“That is the capitulation of church to politics!”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, said of Protestant church groups who did not openly repudiate fascist policy during Nazi rule.

Bonhoeffer, among other liberal or non-reformed Protestants, can be a thorn in the side. Whereas traditional Calvinism inclines the church to distance itself from political provacateuring and incendiaries, we have these heroes outside the reformed tradition that were, to use a loaded phrase, “on the right side of history.”

Today, the situation is ironic in that American Christians, of all the issues we could politicize, appear to be most vocal about topics that will earn public disdain (I’m speaking mostly in the modern era). I acknowledge that the church does lesser-known good in the areas of poverty, illnesses, and disaster relief, but Christian blogs and podcasts would have me believe that majority culture evangelicalism doesn’t mind projecting its public identity onto unfavorable positions on sensational issues.

Maybe Bonhoeffer would be just as vocal as well on those issues, but can’t we gain some social capital by “diversifying” our outrage across the political spectrum? Why isn’t evangelicalism by-and-large decrying structural deficiencies leading to gun violence? Why don’t pastors give credence to climate change?

Our reformation fathers were bold in decrying the structural abuses of the Roman Catholic church, but from the modern perspective, the progressive causes of abolishing slavery and racial civil rights get the most kudos. My take is, of all the progressive causes, let’s make sure we’re leaders on all the right ones soli Deo gloria.