The Christian Counterrevolution

 To many a religiously conservative Christian, the 2015 Obergefell SCOTUS decision was their Waterloo in the Culture Wars. Yet many of us have yet to give up the ship. Many continue to fight back and their aim is to codify at least some of the Biblical laws the govern society's sexual practices.

I come from the Reformed Theological position. And almost every Reformed thinker, scholar, preacher, and whatever else I've read or listened to have commented on LGBT issues multiple times. Prior to the Obergefell decision, these public Christian figures opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage mainly because it would put limits on the rights of Christians in how they could treat those from the LGBT community. That is that Christians might have to recognize those in the LGBT community as having equal rights and thus might have to live or work in too close of a proximity with those from that community.

Now that same-sex marriage is legal, Reformed Theological leaders are labeling our society as being anti-Christian and that we should expect more and more hostility, and even persecution, because of our beliefs about values and sexual practices. And thus a counterrevolution is thought to be necessary in self-defense. But here we should remember what the LGBT community suffered through when they were being marginalized because of the Christian influence on society. During those days, many of us were the ones who visited hostility and persecution on others. Now people are trying not only to stop those injustices, but to prevent it from ever happening again. And when people try to undo and prevent long-standing social injustices, they often employ a phobic reaction so that they try so hard  that they employ a throw out the baby with the bathwater approach.

And so those leaders want a reversal of the legal standing of same-sex of marriage and even homosexual acts. And thus they are working toward codifying Biblical sexual mores and values for everyone in society, even for unbelievers. And the current Dobbs decision by SCOTUS now gives our courts the necessary tools for reversing past SCOTUS decisions allowing for the possible reversal of rulings that protect homosexual practices and same-sex marriage. In fact, some Reformed leaders speak and act like reversing the current legal protections for the LGBT community is the most important task that today's Christians face.

One of the unfortunate parts of this religiously conservative Christian response to losing the Culture Wars is the insistence on imposing Biblical sexual values on society. Well, let's say that they are starting with imposing Biblical sexual values on society. I'm afraid that these fellow Christians will support political leaders who say they support imposing other Biblical mores and values in other areas of life. That makes these Christians vulnerable to political opportunists who falsely promise the they will promote laws that incorporate those values. 

But the religiously conservative Christian response is also making many of my fellow Christians vulnerable to leaders who are more authoritarian than they are Biblical. And the trouble with falling to such leaders is that once we embrace their authoritarianism and leadership status, we become less rational in our decision making. We lose capacity for using the Scriptures to rationally consider, and even question, what these leaders are teaching.

And all of the above points to the current status of the American Christian Counterrevolution. Its first problem is that instead of opting for cultural coexistence (a.k.a., multiculturalism), it's directing Christians to fight a culture war in order to gain a place of supremacy over unbelievers in society. Such a response, which is not supported by the New Testament, makes us enemies of Democracy. And as enemies of Democracy, we sabotage our efforts to carry out the Great Commission--that is if we are still interested in carrying it out. Such a response will sabotage our efforts because unbelievers will see our oppression of others before they will listen to us share the Gospel.

The Culture Wars being waged by many of my fellow Christians is becoming a cover for a larger war. It is camouflaging the efforts of some Christians to either create a Christian nation or to restore Christendom in America. The difference between the two is that with the former we see more blatant effort by Christians to pass more restrictive laws based on the Bible for our nation while the latter speaks of a greater prevalence of Christian values in culture and society as well as passing some laws. 

In short, too many my fellow religiously conservative Christians are, with their counterrevolution, seeking a place of supremacy in society and our nation over unbelievers rather than sharing power with them as equals. That searching for supremacy can only end badly. For it can only end in either establishing a Christian Fascism, or an imitation of the relationship between Church and State that Russia has, or a failed attempt at supremacy where though  it is good that the attempt failed, the harm done to the reputation of the Gospel will be immense.