The Overview (Monday, November 2)
Last-minute election prep, what ACB will mean for religious freedom, and the emergence of "Patriot Churches"
Tomorrow, of course, is Election Day. And assuming we have clear results rendering litigation and challenges moot, the most exhausting presidential election season in history is about to be over.
Polls have consistently showed Joe Biden with a steady lead for months now. In that sense, a Biden victory tomorrow would hardly be surprising. But given the largely unanticipated results four years ago, plus the “expect the unexpected” atmosphere during the last four years under President Donald Trump, you’d be forgiven for not having the slightest clue of what tomorrow will bring.
I’m looking forward to joining Michael Wear tomorrow in breaking down the election results. Just head over to his Reclaiming Hope page tomorrow night to keep tabs on the evening’s biggest developments. Until then, here’s the Monday, November 2 edition of The Overview:
1) The Gospel Coalition recently published two important articles related to our immediate political environment. First, Samuel James writes about the need for civility in our political and cultural discourse. Civility is not, according to James, “just a way for powerful people to preserve the status quo.” Instead, the civility essential to our current moment is a “generous disposition of spirit, one that can be expressed passionately and with moral force.”
Second, Trevin Wax reminds us that regardless of the election outcome, there will be a sizable contingent of this country waking up Wednesday in a state of shock. Wax’s article introduces ideas readers of this newsletter may be familiar with, including partisan sorting and social media echo chambers. But importantly, Wax calls for Christians to be a mediating force in the midst of this inevitable situation — after all, “We belong to a community that believes there’s no election shock and surprise that compares with Easter morning.”
2) My friend Andy Lewis and I wonder what Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court will mean for religious freedom jurisprudence. Like other contemporary social conservatives, Barrett apparently holds expansive views of religious exercise, views that may come directly into conflict with a decades-old precedent authored by her mentor, the late Antonin Scalia.
3) Author Tish Harrison Warren argues that while Christians may have good reasons to vote for Donald Trump (just as they have good reasons to vote for Joe Biden or Jo Jorgensen or Brian Carroll or…), we should be cautious about basing our vote on the issues of religious freedom. “My deep concern,” she writes, “is that we are burning down our own house in the attempt to save it.” It’s an argument I’ve heard (and made) before, but she articulates well and effectively, just in time for another election with big implications.
4) Christianity Today’s Bonnie Kristian writes that while the country may not be in a state of civil war, Christians should be intimately familiar with the conflict as it exists in our own hearts. Jesus’s commands in the Sermon on the Mount are particularly resonant these days, reminding His people that we commit murder every time we call another child of God a fool. Indeed, our challenge is significant: “Loving our enemies is integral to our imitation of God,” Kristian writes. “It is peacemakers who win the title of ‘children of God’; praying for those who persecute us identifies us as ‘children of [our] Father in heaven’; and we must love our enemies to be ‘perfect … as [our] heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matt. 5:9, 43–45, 48).”
5) Finally, a good deal of ink has been spilled lately on the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States. And while most research and commentary connect the phenomenon (at least in part) to the election of Donald Trump, The Washington Post’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey details another consequence: the emergence of so-called “Patriot Churches.” In these churches there is an explicit connection between contemporary political rhetoric and Biblical teaching. “And whether Trump wins or loses,” Pulliam Bailey writes, “religion experts believe these Americans are building powerful networks that are expected to endure long after Trump has left the White House.”