We carve out a moment to note and mourn the passing of Richard John Neuhaus, whom we affirm as the most insightful and influential Christian political thinker of his generation.
WaPo's Michael Gerson provides a fitting tribute today.
Neuhaus's passing prompts us to voice a question on which we ruminate: why does it seem that the most important voices of faith in the political sphere adhere to the Roman Catholic Church? Or differently, why are evangelical voices so utterly shallow when it comes to political and social issues, as compared to their cousins from Rome?
6 comments:
Hello!
Because the evangelical world as a whole is so utterly shallow when it comes to political and social issues...
Actually, Richard John Neuhaus was an evangelical Lutheran (Missouri Synod) before he converted to Roman Catholicism back around 1990. So maybe a follow-up question should be, Why do evangelical voices that are not so utterly shallow when it comes to social and political issues so often defect to Rome?
Because a lot of evangelicals do not see being "politically active" as part of their faith system.
I have found the Roman Catholic stands on moral issues to be among the best thought out positions. It might be because of where the RCC views itself -- as possessing the greater light -- that its leaders are confident about who/what the church is, and they do not care what anybody else thinks. When we are busy trying to please everyone and no offend and be politically correct, no matter how firm our resolve, our position seems weakened.
Roman Catholics have a Christ over Culture theology, to borrow from Richard Niebuhr. Evangelicals are surfing the culture for converts. Not sure either is correct. Also we don't pay too many people to think and write.
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