Amen, bro:

They Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word “evangelical” has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.
The statement, called “An Evangelical Manifesto,” condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

“That way faith loses its independence, Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology,” according to the draft.
The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed “truth without love,” helping create a backlash against religion during a “generation of culture warring.”
“All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others,” the statement says, “while we have condoned our own sins.” It argues, “we must reform our own behavior.”
[…]
Among the signers of the manifesto are Os Guiness, a well-known evangelical author and speaker, and Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Pasadena, California. Organizers declined to comment until the final document is released.

Of course they’re releasing it the day before my Old Testament final so I probably won’t get a chance to comment on it for a day or so. I hope they got it right because we really do need something that states we are not an extension of the Republican party (though I know some of you just choked on your coffee reading that one 🙂
This is one of the reasons I’m kind of glad McCain is the nominee (it may be the only reason), the church is the last thing he wants to embrace (except for Hagee and I bet he’s sorry he ever embraced him). I’m glad for the distance because I think our witness has been wrecked by our association with the party. I didn’t realize how bad that association had gotten until I read “God’s Harvard.” It’s an excellent look into Patrick Henry College where really bright homeschool kids are sent to college to train to be political operatives and for other jobs where they can impact the culture. I realized just how serious some in the church were about this whole culture war. It seems to me that we are fighting the wrong battle. How do you “win” people to Christ if you are at war with them? We are more interested in enacting change legislatively than we are to transform a lost and dying world with the good news of Jesus Christ. I hope the document addresses these ideas.
And then there’s this:

James Dobson, the influential founder of Focus on the Family, a Christian group in Colorado Springs, Colorado, did not sign the document, said Gary Schneeberger, a Dobson spokesman. Schneeberger would not say whether Dobson had read the manifesto or had been asked to sign on.
Phil Burress, an Ohio activist who networks with national evangelical leaders, said that if high-profile evangelical leaders such as Dobson and Land don’t support the document, “it’s like throwing a pebble in the ocean” and will carry no weight.

Even if the Lord’s behind it?