, but forget discipleship. Many evangelicals are crazy for quantification-Pavlovian about "proving" conversion. Ministries proclaim the numbers "reached." Foundations measure the "cost per life saved." Missionaries skip cultural nuance in counterproductive and even dangerous ways.

Intoxicated by the siren song of quantification, we forget that we are not called to "success," but like Abraham, only obedience and faith. We are called to invest in new Christians, following-up with them so that they can follow-through. We forget that transformation does not result from a single decision for Christ, but from a daily and active decision to be renewed in him (Romans 12:2). Mature Christianity does not prove itself by proclaiming how many hands were raised for Jesus. We would do well to remember that God doesn't need us — after all, He is God — and that it is our privilege to be used by him for his good and perfect will.

I recently had a long conversation about the perception of American evangelicals with a Muslim friend of mine from another country. At the end of our time together, he simply asked: "If there is so much more to Christianity, why do evangelicals focus so much on this technical conversion?" I explained to him the importance of conversion, but I could not explain why Christians are not more Christ-like.

Conclusion

In Proverbs, we are cautioned that zeal without knowledge is dangerous (19:2). And in Matthew (15:6) Jesus tells the religious authorities of his day, the Pharisees: "Because of your traditions, you make void the word of God." We evangelicals would do well to keep both admonitions in mind. Otherwise, evangelicalism is a faith in peril of becoming an ideology of quantification, consigning itself to irrelevance.

If we can just get back to basics — through accountability in love, integrity in action and patience in discipleship — then the good news can be shared and the world transformed. If we cannot engage the culture around us as Christ would, however, then we should stay home.

Last updated 15 September 2008