The Court Prophets

This election year is a crucial time in our nation's history. And it has become an especially significant election year for us in the Christian churches. Already this year questions of faith are becoming electoral issues on a scale and with an intensity rarely seen in the whole of U.S. history. As the presidential campaign at last enters its decisive period, this phenomenon is bound to become even more significant.

The emergence of Christian faith as a campaign issue has been in large part the result of the well-publicized activities of those identified with the Christian Right. Already at least three well-funded and technically sophisticated political operations aimed at Christian voters are under way, the largest being the American Coalition for Traditional Values (ACTV) headed by Rev. Jerry Falwell and involving almost the entire roster of right-wing television preachers. Their aim is to register politically inactive Christians and get out the vote for President Reagan and other conservative candidates. The pattern is by now familiar: they urge Christians to gauge candidates by a moral yardstick that places opposition to abortion, pornography, and other legitimate moral concerns alongside support for an escalating nuclear arms race, the cutting of survival services for the poor, and military aid for the Nicaraguan contras and the Salvadoran government.

These efforts are enjoying considerable success in getting their message out through direct mail, paid television time, and subsequent coverage in the mass news media. The efforts of Falwell, along with other initiatives led by Pat Robertson and former congressman John Conlan, have become identified in the minds of many as the only politically significant expression of Christian morality and gospel values in the United States today.

In the last several years, however, another, very different—but also politically significant—movement has been growing in the churches. Across the country hundreds of thousands of Christians have experienced a new and deepened commitment to the biblical vision of justice and peace. These Christians have often been the animating core of efforts to stop the nuclear arms race, end the slaughter of innocents in Central America, and establish social and economic justice for oppressed minorities and the poor.

A powerful and ecumenical movement of faith and conscience is growing in every sector and corner of the church's life. It is an independent Christian movement that is motivated not by political ideology, but by a fresh rediscovery of what the Bible teaches. The principal opposition to government policy on nuclear weapons, in Central America, and against the poor now comes from Christians. The churches also are the place where alternative visions and hope are being generated.

This renewal of faith-based commitment can also be seen in some quarters of the pro-life movement, especially where the opposition to abortion is increasingly linked to other "respect for life" issues such as the arms race, hunger, and U.S. support for terrorism in Central America. The renewal clearly presents an opportunity for a convergence of concern. The fundamental affirmation of the sanctity of human life is beginning to bring together people who began at very different places and have been involved in movements that have been at odds. New relationships are developing as those working for peace and justice make connections to abortion, and as those who oppose abortion extend their concern for the unborn to other places where human life is now being threatened.

This new Christian movement is not a movement of self-promotion or political ambition. Rather it is a movement of conscience rooted in prayer, in biblical faith, and in the simple desire to follow Jesus, who poured out his life to bring reconciliation and establish justice.

The public impact of this movement has so far been most visible in the influence it brought to bear on the Catholic bishops' pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response. But the deep commitment of these Christians has also been evident in the scores of churches that are defying the government by offering sanctuary to Central American refugees. It can be seen in the several hundred Christians who have gone to the war zones in Nicaragua as part of Witness for Peace, to stand prayerfully with Nicaraguans on the front lines of the U.S.-backed war against their country.

Others are resisting the arms race by committing themselves to prayerful acts of civil disobedience, from the Capitol and the Pentagon to nuclear weapons facilities to the railroad tracks over which the White Train transports nuclear warheads on its way from the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas, to deployment points around the country. And still others are quietly turning their attention back to the poor by feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and advocating justice for those at the bottom.

One fact is clear: the Christian Right does not own the American churches. Unfortunately this fact has yet to sufficiently penetrate public consciousness.

As dangerous as the Christian Right may be on the political level, it presents an even greater danger on the level of faith. All over the country thousands of sincere and faithful Christians are being taught a false gospel. In place of the biblical gospel of peace, Falwell and the others preach a gospel of salvation through military might; in place of the gospel of compassion, they preach the arrogance of American power; instead of the gospel that is good news to the poor, they preach a gospel that honors excessive wealth as a sign of God's favor and leaves the poor to fend for themselves.

Theirs is ultimately a religion of the state. They have become like the court prophets of ancient Israel, religious leaders employed by the king to pronounce God's blessing upon the king's own schemes and ambitions. This year that has come to mean pronouncing an uncritical blessing on the re-election of the president.

We are convinced that our nation is facing a historic moral crisis. The United States has often claimed a heritage based on the fundamental principles of biblical morality—such as honesty, compassion, and respect for human dignity. But we may now be facing an unprecedented and unchecked decline into public deceit, greed, and war-making on every front. Evidence of this moral decline can be found in both of the major political parties. The atmosphere is such that it could well continue, regardless of the election results, unless new voices and new directions are heard from the churches.

One of the worst examples of the moral hypocrisy of our day is how the energy and passion of Christians opposing abortion has been manipulated to gain support for a broad ideological agenda that incorporates political goals that have nothing to do with abortion. In fact, these goals are often directly contrary to the principles on which a genuinely pro-life position is based.

The intensity of this moral crisis is made all the more severe by the fact that some of the most extreme voices for unchecked militarism and the cruel abandonment of the poor are also using the language of Christian faith and morality. As people of Christian faith and conscience, we carry the responsibility for informing the public that the Christian Right does not own the American church. They are but one very vocal voice, whose leaders are often more interested in promoting a conservative political agenda than biblical faith.

An alternative, biblical vision must be raised up during this election season. Our hope and our prayer is that all of the moral issues at stake this fall will be lifted up in Christian homes, congregations, and denominations throughout the land. If Christian morality is going to be a decisive factor in the election, let us make sure that morality is consistent and biblical.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine.