The hypocrisy of progressive Christianity
by Everett Piper · The Washington TimesOPINION:
In case you have not noticed, talk of religion is no longer verboten in the ranks of the political left.
From the likes of the loud and proud homosexual and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to the current Democratic Senate nominee and Presbyterian seminarian James Talarico, it seems that Jesus is all the rage for Democrats in this year’s election season.
This is a world that some have dubbed “exvangelicalism,” a theological and political camp for aggrieved and disenchanted millennials and Gen Z-ers who have concluded that the biblical definition of Christianity is no longer acceptable for them.
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Theirs is a religion of feelings, emotions and “personal lived experience,” not the centuries-old orthodoxy of the patriarchs and the Bible. It is a more “generous” faith than that of their parents and grandparents.
Theirs is a religion of inclusion that excludes any of the exclusive teachings of Christ, his apostles or his church.
Enter stage right: the Rev. Benjamin Cremer.
Though you have likely not heard of him yet, Mr. Cremer is a burgeoning thought leader for the postmodern and progressive “Christians” cited above. He presently serves as the Amity campus pastor at the Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise, Idaho, where he describes himself as the product of a “very fundamentalist or ultra-conservative” family that he ultimately left for his more welcoming and affirming deconstructed church home.
By way of further introduction, here is one of Mr. Cremer’s most recent posts to social media: “If our Christianity causes us to defend the President rather than the poor, the powerless, the sick, the hungry, the homeless, and the immigrant, that’s when we know we are following someone other than Jesus.”
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To which one of Mr. Cremer’s fans added: “This point is simple and devastating. If a Christian’s political allegiance runs so deep that defending a President becomes more urgent than defending the vulnerable … then something fundamental has shifted. Not the theology. The object of worship.”
How should we respond? Do Mr. Cremer and his tribe of exvangelical sycophants have a point, and should we consider what they are saying?
In the simplest of terms, the answer is no. The truth is that Mr. Cremer’s point, and that of his social media friends, is not devastating at all. Frankly, it is just dumb.
Defending the poor, the vulnerable and the powerless — are you serious!?
Tell the powerless Black citizens in Springfield, Ohio — who have lost their neighborhoods, homes, parks and schools to the crime and vagrancy of illegal immigration — that supporting the enforcement of our nation’s laws and borders is akin to worshipping another Jesus.
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Tell the poor Hispanic American citizens in Aurora, Colorado — who are afraid to leave their apartments because illegal gangs now control major swaths of their town — that defending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the local police is idol worship.
Tell the vulnerable Asian American small-business owners in downtown Seattle and Portland, Oregon — who have lost their livelihoods to the rampant crime of illegal immigration — that supporting the Trump administration is wrong and unjust.
Tell the Lebanese Christian Americans in Dearborn, Michigan — who live in fear of the swelling influence and intimidation of Shariah — that voting for Republicans is the worship of another God.
Tell the Mexican American ranchers in southern Texas — who sit every evening with rifles across their laps for fear of cartels invading their homes and harming their children — that their concerns are unrighteous and wrong.
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Tell the hundreds of thousands of underage boys and girls being trafficked for sex as a result of Mr. Cremer’s politics that enforcing America’s immigration policies is un-Christian and cruel.
Tell all the blue-collar, working-class Americans in city after city across the nation who have had their freedom and safety sacrificed to the politically correct gods of smug, self-righteous exvangelicals such as Benjamin Cremer that supporting the Republican Party is akin to false worship.
Mr. Cremer and his fan club need to look in the mirror rather than out the window before they start condemning others for political idolatry. Their religion of self-worship embodies the very idolatry they pretend to condemn, while they ignore the poor and underprivileged they claim to care so much about.
Hypocrisy is a very ugly thing.
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Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery). He can be reached at epiper@dreverettpiper.com.
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