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Ask the Question: Why We Must Demand Religious Clarity from Our Presidential Candidates by Stephen Mansfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was one of the best political books I’ve read in awhile. Its thesis is that it does NOT violate the separation of church and state for citizens to ask a political candidate, especially for the office of President of the United States, about his or her religious convictions. On the contrary, that it is our responsibility to do so.

As with any book like this, your first question is, “Well, what’s the author’s bias?” And in this case, it is hard to find one. His previous books include both “The Faith of George W. Bush” and “The Faith of Barack Obama.” The appendix provides the text of three political speeches which Mansfield presents as the best modern examples of the intersection between religious faith and the presidency. One is from John F. Kennedy, one from Ronald Reagan, and one from Obama. It’s hard to see any bias other than the fact that religious convictions matter. They matter in determining how a president will govern. And I have to be honest, even though its hard to admit as a conservative evangelical: Mansfield makes a compelling case for why Mitt Romney would have been a great President, not in spite of his Mormon faith, but because of it. His chapter on Mormonism as a uniquely American religion convinced me that Mormon values would make a positive contribution to the character of a President, regardless of whether or not I believe Mormons are going to heaven.

The book was published in 2016, and has nothing to say about Donald Trump. It seems to anticipate Hillary’s candidacy, because it devotes an entire chapter to how she was shaped by her religious convictions. I wonder what he would have to say about Trump’s acceptance by the religious right, despite the fact that he is utterly unable to articulate any religious worldview whatsoever. Or maybe I don’t have to wonder. A quick search told me that he has written about Trump. I’ll have to check that out.

What was most interesting to me was the argument that a President doesn’t just need to articulate a religious viewpoint; he or she needs to have a grasp on what other religions believe, and how those beliefs shape geopolitics. Because no matter how much Trump tried to make it so, it is impossible for America to be isolationist. And because religion matters even more to our enemies than it does to our allies, it is crucial that American voters “Ask the question” to any aspirants to the highest office: What do you believe, and how will that impact how you lead?



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August 12, 2018

Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL

James Jackson, Lead Pastor

Text: 1 Peter 3:8-12

Click here for manuscript: 6. Civil Religion

 

Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction by Caleb Kaltenbach

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a challenging book for me as a conservative pastor. I appreciate Caleb’s story, and I am thankful for his testimony. And it isn’t that I have a problem with loving members of the LGBT community without sacrificing conviction. It’s that I haven’t figured out how to do it yet in a way that they will believe I am actually loving them.

I know all about “hate the sin, love the sinner.” Let’s not go there, because most of my gay friends have a hard time believing I love them if I call who they are a sin. Sexuality is so wrapped up in identity that they literally cannot hear me say, “I love you, but I don’t love what you are doing.” Caleb does a better job with this than anyone I’ve read who takes the Bible at face value (without trying to make the argument that the Bible doesn’t really mean what we’ve translated it to mean when it condemns same sex behavior). In fairness to the author, that is beyond the scope of his book. He is simply telling his story, and its a story conservatives need to hear. But we have to figure out how to engage in compassionate dialogue when we disagree on whether or not something is a sin. For me, it’s like trying to have a conversation with someone who is absolutely convinced their gossiping is really just sharing prayer requests, or that their bigotry is really just a desire to preserve their southern heritage. I can love them, I can accept them, I can plead with them to change their minds, but if they don’t see as sinful what I believe the Bible calls sinful, we get to the end of our conversation very quickly.

And when we are talking about someone’s sexuality, it becomes an attack on a whole different level. Calling out gossiping or bigotry is calling out behavior. Calling out homosexuality, from the perspective of the gay or lesbian, is calling out identity.

The most helpful line in Caleb’s book is that “God doesn’t call us to make gay people straight. He calls us to help lost people be found by Jesus.” Everything else is up to the sanctifying work of Christ. My prayer is that our churches will give all sinners a refuge and a haven for that sanctifying work to be done. And I fear the door won’t be open (or even if it is, that members of the LGBT community will never walk through it) if we don’t agree on what is sin and what isn’t.

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