As we have repeatedly warned, there is a deliberate effort to intimidate, shame, smear, and even threaten conservative Christians out of the political and public policy arena. It is understandable that the radical, secular Left would want to do that. But it is outrageous that some so-called "progressive Christians" are lending their support to this effort.
Earlier this month, Bishop William J. Barber II convened a conference of progressive Christians at Yale's Divinity School, where they signed the "New Haven Declaration of Moral & Spiritual Issues in the 2024 Presidential Election." No ambiguity there—they fully intend to use their influence to control the outcome of the November elections.
This declaration attacks "many well-meaning Christians" who they claim have fallen for "distorted religious nationalism…to focus on a narrow set of divisive cultural wedge issues while ignoring the real moral issues."
The document dismissed the concerns important to pro-family, pro-life Christians and conservatives as nothing more than a "manufactured controversy about minor issues."
The signers pledged to "launch a season of preaching the moral issues of living wages and union rights, healthcare and ecological justice…a re-imagination of criminal justice, and the protection and expansion of voting rights and equal protection guarantees."
Let me translate that for you: To these leftists, "real moral issues" are socialism, abortion on demand, climate alarmism, soft-on-crime policies, gutting election integrity measures such as voter ID laws, and pushing the extreme LGBTQ agenda under the guise of "equal protection."
The message they are sending is that the only Christians who should be involved in politics are those who support Big Government and the Left's radical agenda. Anything else is illegitimate. If you want smaller government, lower taxes, secure borders, and you believe innocent babies deserve life, they think Jesus would be ashamed of you.
Never mind that every communist and socialist nation has gone off the rails and always ends up persecuting Christians. The signers of the declaration want that here.
Why? They will be the "preferred Christians," welcomed in the corridors of power, like the authorized churches in communist China. Once they have rejected the gospel of Christ and embraced the "gospel of Marx," they will be celebrated in the new "fundamentally transformed" America that the radical Left is trying to create.
Don't let these ideologues discourage or intimidate you. Our country cannot solve the great issues facing us without the active involvement of millions of us who love God's Word and love America.
JDFI will resist the misguided efforts of the "religious Left." We will continue to work with pastors to educate and mobilize their congregations to be informed, responsible Christian citizens.