It seems to me that there are folk out there who are trying to make sense of why Christian millennials are so deeply anti-Trump and so "unorthodox" with the party politics of our forebears. (For some that means "they lean Left," while for others that means "they reject partisan politics altogether." Some millennials remain conservatives but deeply reject Trump anyways.)
Here are some interpretations of my generation I've seen. According to the far right, these millennials (including myself!) are:
+ Deceived by their universities (that's a big one)
+ Poorly educated in the Bible
+ Spiritually imperceptive
+ Unintelligent
+ Swayed by peer pressure
+ Lied to by the mainstream media (MSM)
For me, at least, I find these assertions to be more than a little bit patronizing and a lot belittling, especially that last one (I hate peer pressure of all kinds). It's like they seem to be attempting to diagnose an illness without seeing the patient face to face. Where is their image of a millennial coming from anyways? Are they talking about millennials they know, personally? or some stereotyped image of them?
Can I tell you a bit of my own story? How I got "here"? I plan on writing another blog where I can give more flesh to some of these claims, but here's the outline of how I never got sucked into conservatism (or liberalism) in the first place:
Bipartisan Role Models: I've had role models who are both conservative and liberals, and I refute the claims both sides make about the other's immorality. And I know deeply godly Christian people who are conservative and liberal.
Christians of Color: I've made friends with Christians of color, and realized that their politics were totally different from the politics I heard at church, even though we're theologically similar.
Rejection of Obama-Hatred: I have always been thoroughly and totally disgusted by how I've heard Christians talk about Obama. And liberals in general. That sort of hatred and dehumanization is foreign to the Gospel. (Some might say: "We don't hate people, we hate the policies," but their words speak for themselves on that matter.)
In-Depth Scripture Study: I've studied the Scriptures regarding matters like race and God's vision for a multiethnic, multicultural kingdom. I've found most evangelical conversations on race to be deeply disconnected to the Bible (and very rooted in politics).
Taught by Kingdom-Workers, Evangelism-Champions: I learned a lot about matters of race and justice not from those liberal universities but from an evangelical organization (IVCF), an organization that also first taught me the centrality of evangelism. In a moment in history in which evangelical churches are often more interested in politics than mission, I found in IVCF a direct and clear call to spread the Gospel that I was hungry for and never hearing evangelicalism (ironically enough).
Disgruntled by Spiritual Abuse: I've seen conservative Christian leaders advance political causes with an inappropriate use of their spiritual power and influence, something that made me very disconcerted. (RE: passing out voting fliers with only conservative candidates, praying for only certain candidates, endorsements, &c)
Discouraged by Poor Theology: Beyond this I've seen churches and church leaders take hardline stances on political matters (for example: Obamacare) and yet leave more critical theological issues and problems (for example: Christology, mission and evangelism, Trinitarian theology) up in the air. When asked, I've heard "Well, we don't really know for sure about those things. Are they really that important?" Yes, they are.
Less Mainstream Media, More Bipartisan Media: I've always found CNN and FOX and MSNBC and The Blaze and whatnot to be a bunch of politically-charged blowhards. A lot of millennials believe this too. In fact, we're the generation of podcasts, of multiple news medias, of complex viewpoints. We're more likely to listen to This American Life than The CBS Evening News or whatnot. I listen to a lot of NPR, and, I gotta tell you, I'm sometimes a little freaked out about how multi-partisan they are. I've heard them interview Glenn Beck, or Floridians who were pro-Trump, or deeply progressive social activists. And NPR treats them all well - even the Trump folks. (NPR should get an award for being professional in an unprofessional year.) At a time when the MSM is becoming less and less a newsource and more and more an entertainment venue, me and people like me are fleeing to real news. We aren't even partially swayed by the MSM; we don't even pay attention to it.
My Democrat Family: Beyond all this is my family. I come from a family of Democrats on both sides. Sure, I don't see eye to eye with them on everything, but I can tell you the truth that from what I've heard about liberals in evangelicals circles they'd have me think that my own family was a bunch of God-hating, immoral psychopaths. That's not who they are. They are moral people - and some are Christian people! - who taught me how to care, how to treat people with dignity, how to debate an idea, how to raise a family in love. They are also proud union-members, and that's given me some things to think about too. Not too long ago, the Democrat / Republican divide was about unions more than anything else, about workers' rights. When the super-conservatives have made political conversations about very specific things (i.e. gay rights or abortion, etc.), my normal, liberal family members have focused on things that matter to them (i.e. education, workers' rights, etc.), and that has given me a different perspective on politics in general, and made more open to the diversity of opinions in politics.
