The last 35 years have featured the advent of the first 24-7 news channel (CNN), the introduction of competing channels such as Fox News and MSNBC, the movement toward news with a more explicit ideological identity, the explosion of internet publishing, and then the astonishing growth of social media. Given the massive technological changes that have affected politics, it should not be surprising that it feels as though we are constantly buffeted by the waves of competing messages aiming to secure our attention, activity, and loyalty.
All of this disruption has had its impact on our church bodies. Some time ago, a woman in my local church approached me and tearfully explained how painful political conflict had been for her family and for her Sunday school class. I am sure that many of us share her distress, which raises the question: can we think better about politics as Christians and treat one another better in the process?
Click Here To Read More (Originally Published at the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission)
Hunter Baker, J.D., Ph.D., is the provost and dean of faculty at North Greenville University in South Carolina. He is the author of The End of Secularism, Political Thought: A Student’s Guide, and The System Has a Soul. His work has appeared in a wide variety of other books and journals. He is formally affiliated with Touchstone, the Journal of Markets and Morality, the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, and the Land Center at Southwestern Seminary.