Liberty University officials criticize ‘Evangelical Manifesto’
Ergun Caner, president of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, said the manifesto is “like coming out to a Pittsburgh Steelers game wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey. It’s a document that has great intentions but will never happen.”
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By Justin Faulconer
Published: May 21, 2008
It’s a document that a group of Christian leaders hope can rally evangelicals and ease political polarization.
But Liberty University officials feel parts of a recently released, 20-page “Evangelical Manifesto” undercuts the political activism and voice in modern culture that founder Jerry Falwell spent his life advocating.
A committee of nine pastors, seminary deans and writers from across the country released the manifesto earlier this month. Its intent is to reaffirm, and redefine, evangelicals’ identity and public involvement.
“That word evangelical has taken on increasingly political connections,” said David Neff, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and a committee member. “That’s not what we’re about. Our identity is promoting faith in Jesus Christ and all that goes with that.”
A section that has drawn particular ire from Liberty officials states that neither the religious right nor religious left should “politicize faith.” In that case, Christians become “useful idiots” for one political party or another, it states, and beliefs become weapons for political interests.
Ergun Caner, president of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, said the manifesto “muddies the water” when it comes to being an evangelical.
Caner, a former Muslim who converted in 1982, defines the term as “pro-life, pro-family” and having solely Christian beliefs.
“To me, it’s like coming out to a Pittsburgh Steelers game wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey,” Caner said of the manifesto. “It’s a document that has great intentions but will never happen.”
Caner said he wasn’t happy to learn his name was listed as a charter signatory to the manifesto when it was unveiled May 7 in Washington D.C. The committee contacted him to review the document’s language, he said, but he never gave consent to include his signature.
Neff said it was an oversight that Caner’s name had been included and it has since been removed.
Caner said Falwell was also listed as having signed it, though Neff said he was not aware of that and the manifesto’s Web site does not list Falwell as a signatory.
Jerry Falwell Jr., chancellor of Liberty University, said his father would never sign anything that would discourage political involvement.
“Anyone who knew Dad knew that’s not what he believed,” Falwell said.
The manifesto, which Neff admits is a self-critical look at evangelicals, stresses reforming behavior and pushing for more denominational unity.
Neff said there also must be a different approach in engaging in the public square, like trying to decrease political polarization.
“We don’t feel like it’s our task to further that polarization,” Neff said. “If anything, we should bridge people.”
The manifesto also calls for a need to go beyond “single-issue” politics such as abortion and marriage to fight against racism, corruption, poverty and illiteracy.
Caner said he does not disagree with the manifesto as a whole, but called the section addressing political activism “spineless” and a “group hug approach to Christianity.”
He said in a written statement that he does not apologize for stances the university has taken for decades.
“We believe Christianity has been pushed out of the public square,” Caner wrote. “We are not owned by any political party, but we will stand with and for candidates that are for our values and against those values that we see as unbiblical.”
Neff said reaction to the manifesto so far has been “mixed.” There was no intent, he said, to impact the upcoming presidential election by swaying evangelical voters who played a part in electing President Bush to two terms.
Falwell said there always have been people in both parties who call themselves evangelicals, but the turnout in recent elections for the pro-life, pro-family candidate has been reassuring.
He said he predicts the same kind of turnout in this year’s election.
“It’s a little harder for evangelicals to get excited about John McCain than it was for Bush,” Falwell said. “But when it comes to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he’s better than the given alternatives.”
Neff said the evangelical term has been around for centuries, but was revived in the 1940s by the ministry of Billy Graham. He personally defines an evangelical as someone who has converted, has Christian and Bible-centered beliefs and participates in social activism based on compassion.
Nearly 29 percent of the United States population consider themselves evangelical, according to the 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States, a publication of the Census Bureau.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Reality Check ) on May 23, 2008 at 11:36 pm
These LU and Falwell haters are really becoming venomous. I am encouraged by that. It means we are winning!!
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 23, 2008 at 8:17 pm
( Dennisz )... It made me nauseous to read your post. If you want to see your self as another ant in God’s big ant farm, fine. You have a right to live, metaphorically, in any fantastic twisting of reality you brain can put together for you. But keep it at home. The rest of us have to try to put back together the country the last “God’s best boy” trashed over the past seven years or so. I think we are pretty much done with taking advice from people who are still in the bronze age. Thanks, but no thanks. (hogtown gal ) I live ya babe. ( Anonymous ) You got me wrong man! I’m all for rounding them all up and grinding them into sausage meat. Sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions for the starving people of the world. I would like to see something good come out of the whole embarrassing mess. Know what I mean?
