There is no doubt that Christians living in America are in the middle of an all out culture war. Recently the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs football team, Harrison Butker, spoke at the graduation ceremony of a Roman Catholic university. In his speech, he clearly advocated for traditional Christian family values. While he got a standing ovation from his catholic audience, he was pilloried by the National Football League main office, many liberal politicians, elites in the entertainment industry, and the mainstream media. From their reaction, you would have thought he was advocating for genocide. But no, only for traditional family values. You know you are in a war when you are being assaulted by so many mainstream societal institutions just for expressing positive, biblical moral values.
But there are so many other expressions of this culture war in modern society. Most assaults are not attacking the Christian faith by name, as with what happened with Butker, but manifest as assaults on Christian values and a biblical worldview all the same.
For instance, Caitlin Clark is being savaged in some circles because she is white. In this instance, there is no mention of Christianity at all. Rather, it is an attack on the biblical worldview belief that before God there is no distinction between individuals based on physical differences.
Clark is the basketball player who recently became the all-time high scorer in women’s college basketball. Because of her achievement on the court, she has, naturally, received all kinds of accolades, and was drafted number one overall in the Women’s NBA draft. She has also received sponsorships from some very high profile companies.
In spite of that, or because of it, she has also been put down by people who have their own agenda. Radical black sports writer Jemele Hill is all in on critical race theory (CRT). She has downplayed Clark’s accomplishment and attacked her saying she owed her popularity to her race and sexuality (she is white and heterosexual). In another instance, Sunny Hostin, of “The View” TV show, argued that “white privilege” and “pretty privilege” are the reason for Clark getting so much publicity.
Then there is the newspaper columnist in Oregon, Bill Oram. He’s furious with people who believe it is unfair that boys are winning races in girls’ track and field events. He is all in on the modern transgender movement.
It seems that Aayden Gallagher is a male high school student who has self-identified as a female. Recently in the Oregon high school track and field championships, he was allowed to compete in the women’s 200 meter event, which he won, becoming the state champion. While competing, Gallagher was roundly booed by the spectators who observed the race.
In reporting on the event, Oram castigated the crowd, and all his readers who thought the boy should not be competing. He went so far as to call them “cretins” (defined as a stupid person or one whose mental and physical development has been impaired because of a physical defect). Oram is firmly on the side of those who believe a person’s personal feelings should trump reality when it comes to an understanding of sex and gender.
This is another case where the attack is not specifically directed toward Christians by name, but which is a broadside attack on a biblical worldview. There really is an objective difference between males and females.
But in thinking about these issues, the question becomes, “Should Christians get involved in fighting this culture war fight?” After all, much of it is not specifically about Christianity, right?
Well, actually, it is about Christianity. Each of these, and many other things going on in society, relate to a biblical understanding about what is real vs. what is not real. If beliefs about what is real are allowed to be defined by people who hold beliefs that are fantasy, it becomes impossible to even express the gospel in society. This disagreement is not just about race and gender. These same people who hold false beliefs about race and gender, also have false beliefs about who God is. If they are allowed to define values regarding race and gender using their false beliefs, what is to keep them from defining who God is? You can only talk intelligently about a thing if there is a common understanding of the nature of reality.
There is a way reality objectively exists and it doesn’t exist any other way. If Christians are willing to give up a biblical understanding of reality, then it becomes impossible to share with others about Christ. So yes, Christians should get involved in fighting the culture war.
That said, there is a right way and a wrong way for Christians to do it. The wrong way leads only to tit-for-tat fights that have no possibility of convincing anyone of the truth. The right way, on the other hand, can be used by God to potentially point people to Christ.
So, what is this “wrong way” specifically? The wrong way may engage fights and arguments for all the right things, but do not provide a context that explains “why” a particular belief is true or not true. It is purely a surface level argument. It is prescriptive in the sense that it advocates for what is right, but never gives a reason “why” it is right. With that, those on the other side simply shout back their beliefs, and there is no way to arbitrate between the different viewpoints. Without explaining “why” biblical beliefs are true, people end up doing the right thing for the wrong reason, and it does not point people to God. Even non-Christians can fight for the right things, but they don’t promote God’s purposes.
The right way to fight the culture war involves not only fighting for the right thing, but also sharing WHY it is the right thing. Ultimately, something is only right when it serves to accomplish God’s purposes in the world.
Christians should not fight for traditional Christian family values solely for the purpose of fighting for those values. There is a reason those values exist. God created mankind as a particular kind of being, and operating in those values is the only way for families to function within His will.
By the same token, Christians should not fight against the beliefs of CRT simply because they believe it is wrong. They should stand against it because it represents humanity in a way that is contrary to what is taught in the Bible. CRT views human beings as members of privileged or oppressed groups, not as individuals made in the image of God. This approach arbitrarily labels people as good or bad based on arbitrary personal criteria, rather then seeing all people as valued and valuable. It is a view of human beings that is bigoted.
Additionally, Christians should not fight against “transgender rights” just because it seems wrong. There is a reason it is wrong. The reason is that God created human beings to be male and female, and it is only when that reality is recognized that individuals are able to operate in life the way God made them to operate. Men competing against women is certainly unfair, and having access to their locker rooms for dressing and undressing is absolutely immoral. But if God is not in the picture, then transgender advocates can redefine fairness and immorality in an entirely different way that declares their viewpoint right. God had a purpose for creating humans male and female, and that purpose needs to be front and center when engaging that particular battle in the culture war.
So yes, Christians should be actively engaged in the culture war battles, but the process of battling should always be done with God’s purposes front and center, not personal preferences. This engagement should involve several elements.
First, all Christians should vote. They should vote for people who advocate for values that correspond to a biblical understanding of reality. For sure, this is a temporal expression, rather than eternal, but in addition to our spiritual core, God made us as temporal beings who live and operate in a temporal environment. We cannot ignore this part of our personhood. And sometimes the choices we have for who to vote for are not ideal – for any of a number of reasons – but we should vote regardless.
Be sure, though, that this is not a call for compromise. No matter our choices or who is in office, we should always be advocating for biblical values. God’s purpose and values should always be our first priority. But we must also recognize that we live in a fallen world, and even the best politicians are going to disappoint us in one arena or another. We have to do the best we can in our material existence while always keeping in view the ideal and advocating for it.
In our circumstances in America, God has placed us in an environment where we have a stewardship responsibility to engage the cultural and political process. Many places around the world are governed by rulers. We are not! In the American system, the citizens are the rulers who elect representatives to look out for our interests. We need to take that stewardship responsibility seriously and elect people who value what God values to the highest degree possible – at the same time recognizing it will never be perfect this side of heaven.
Another way Christians need to engage is advocacy. We need to not be shy about sharing what we believe to be culturally right – based on what God has revealed in the Bible. The purpose for doing this is not to merely promote our own personal preferences, but to promote the kind of order in society that makes it possible for God to work freely among those who live in our world. God is not stopped when there is chaos, but his work is hindered in many ways when evil becomes prevalent.
A Christian’s third and most important element of engagement is to share Christ. It is important to work to create an orderly society based on the values God has revealed in Scripture, but it is more important for people to have their lives changed by Jesus Christ. Ultimately, spiritual change is what generates societal change – good or bad.
In dealing with the culture war in America, Christians need to be actively engaged – and engaged the right way. If that is not done, evil will ultimately win out.
© 2024 Freddy Davis