In your previous email, you took issue with my calling Celebrate Freedom Sunday at FBC Dallas a “political rally.” I watched the entire “service,” and maybe I should have added another prong to my description. It was both a political rally and a nationalism rally. While there was Pence’s testimony at the end of his political speech, and Jeffress gave a brief altar call, these were overwhelmed by the political/ nationalistic emphasis that permeated the gathering. Worship was not the focus of this gathering . . . if it were a TV show, we would say that politics and nationalism had the starring roles, while worship made a cameo appearance.
Political rally? Political leaders were introduced and praised; there wasn’t a single Democrat among them. We have many Texas Democrats among both our U.S. House delegation and our state legislature, and they are people of faith, though their political allegiance alone would surely make their faith suspect in your eyes. Their absence makes it clear that this gathering was intended to celebrate not our nation as a whole but specifically the Republican party – especially Republicans who are loyal to the president.
Nationalistic rally? U.S. flags were waved by the choir and the audience! Patriotic music dominated, sung by the choir and audience, and played by the orchestra. You said you like to celebrate our country. I do, too, but not in a worship service. That focus on the U.S. flag in this service was blasphemy. It reminded me of my former church. As you face the pulpit, on a level above and behind the chancel is a beautiful floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window with Jesus at the center. On patriotic holidays, however, you couldn’t see Jesus, because the window was completely covered by a huge floor-to-ceiling U. S. flag. It was unintentionally symbolic of the focus of that church, because truly Jesus was put to the side as the church worshiped the flag during those services. It was blasphemy!
My current church, Wilshire Baptist in Dallas, has a longstanding tradition of a 4th of July patriotic concert by our Wilshire Winds orchestra. However, rather than during a worship service, it is a standalone concert performed for the community on a Wednesday evening in conjunction with a free barbecue meal. We celebrate our country, but we don’t let it get in the way of our main focus – worshiping God.
So let’s look at Mike Pence’s speech. I agree with you that Pence’s testimony was powerful, of how he came to accept Christ, and the letter he received from the pastor who led that service in 1978, though it does disturb me that the pastor seems to have been discouraged that his work had been in vain until he realized that among those making decisions in the service was “a future vice-president.” Scripture tells us that God is no respecter of persons. Were others who were impacted that evening less important because they never attained such an influential position? But yes, it was a powerful testimony on Pence’s part.
However, that came at the end of his speech. The first 20 minutes consisted of a political speech bragging on the president, the Texas governor, the military, the police, etc. He touted a laundry list of accomplishments he claimed for the president (most of which are open to dispute). His list of the president’s policies were cheered by the crowd, ignoring the harm that many of those policies wrought on “the least of these” for whom Jesus commanded us to care. Pence even called Confederate soldiers whose statues have been torn down, “some of our nation’s greatest heroes.” These were men who fought against our nation’s government to defend the owning of human beings. If this was a testimony to Jesus, it’s a different Jesus than the one I know.
And by the way, both the president and the vice-president are lying about the Johnson Amendment. First, the president did NOT “end” it; it is still intact. Second, it does NOT prevent churches from taking a stand and preaching on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and so forth. What it does is prevent churches from endorsing a particular political candidate or party. If you’re interested in learning how and why I believe the Johnson Amendment is good for churches, you can read my recent Baptist Standard op-ed.