Church getting drawn into ‘Fox News anger culture,’ senator warns
DALLAS, Texas — Will Southern Baptists choose “Fox News anger culture” or the Holy Spirit?
That’s the sobering choice U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., shared with the audience Sunday night at “Southern Baptists in the Public Square,” an event hosted by The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Hosted by ERLC President Brent Leatherwood with a panel featuring Lankford, Ambassador designee Mark Walker — President Donald Trump’s appointee for the State Department Office of International Religious Freedom — and Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, the event focused on what living out the Christian faith looks like in the halls of Washington.
“I think it’s a challenge in our culture, sometimes, no matter whether you’re in Congress or whether you’re back home, whatever your hometown is because you’re inundated so much with ideology that is contrary to the scriptures,” said Walker, pointing to what he referred to as “nominal Christianity” which “sneaks into the political culture.”
In today’s hyper-paced digital news cycle, he added, it’s growing increasingly difficult to stand for truth while remaining faithful to the scriptures.
“You can put out a tweet. You could be on the cable news channel that night. You can do all these things that will build your social media, that will help you raise campaign dollars. But the real challenge is to be that bold believer and to go to battle and spiritual warfare, but at the place, remember, there are parameters that I can literally lose my testimony and the impact for Jesus Christ that he’s going to be if I get outside those lines.
“To me, that’s the most challenging part of this position,” added Walker, 55, a Southern Baptist ordained minister and former ranking member on the House Homeland Security’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee.
Lankford, 57, who said he starts every day by reading the Psalms, pointed to the political content he sees in the writings of David and other psalmists.
“Thirty-six of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament were written to, by or about a political leader,” he said. “So when you read it and understand some of the context of things that are coming out of it, it’s different when you’re in a political role. … If you read those psalms, almost all of them have some context like, “Do you see what’s happening in culture? Do you see the enemies? Do you see the wickedness? Do you see what they’re saying about me? David says that multiple times, ‘God, they’re after me.”
For Lankford, who from 1996 to 2009 served as president of the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a youth camp operated by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, the psalms perfectly encapsulate today’s political climate.
“We all live that,” he said, pointing to the panelists. “Literally, there are people that are after us to destroy us and you realize this is not new. In a political world, there have been people of faith that have been in this kind of role for millennia that have called out to God and found him faithful.”
Part of this, said the 50-year-old Moran, a former attorney and judge in Smith County, Texas, is bridging what he says is a perceived chasm between what voters see and what goes on in Washington.
“There’s not a different set of rules set up in Scripture for if you’re in politics or not. The Lord gives us directives about how we should speak and behave and treat other people,” he said. “That doesn’t change when you get into politics.”
This mindset, Moran added, has crept into the Church. “There are so many people, especially even people in our churches, that believe that now that you’re in politics, you need to behave differently. You need to say stuff differently. You need to fight differently in some realm,” he said. “That’s not true. The fruit of the Spirit is still supposed to be evident in our lives in everything that we do.”
He pointed to Old Testament figures such as Esther and Daniel, who he says serve as examples of how to walk out our faith in the political realm. “Somebody asked me once, ‘If you’re a Christian, how can you be in politics? And my response was, ‘If you’re a Christian, how can you not be involved in politics? We’re involved in a spiritual battle, but it shows itself in a cultural and political manner.
“You look at Esther. What did she do? Because she was willing to step up and do the things she was supposed to do, she changed the heart of a king, she changed the laws of the nation, and she saved a nation and the people, right? Aren’t those the things we’re trying to accomplish in these days? We should do the exact same thing.”
Lankford sees the push for pastors to talk more about politics from the pulpit as a symptom of the current American political climate rather than a biblical call.
“I’ve talked to so many pastors who say they are struggling in their church because people are attacking them, saying, ‘I want you to talk more about politics,'” he said. “They want more anger. They want you to go after people.”
He shared a story from a couple of years ago when someone told Lankford that “no Democrat would feel comfortable in his church.” Lankford added, “I think he expected me to laugh. Instead, I said to him, ‘You’re telling me half of your city can’t come hear the Gospel in your church? Why are you doing that?”
“The anger of our culture is bleeding into our congregations, and it is counter to the Gospel,” he added.
He pointed to Titus 3, where the Apostle Paul described those in Crete as liars and gluttons. “But at the end of it, he’s talking about if you want to make a difference in Crete, be gentle, be kind, be compassionate, remember how much you’ve been forgiven of, and forgive others,” he said.
Calling Titus 3 the “description of how to be able to impact a culture,” Lankford added, “It is completely counter to how it’s done in most places, even among the Church right now, and I am afraid. The Church is getting drawn into the Fox News anger culture, rather than getting drawn into the leadership of the Holy Spirit.”
The Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting and pastors’ conference in Dallas runs through June 11.
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