Rejection of Liberal-Hating: In light of my Democrat family, I have to confess that I have always been deeply bothered by my far-right conservative folks' description of Democrats and liberals as some sort of evil anti-Christain boogeyman. They sling words around like "Leftys" and "SJWs" that are intended as invectives. I've heard them say that "those teacher's unions ruin the schools" or that "those teachers that are brainwashing our children" or whatnot. I come from a family of teachers who are in teachers' unions... Do you think that I don't find that offensive? This sort of rhetoric, maybe even more than it's easier manifestation of Obama-hating, is part of what drives me (and others like me) away from strictly-conservative Christianity. If that's how you'll treat my family, why would I want to hang out with you?
(If I didn't make this clear already, I know some incredible conservative people who are deeply committed to their political claims and who aren't jerks like some of the above claims observe. My claims are in response to specific subsets and specific groups of generally far-right Christian people, and are not representative of all conservatives. I even admire a good handful of godly conservative people who give me hope for a future conservatism not driven by hate.)
In Other Words: I Have My Reasons...
So, what makes me more of a "principled moderate"? Not "godless education," not peer pressure nor bad theology. Rather it's been because of mission-loving, evangelistic Christians, because of Christians of color, because of my disgust with the abuse of power within conservative evangelicalism, because of the idol of conservative orthodoxy, and because I come from a loving family that defies the labels that I've heard attributed to liberals.
It should be clear that this post is not in opposition to conservatism. Again, as I've said before, I know some incredible conservative people. But I write it to let you know that Christians like me - post-evangelical and post-charismatic - are tired of the ultra-conservative assumptions governing our movement, and I suspect that others who identify this way would resonate with at least one of the points I've shared above. We're not abandoning the faith, we're not committing heresy, we're not rejecting the evangelical call to witness, we're not being deceived or pressured into some false ideology, we're not being taught nonsense and believing it...
Instead, post-evangelical / post-charismatic Christians care deeply about God's people, His Church, His Missional Work in the world, and the advancement of His Kingdom, and we think that a conservative-only Christianity shoots itself in the foot and has the temptation to be swayed and allured by offers of power from the State. For many of us, we see the collusion between the Religious Right and DJT as a final representation of this temptation - although for me I have been on this path for more than five years now - and we want nothing to do with it, for the Lord's sake!
It would be a mistake to identify this group of Christians as "seeker safe" (we balk at such unbiblical nonsense) or "emerging church" (we long for deeper, authoritative orthodoxy and Bible-centered theology). In fact, a lot of us still *are* evangelical or charismatic, based on the usual definitions of those terms. But we're finding the hegemony of conservatism harmful to our Gospel-witness, interfering with our hearing the voice of God, inconsistent with the words of the prophets (both ancient and modern), and... unbiblical.
I hope what you get out of this, if you're still reading, is this:
If you're a conservative-only Christian: Hear that we exist. We do not accept your political claims, and we have a little bit of a different political theology than you. We want to be part of your Church, we want you to be part of our Church. We want our liberal brothers and sisters to be in this Church too and not branded as heretics because of politics. We want for all of our ideologies and politics to be held accountable to Scriptures, and that includes your conservative claims that have gone unchecked for a long long time. Be open to us.
If you're a post-evangelical or post-charismatic Christian: Have hope! Take heart! God made a remnant long ago, and He's making one now too. You are not alone, and you are God's people. We're with you.
If you abandoned Christianity because it was too conservative: Stop thinking that politics defines the Christian faith! That lie was told to you long ago and it made you dissatisfied with the hypocrisy that you saw in it. There's something better. Jesus brought a whip to money-changers who thought that the Temple was just for Jews and had plopped their markets in the midst of the Gentiles' worship area. He wants to make space for you to worship Him too.
If you're a liberal-only Christian: HEY! I didn't talk about you in this post. But keep an open mind. Don't just lambast the conservatives because their conservatives. Hold them accountable for the political choices they've made. Keep up that pressure. But hold yourselves to the same standard. Again: Our politics do not define our faith. Our faith defines our politics and it often will lead us in complicated, diverse, and differing directions. Don't make that argument central! But keep up the holding of that 80% to the claims of DJT. We need that sort of rebuke right now. We need grace in that rebuke too. Love is complex.
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