How one views the modern American parties is a good indication of whether or not they understand the times. It’s undeniable that the Democrats are a truly evil party that wants to permit invasion, sexually mutilate children, murder babies, and bankrupt the economy. The Republican Party has pockets of binge better, particularly at state levels, but at a national level, it’s clear that the Republican Party has no willingness to fight the Democrats on any meaningful issues, much less the will to fight on day-to-day minutiae. The Democrat Party is a hivemind controlled by the zeitgeist, and the Republican Party is leaderless in the face of this challenge. Both are bad, but they are not morally equivalent.
The Gospel Coalition recently published a column about Baptists and political parties titled, Early Baptists Weren’t a Voting Bloc which goes on at length about the partisans of early America and the political division surrounding the politics of 1800. It’s ultimate conclusion:
Pastors and presidents, clergymen and laypeople, men and women issued the same clarion call to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Instead of normalizing factionalism, contentiousness, and mudslinging as acceptable parts of American church life, these Baptists educated their peers in “the school of Christ.”
Two centuries later, although the political parties have since changed, the bitterness and hostility of partisanship has not. Faced with another season of deep-seated political division in America, Baptists today have yet another opportunity to proclaim a peacemaking, cross-carrying gospel.
The differences between the two rightwing parties of Jefferson’s day and the liberal and rightwing politics now are irreconcilable. Whereas America’s Constitution is a compromise document, thus showcasing how shared a general vision of rule was, the differences between Florida and California now are vastly different from Virginia and Massachusetts then. There is a difference between a nation trying to form its identity and a nation in terminal decline. Whereas differences in 1800 were not sin issues, differences in 2024 are.
The Gospel Coalition is trying to lecture Christians, particularly Baptists to keep their eyes from a clock so as to not understand the times.
