Theological Journal – June 23, 2020

My fb friend Paul Hinlicky gets it just right: “the ‘left-right’ binary which (a rightist) indulge(s) as vehemently as any leftist descends ultimately from the French Revolution. In my view, it is passé. In part that is the message of the ‘anarchists’ – nihilists with no positive vision of the future other than to smash the existing system. But fundamentally we need a new configuration of political options for democratic society that is not singing the same old tired songs. I am a political independent for these reasons, which is to say that I am as cynical about the Democratic Party as I am about the Republican Party. What Christian witness should be saying in this mess is that all lives in America will in fact matter when black lives in particular matter – of course that is no endorsement of the platforms or organizations that have appropriated the mantra, BLM. Thinking that (we) have to fit in with the options that are given us is precisely loss of the freedom of Christian thought and consequently a terrible judgment upon the churches that have totally accommodated to the ‘American way of life.’”