When Politics Becomes a Religion
Speaking on the gospel and cultural engagement at a national conference sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore complained that politics has become a religion and a source of identity for many evangelicals.
The over-promising that is taking place in the evangelical life in relation to electoral politics has been going on for several years, probably more than in the outside culture, said ERLC President Moore at a Saturday panel Q&A at the ERLC's 2016 national conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee.
He said he has heard the statement, "This is the most important election we have faced in my lifetime," from various people every election cycle over the years. And it's often said either we'll win or completely lose our country. This leads to two undesirable things, he added.
One, "the people who are with you become disillusioned and angry, 'Why don't we have all of the things you told us we would have?'" Two, some get burned-over and cynical because of the way the original sin and common grace interact with one another, due to which there are no final victories or final defeats, he explained.
