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August 25, 2008
Wicked Paradox Revisited
Pew Research has a new poll out measuring the decline in support for religiously informed political commentary. The "new survey," Pew reports, "finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters." Ironically--and perhqaps troubling--the decline is a result of (Christian) conservatives becoming gun shy:
Four years ago, just 30% of conservatives believed that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics. Today, 50% of conservatives express this view.As a result, conservatives' views on this issue are much more in line with the views of moderates and liberals than was previously the case. Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared.
This is a little troubling, I think, because it suggests that for Christians the criterion for engaging in public discourse or not is winning. Not, in other words, "participation." This development reinforces many of the problematics I noted in a long essay I originally posted last year: Wicked Paradox
Posted by stevemack at August 25, 2008 12:55 PM
