“An Evangelical Manifesto”

Yesterday a group of evangelical leaders issued An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment. That link will take you to the “executive summary” (they don’t say which “executives” they intend it for).

They say they don’t want to privatize faith, but neither do they wish to politicize it. They don’t want any one religion to have a monopoly in the public square, but neither do they want religion kept out of it.

We are committed to a civil public square – a vision of public life in which citizens of all faiths are free to enter and engage the public square on the basis of their faith, but within a framework of what is agreed to be just and free for other faiths as well. Every right we assert for ourselves as Christians is a right we defend for all others.

… [W]e are concerned that a generation of culture warring, reinforced by understandable reactions to religious extremism around the world, has created a powerful backlash against all religion in public life among many educated people. If this hardens into something like the European animosity toward religion in public life, the result would be disastrous for the American republic and would severely constrict liberty for people of all faiths. The striking intolerance shown by the new atheists is a warning sign.

Some evangelicals aren’t happy. No surprise there. Those known for a clearly conservative approach were left off; the signers included some well known liberals and lots of well known and respected evangelical leaders who are known for their preaching of faith rather than their politicking.

Julia Duin seems rather cynical about the whole thing as she comments:

I can understand the wishes of the drafters to put forth a kinder, gentler evangelicalism. “We are not theocrats,” one of the drafters said at the press conference. But a lot of what was in the document was not at all new and it was clear they were taking slaps at the politically involved evangelicals who, by the way, were not allowed to sign on. Naturally those were the folks who threw a few barbed quotes back at the drafters.

She wasn’t impressed by the press conference:

Although one speaker assured us that, “Being born again is at the heart of evangelical religion,” I didn’t see the term much in the document. The drafters seemed to shy away from what they considered to be a loaded term. One said evangelicalism is a “renewal movement” and that evangelicals have “an intense personal commitment to Jesus.” Well, a lot of Christians can claim that one. It might have been clearer to go the Billy Graham route and stress that evangelicals believe in an adult commitment to Christ, preferably at a specific time and date. That does draw the line.

Although Wednesday’s press conference was staged by a Texas PR firm, the presentation turned out to be somewhat of a disaster. I mean, one of their pleas was to capitalize the word, as in “Evangelical” when referring to them, just as one would capitalize a denomination, such Catholic or Methodist. “Oh please,” I thought. Is this what it’s come down to?