Counterculture Evangelical Issues in the New Millennium

By William Lewis

From the colonial period until modern times Christians have played a major role in the development of the United States of America. At the beginning, Christians had major input into the creation of the guiding documents and laws that helped the United States grow into a strong, free nation. During the previous century into the current century Christian influence has begun to wane and the respect for Bible believing evangelical Christians within the general culture has eroded. As the Twenty-first Century continues to evolve, evangelical Christians find themselves mocked and ridiculed by the broader culture. The greater American culture has relegated evangelical Christians to the position of being a counterculture. To survive as a counterculture, evangelicals must consider their stands on several issues and fight for Biblical principles. This book seeks to bring the issues to the forefront for consideration by all Bible believing Christians.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685701840

William Lewis

William Lewis is the pen name of Bill Leadbetter, a Roman historian and scholar of St George’s Cathedral in Perth, Western Australia. He has published scholarly articles and books, mostly on Roman history. He is currently a candidate for Anglican Holy Orders in the Diocese of Perth. This is his first novel.

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Counterculture Evangelical Issues in the New Millennium

William Lewis

ISBN 978-1-68570-183-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68570-184-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by William Lewis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Evangelicals' Historical Influence

Chapter 2

Evangelicals in the Eyes of the Culture

Chapter 3

Evangelicals in the World

Chapter 4

Evangelicals and Politics

Chapter 5

Evangelicals and Socialism

Chapter 6

Evangelicals and Schools

Chapter 7

Evangelicals and Racism

Chapter 8

Evangelicals and Women's Rights

Chapter 9

Evangelicals and Marriage

Chapter 10

Evangelicals and Science

Chapter 11

Evangelicals and Judicial Choices

Chapter 12

Evangelicals and the Digital World

Chapter 13

Evangelicals and their Message

Chapter 14

How Then Should Evangelicals Live

About the Author

This work is dedicated to God and then to my children and grandchildren. In addition, the work is dedicated to all my brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I have had the great privilege of serving throughout the years.

Introduction

I have heard politicians, media commentators, and others refer to evangelical Christians as single-issue voters. In their minds, evangelicals are only concerned about abortion and other matters are simply not important to them. By framing evangelicals in this manner, they fail to realize that evangelicals are concerned about a wide array of issues that impact the culture and them specifically. Most media commentators and politicians have little or no understanding in respect to evangelical thought and the source of their thinking; therefore, they view evangelicals with a very narrow perspective. At times, evangelicals, as do many voters in general, become so enamored with a single issue that they may act as if it is the only issue that matters to them when there are a host of issues that truly concern them. In the pages to follow, I attempt to focus on several issues that are of supreme importance to all evangelicals.

Having stated the above, let us note that it is not the purpose of this work to answer all the questions surrounding the issue or to settle the long-standing dispute concerning the relationship between government and religion. Many volumes on the shelves of our libraries and bookstores seek to debate what relationship government should have with religion and religion with government. Here we only present the question of the government-religion relationship as a foundation to the overall discussion of the more specific issues that evangelicals currently face. We do talk about, from an evangelical standpoint, how culture in the United States has arrived at the point of being basically anti-Christian or at the least anti-evangelical.

The dominant culture within the United States of America has changed radically since the mid-twentieth century. Evangelicals have experienced the change and are bewildered by much that is happening today. Evangelicals, which were at one point in the history of the United States a dominant force within the nation's society, have over the last seventy-five years been reduced to a counterculture. This raises the questions as to how this has happened and how now evangelicals must live as a counterculture.

To answer these questions, this work looks at the historical background that established a foundation for the change to occur, the position evangelicals have in the current culture, the issues that should be of utmost importance to evangelicals, and how evangelicals are to function as a counterculture moving forward.

Since Scripture is the primary guide for evangelicals, many Bible verses are referenced. At the beginning of each chapter, the author presents what he understands certain Bible verses reveal. These are exactly what they are stated to be, the author's understanding of the verses. They are not intended to be an alternative translation or even a paraphrase of the Bible verses. The readers are encouraged to read this book along with their Bible. Look up the Bible references in your Bible. Some footnotes reference information presented, but most of the footnotes are Scripture references that the author believes to be pertinent to the discussion at hand.

This work is directed toward evangelicals to help them consider the wider scope of issues that impact their lives and their worship. It is hoped that a better understanding of what is happening in our country will enable them to better serve the Lord amid a developing hostile environment. Non-evangelicals or the nonreligious who read the work probably will not agree with much of the content. Maybe by reading the work, they will be able to better understand evangelical thought.

Whatever your status religiously, it is the author's hope that the reader will both enjoy and grow in their understanding of the world because of this work.

Chapter 1

Evangelicals' Historical Influence

The author encourages you to read these verses in Scripture for yourself rather than simply accepting his understanding.

There are many who hate the message of Christ who are consumed by the ways of this world, but as believers, our allegiance is that of heavenly citizens focused on the return of Christ (Author's understanding of Philippians 3:18–20).

The year 2020 presented unprecedented challenges in the world that shook the long-held beliefs of Christians concerning their religious freedom. Christians in the United States of America (USA) who had faced conflict for their beliefs during the twentieth century faced new challenges in the twenty-first century. These new challenges brought into question the very freedoms most evangelical Christians¹ thought protected their ability to practice their faith.

As the year 2019 came to an end, no evangelical Christian had any idea that within a couple of months, many of their churches would be closed, and regular services would be banned in several cities and states throughout the country. The general wisdom had always been that this just could not happen in America. It could not happen in the USA, but it did happen. A deadly virus, labeled COVID-19, had escaped from China and spread rapidly throughout the world. This caused the United States government to call for a nationwide shutdown and quarantine to slow the spread of the virus and to provide the medical sector time to prepare for what seemed would be an overwhelming need for hospital beds and services.