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Posted by ( Punto di vista di paradigma ) on May 23, 2008 at 5:31 pm
DennisZ, I agree with your statement “too many people claim to be followers of [Christ] but are a dumb as a rock when it comes to picking a president or someone elected.“ I especially agree with your comment “Don�t vote for the party.“ The idea of looking to “what and how Christ told us to live” is especially worthy of consideration.
However, the tricky part comes with the next statements about how to vote. In an attempt to understand, I find myself wondering if you intentionally front-loaded your argument to lead up to your last statement in the post (“Use it or lose it, America still has time to turn around not a lot, but I hope and pray [that] God will give us one more chance before He turns us [over] to our enemies”).
We have been living with the effects of a presidential administration that has used secrecy and deceit and lies, that has issued more signing statements to allow him to disregard the law than have all the other presidents combined, that has systematically dismantled a number of protections under constitutional law, that has brought us as a nation into an ill-advised war that is draining our economy, that has authorized the use of torture while denying such, that has in an act of ill-conceived war killed and maimed men and women and children both born and unborn, that has established and sought protection for its political cronies, that continues to obstruct bipartisan legislation, that clearly misleads the media and public when asked direct questions, that demonizes world powers that does not agree with him, etc., etc., etc.
Using the Bible as a voting tool is a double edged sword. Solomon had many wives, as did David (who even killed to get one of them). Several leaders drank, caroused, lied, taxed, waged war, amassed personal riches, and so forth. The NT enjoins believers to submit to those who rule, which was a genuinely mixed bag for those living under several of the Herods and Caesars, and later under Hitlers and Mussolinis.
While Jesus never addressed homosexuality, many want to make that a litmus test. As jarring as it will sound, Jesus never addressed “selling out the U.S.“ either, but some want to turn that into some standard (on that, it’s interesting to look at how cozy Bush is with Saudi Arabia, considering where the 9/11 attackers were from.) Jesus did address divorce, which many want to ignore. Jesus also addressed lying, caring for the poor, considering carefully whom is one’s neighbor, giving alms, religious misdeeds, turning one’s cheek, all of which many ignore.
The problem is not with voting with how Christ told us to live, it’s with how those who claim to follow him have sometimes so narrowed what his concerns and message were as to render then unrecognizable. Even Gandhi noted that “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.“ Granted, he is not the ultimate authority on Christianity, but he does have a point to be considered.
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Posted by ( Dennisz ) on May 23, 2008 at 11:32 am
Why is it that too many people claim to be followers of christ but are a dumb as a rock when it comes to picking a president or someone elected. Don’t vote for the party, vote in line with how well the persons life lines up with what and how Christ told us to live. You don’t vote for thoes who lie, steal, go along with killing unborn children, it’s not that hard, when someone wants to sell out the U.S. to our so called friends you don’t vote for them. We have 300 million people in america and these 3 are the best we can come up with to run for president, we need Gods’ hel, so pray that God will give us the president we need not what we deserve. We as christians not need a nother paper telling us how to live. We have Gods’ word it called the Bible.
Use it or lose it, America still has time to turn around not a lot, but I hope and pray the God will give us one more chance before He turns us ove to our enemies.
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Posted by ( hogtown gal ) on May 23, 2008 at 9:36 am
people who can’t THINK FOR THEMSELVES follow these religions and leaders. They run out and vote for whoever Jerry, or their preacher tells them to vote for and have no idea what they are voting for. This is how Bush, our worst President ever, got into office. The religious zealots want to run this country and when their elected officials destroy our country like Bush is doing, they blame it on God like Jerry did about 911. WAKE UP AMERICA.
