Astronomy and Politics Through the Lens of Epistemology
How do We Know What We Know?
What is Our Method of Evaluating Truth?
Christian Epistemology
Why are so many Evangelicals politically conservative? by Bill Anderson
(in a Nutshell)
The minute one makes a generalization that is in any way connected with government or faith or both, there are a hoard of critics ready to list the exceptions so as to supposedly disprove the generalization. Yet a few exceptions will not disprove general trends in any group. For example, when Norman Podhoretz asked in 2009 book, “Why Are Jews Liberals?”, he was referring to the frequency at which Jews embrace liberalism or what many now call “progressivism”, especially in reform circles). Could he have even implied that ALL Jews are politically liberal? Certainly not, because there are so many conservative exceptions among Jewish political speakers and activists today, including himself. Podhoretz for 30 years was the editor of the neo-conservative and Jewish, Commentary Magazine.
Whereas Christians in Evangelical or Charismatic circles, in this narrow context of trends, have more in common with Orthodox or Conservative Jews. I believe that is because those in both of these faiths take their respective texts of scripture more seriously and openly allow these values to impact their philosophical and political world views.
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So, in this context of trends, “why are so many Evangelicals politically conservative? I believe this is because there is a correlation between values in the Bible and modern conservative thought? Let me just ask this: what Biblical doctrine is of a central focus in that context?
Answer: the Nature of Man. Biblical Christians almost universally see man as fallen and/or evil. However, secular liberals and progressives almost always see man as inherently good and resist any acknowledgment of evil. Certainly, it must be recognized that there are variations on that secular tenet. Yet, that presupposition involving the presence of good and evil, I believe, is the difference between conservatives and liberals today.
If this sounds kind of iffy, just check out the 5-minute video below by Dennis Prager. This Hebrew (raised Orthodox) makes this point clearer (in 5 minutes) than this born-again Christian ever could and in my mind, Prager is sensational! It is critical for clarity if the reader takes the 5 minutes now before going further.
The Nature of man and political freedom
Now, if the nature of man is naturally good, then once freedom is established in a country, that freedom would NATURALLY continue without interruption. However, if the freedom of others is not natural to the nature of man, then freedom will always be under threat of extinction! Therefore, the question that follows is:
2. How important to God is political freedom? What Biblical passages focus on this question?
Answer: God demonstrated His huge concern about political freedom by saving the children of Israel from slavery (the opposite of freedom) in the entire story of the Exodus. God also made political freedom a requirement after 6 years in His ordinances on slavery (servanthood). Adonai also made freedom an obvious priority of His by denying it to the children of Israel when they departed from recognition of Him.
Ultimately, much of the secular confusion regarding why so many evangelicals are conservative is due to their unique pre-suppositions about truth before any political evaluation begins. Most evangelicals see the old Testament (or similar Jewish Tanakh) as the Word of God. Additionally. evangelicals also see the New Testament Bible as a God inspired document and that forms their philosophical world view before they begin evaluating any aspect of governmental proposals or policies. To those ends I have cited two references for further clarification. A common mantra in secular politics these days is, “it’s the economy stupid”. In this Biblically focused text, that should be modified to “it’s the presuppositions stupid” (precepts).
Thus, this subject is directly connected to the epistemological questions of “how do you know, what you know” or “why do you believe what you believe”. Thus. the precepts in both New and Old covenants from God are that which impact the evangelical philosophical world view so much.
Yet, the tragedy of Church history is that this human deficit of denying the freedoms of others is precisely what the Church did regarding the Jews. Did our ancestors patiently wait for the Jews to come to some conclusion about the nature of Yeshua on their own via the text of the Old Testament Tanakh. No, domination was the response of the historical Church from which the Hebrew population over the centuries struggled for what they saw as, Jewish emancipation. If there is a witness that all us humans are flawed by nature, this church history is it!!!
For this reason, Americans of all faiths owe a debt of gratitude and more to the Jewish people whose ancient history demonstrates God's preferential attitude toward political freedoms. As we watch as our nation dissertates from within, an inescapable need for healing compels us to listen to a Jewish neo-conservative Norman Podhoretz as he tells his story in history of Why Jews are Liberals. For anyone who loves the Jewish people, this historical text is worth it's weight in GOLD. I apologize for referencing an entire book here since my objective was to give a brief summary of both Evangelicals and more conservative classes of Jews. I have to conceed that it is likely beyond the abilities of this writer to submit a brief summary of this uniquely Jewish phenomena!