Many mayors and governors throughout the country, based on the recommendations of the president and Center for Disease Control, began using emergency orders shutting down nonessential services. Nonessential services included schools and many businesses. The result was widespread unemployment and fear. The country's economy that had been running wide open suddenly came to a crawl.

Also identified as nonessential services were the churches and synagogues throughout the nation. The governors' and mayors' orders appearing under various names such as Shelter at Home or Stay at Home forbade public gatherings of more than fifty in the beginning, and soon thereafter the number was reduced to no more than ten in most locations. In some cities and states, to force compliance to their orders, the authorities used threats and police powers against the churches that initially ignored the orders.

In states where shutdown orders for churches had not been dictated, many churches voluntarily closed their doors for the good of the community and their members. They believed it was the best way to help in the public health emergency. Other churches continued to meet under drastically modified conditions, which included drive-in services or virtual services recorded and broadcast on the internet or live services through varied streaming channels. Though the drive-in or broadcast services were better than no services, they still isolated believers from one another.

As if the virus was not enough disruption to life, in the middle of the public health disaster, many cities exploded into widespread protests after a man died while being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The arresting officers were eventually arrested themselves, and one was charged with the death of the man. The officer charged with the death of the man would eventually be found guilty in court. Videos of the incident released seemed to indicate fault on the part of the police officer. The incident provided a rallying point for Black Lives Matter (BLM)² who initiated a national campaign to defund the police around the country.

The racial tension growing out of the incident was an easy target to which socialistic anarchists quickly attached themselves and the protests evolved into full riots. Once this occurred, the initial issue of discrimination by police against Blacks was soon lost to the causes of the anarchists. Racial discrimination became little more than a smoke screen for those holding revolutionary ideologies and a desire to bring down the American way of life.

The long-term debate over the removal of Civil War confederate monuments and statues was expanded to include monuments and statues of the early discoverers and Founding Fathers of the nation. Since some of the Founding Fathers had owned slaves, it was determined that statues honoring them caused pain to sectors of the population. Statues and monuments were defaced or toppled throughout many of the nation's cities. Businesses and public buildings were also defaced, ravaged, and looted. Even an iconic Christian church in the nation's capital was set on fire during riots. The socialistic anarchists used the racial tension from the Minneapolis event and other incidents as cover to further their greater goals of destroying the nation.

Much of the news media chose not to report the riots in detail or at all. When the news did report the events with few exceptions, they generally reported all the incidents as peaceful protests. Though some demonstrations were peaceful, many were violent and destructive. Many news commentators were quick to apply the First Amendment to the Constitution to provide cover for both the peaceful demonstrators as well as the rioters and looters.

These events all coincided with a presidential campaign that was as contentious as any campaign in modern times. The incumbent president had spent much of his first term battling all kinds of opposition. Congress impeached the president twice but was never able to get a conviction. Though these attacks on the president had failed, the opposition party who had fueled the conflicts continued to be motivated to destroy the administration in power and regain control of the government.

The opposition party moved more socialistic in its platform as outspoken, self-proclaimed democratic socialist gained power and the voice within the party. The result was that campaign rhetoric grew extremely contentious and was marked more by hyperbole concerning the opposition than discussions of real issues. The opposition party accused the president of being divisive and blamed him for the unrest and riots.

Amid all these distressing events, this book was written. Far too many questions surfaced concerning long-held freedoms enjoyed by evangelical Christians and other religious groups in general. Evangelical pastors expressed concerns over what they saw as an erosion of their freedom to worship without government interference.

Grace Community Church in Los Angeles County after peaceful protests (in the form of worship services) filed a lawsuit against the California governor's shutdown orders. Many other California churches quickly followed by also suing the governor. Churches in other states soon entered suits against their governors and states.

The relationship between churches and the government of the United States has been a topic of debate from the earliest days of the republic. The Constitution does not include anywhere a reference to God or church. The framers of the Constitution after much debate included the First Amendment to squelch any idea that the federal government would interfere in the exercise of anyone's faith. The Founding Fathers injected into the First Amendment to the Constitution wording to clearly identify, or so they thought, the relationship between churches and governmental authorities.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is generally labeled the free speech amendment. The idea of free speech has since the beginning of the country been accepted as foundational to the American way of life. In addition to free speech, the amendment provides protections for the press and religion.

The wording included by the Founding Fathers concerning religion contains two phrases that seem quite simple when read; however, they have been points of contention from the very time of their writing until today. The first phrase is often referred to as the establishment clause and states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The second phrase seeks to ensure that individuals can freely practice their religion continues with or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. It is worth noting here that wording related to the prohibition for government-established religion and the individual rights to free exercise of religion are not subordinate components of free speech. By stating these rights separately, the framers established them as standing on their own; thereby, making them equal rights along with the free speech guarantee.

History reveals the difficulty of framing documents that would satisfy all the Founding Fathers' concerns in establishing a new country. An almost-insurmountable schism existed between those who wanted a strong central government (federalists) and those who wanted to preserve rights for the states and individuals (antifederalists). The antifederalists were concerned that the Constitution as initially written did not go far enough to guarantee the states nor individuals their rights. The antifederalists believed the constitution should clearly spell out rights that were in their thinking inalienable rights.

In the debate, it became obvious to the framers that state approval of the Constitution would not be achieved unless provisions were made for certain rights. As a compromise, the body agreed to incorporate amendments presented by the various state assemblies at another Constitutional Convention. The initial Constitutional Convention began on May 25, 1787, for the purpose of altering the then-current Articles of Confederation that governed the new nation. The Constitution was finally ratified on January 10, 1791, and the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments) was ratified on December 15, 1791.

The First Amendment grew out of a law written by Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Assembly. Jefferson worked closely with James Madison who