Christians engaged in the current culture war find themselves with some unexpected allies in the struggle to preserve good values and traditions, but we must be careful not to compromise our biblical mandate in the pursuit of broader conservative values.
The broad brush of conservatism
In a society that has become increasingly polarized, we find ourselves in agreement with people from a broad spectrum of politics and philosophies because of similar beliefs about what’s good for society.
The modern Conservative movement encapsulates a variety of right-leaning politicians, pundits, religious leaders and journalists who have all come to recognize the need to support objective morality and oppose the harmfully-subjective, post-modernist views held by many progressives.
Ben Shapiro is one of the foremost figures in conservative politics, and is most well-known for The Ben Shapiro Show. Though his beliefs are based on Judaism, his arguments on many hot-button topics are quite similar to those of Christian commentators.
The other co-founder/CEO Jeremy Boreing is an Evangelical Christian, and hosts a podcast where they and two other commentators, Michael Knowles & Andrew Klavan (both Catholic), discuss a wide range of political topics. The Daily Wire is itself emblematic of the diversity of background and belief found in the Conservative movement.
It has also come to include people who wouldn’t ordinarily consider themselves as conservative or ‘right-leaning’ , but have been pushed over the line by an increasingly intolerant left. Dave Rubin, once a news commentator on the progressive show The Young Turks, had a revelation about the “lazy thinking” used by his colleagues to demonize critics of political correctness, and soon found himself out in the cold. Though in many regards he would disagree with traditional conservative views, he eventually came to a similar position on many topics as those of Shapiro’s ilk.
This broad movement is a wonderful thing and has achieved a lot in politics over the last few decades. It has united and mobilized people with similar core ideas about society who otherwise wouldn’t have a lot to do with each other. Now there is a large umbrella for them to gather under. I believe this is a testament to the truth of the ideas themselves - essentially Biblical ideas.
Similar means, different ends
It only remains a good thing though as long as Christians involved in the movement don’t forget their prime directive, the Biblical mandate to “Go… and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I [Jesus] commanded you…”(Matthew chapter 28, verse19-20a).
It all comes down to our world view, and sadly no matter how many problems we can fight against with our conservative comrades, we ultimately disagree on the underlying causes, and subsequently the solutions.
You see, many in the movement agree on the necessity for objective morality - a true ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, and advocate for the preservation of beneficial values and beliefs, but they don’t recognize that morality has its origin in God. Their arguments stop at ‘what’ and do not ask ‘why’.
This deeper incompatibility occurred to me while listening to Richard Grannon, a guest on the Triggernometry podcast. Grannon is an author, youtuber and lifecoach who studied psychology and has created a program to help people reach their potential by overcoming insecurities and trauma.
Discussing personal development and overcoming dysfunction in the broader context of society, Grannon talked about some very Christian-sounding ideas including the need to be “as rigorously honest with ourselves as we can”, the recognition of “darkness” or “sin” inside each of us, and accepting personal responsibility rather than blaming other individuals or groups in society.
The problem with his interpretation of these ideas is that it originates from philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who deny the existence of God and view objective morality as a figment of the imagination. In Grannon’s view, sin is not ‘sin’ in the Biblical sense, but rather a kind of personal darkness or “shadow” that must be overcome and/or ‘integrated’ into the self.
The assumption underpinning this philosophy - that we can have good values without God - is actually quite common among many conservatives. Just think of Jordan Peterson and his large following among young conservative men. Peterson is a huge advocate of the Jungian ‘archetypes’, and interprets ‘truth’ and ‘good’ in line with the philosophy.
I wonder if this is what the scripture in 2 Timothy was referring to when speaking of people in the last days “...holding to a form of Godliness although they have denied its power…”(2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 5a).
Grannon and people like him come so close to the underlying truth, dance all around it, and proceed on their merry way with only half an answer - the ‘what’ but not the ‘why’. They end up with philosophies premised on the absence of God, and a futile attempt to deal with mortal sin based on a weak imitation of objective morality.
Though we agree on so many fronts with our Conservative and right-leaning brethren, the difference in our foundation is an impassable chasm that can only be bridged by Christ.
Without the acknowledgement of true sin and the need for repentance, the non-believer can only ever address symptoms with the brute-force of will, and seek to reset the cycle of cultural decay back to an earlier point in time. They will try in vain to fill a God-sized whole with humanistic reason & rationalization.
These efforts ultimately go in circles and end up back where they began, as Godless ideologies hold no lasting answers for an irreparably broken humanity. So I come back to our purpose as Christians.
It is well and good to be a part of the conservative movement and advocate for the preservation of wholesome values, but ultimately those values must be founded on the aim of bringing people into relationship with God. For only he can change their hearts and in turn solve the very problems causing the decay of society in the first place.
William BJ Weir is an Australian traveling and working in Europe. He arrived in the UK just before the pandemic in March 2020, and have been there since. He has plans to see more of Europe as restrictions allow, while developing his writing skills and educating himself on current socio-political issues. He has a background in Geographic Information and the Public Service. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, exercise, reading, photography, and exploring Europe.