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Posted by ( FedUpWithTRBC ) on May 23, 2008 at 9:21 am
[Anonymous] when I said “How in the world can people keep on letting this ship of fools continue to sail-on without challenge?“ I was not implying that we use physical force. The word “challenge” does not imply that we round them up like cattle, it implies that we need to confront them and dispute their actions. I am tired of the arrogance and audacity that they exude, as they push their distorted beliefs into our lives and into our government. It says a lot when Christians from all over America write up a manifesto to “challenge” what Jerry Falwell started. That should send out a message loud and clear. Christians AND non-Christians are opposed to what the Fundamentalist Christians are doing to this country and to the Christian faith. I am saying that we need to challenge the actions of TRBC/LU and speak out in force, just like the Christians Community is doing with the Evangelical Manifesto. We all know what TRBC stands for and it has nothing to do with Christianity. TRBC uses the Bible and Jesus as tools to manipulate other to do their bidding. I encourage others, who see through TRBC’s ruse, to express their dissent and help dilute their political influence.
As for the enlightenment comment: If I misjudged you, I apologize. But most of all, I regret that I didn’t save it for LUGrad.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on May 23, 2008 at 4:49 am
Well, McCain kicked Hagee under the bus yesterday. But he is still on my TV. He and a large assortment of absurd characters mining the airwaves for cash. If you have cancer Benny Hin will hit you on the head and it will be gone! Then, he will be gone in his $36 million dollar Gulfstream jet. It seems like every other channel has another Christian huckster on it crying a river for Christ and profit. You know, thanks to our Founding Fathers love for the Enlightenment, America freely offers opportunities for ALL religions to do their dance in the public square. Unfortunately, that freedom to act as crazy as you like in the name of God is being abused. Con-men like Hinn, Hagee and “The Falwell Cartel” abuse the heck out of it by claiming that God Himself wants them to OWN the public square and force everybody to believe their particular brand of balderdash. They want to make it the law! That’s why they have aligned themselves with the Republican Party. It works great in the uneducated and economically deprived areas of the country. The Bible Belt sure is that. People are always happy to blame somebody else for their problems. They may not have the “Big Bucks” to contribute, but, there’s gold in them there hills. If Jerry were alive today he too would be under the bus as far as McCain is concerned. “Preacher Gate” is all the rage. Somehow, with gas heading for $5 a gallon, our country bankrupt and the entire world fed up with our international nonsense… it ain’t so funny any more. According to our Evangelical and Chief, God got us into this war, but He can’t get us out. I’m thinking God must have piles of Halliburton, Exxon and Black Hawk Enterprises stock, Him being omnipotent and all. But it looks like the wind is beginning to change direction. Hard times are ahead for America and people will be looking for somebody to blame. There will always be religion. Humans can’t live without it, which is, of course, why they invented it to begin with. But the loud mouthed, “WE are better than you” kind of religion that blames all the worlds problems on the least able to defend themselves, the Falwell kind, is going to take a hit. When you need a good “Rapture”, there is never one around.
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Posted by ( LynchburgRes ) on May 22, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I’m glad to see more and more Lynchburgers not so blinded by the “good” Dr. Foulwell’s teachings and followers.
All I gotta do is look up on that once green mountain and see the big “LU” and I am reminded of my place and shut up when the fundie says his prayers in places I can’t NOT be at because they are public or work places.
Freedom of religion means ANY religion and/or NO religion at all.
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Posted by ( Anonymous ) on May 22, 2008 at 3:46 pm
VoiceOfReason:
Actually, I think you and I probably agree on more than you would ever imagine. However, that heavy dose of sarcasm was dished out because I don’t quite understand what it is that you propose people do instead of “letting” TRBC/LU exist. I get the disagreements you have with them and understand your perspective. I’m just curious about what your solution to the perceived problem is. Just wait it out and remain optimistic (like Cosmo) that they’ll eventually burn out on their own? Fill the comment section of the N&A;with bickering until then?
I’m genuinely curious. You addressed it in your first comment like there was something to be done about it. I’d really like to know what.
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Posted by ( FedUpWithTRBC ) on May 22, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I sympathize with you [caribbeanevangelical], it must be hard to shake off the stigmatism that the likes of Falwell and Robertson have put on the Christian community. It’s a shame that it has come to a point where pastors from all over the country find it necessary to adopt a manifesto to undo the damage, to the Christian faith, done by the rightwing fundamentalist. The fundamentalist Christians have been so brainwashed and dumb-downed that they can’t comprehend the magnitude of their mindless actions.
[Anonymous] It’s about time you came around and saw things my way. How does it feel to become enlightened after all these years?
Don’t worry, I know you were being sarcastic. I’m sure that the slightest amount of enlightenment would turn you into dust.
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