Book Review: The Myth of a Christian Nation--How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church By Gregory A. Boyd

This is the start of the review I had said earlier was coming. So far it only covers the introduction section of the book.

Introduction: “Like many evangelical pastors in the month before the 2004 election, I felt pressure from a number of right-wing political and religious sources, as well as from some people from my own congregation, to “shepherd my flock” into voting for “the right candidate” and the “right position.” Among other things I was asked to hand out leaflets, to draw attention to various political events, and to have church members sign petitions, make pledges, and so on. Increasingly, some on our church grew irate, because of my refusal (supported by the church board) to have the church participate in these activities.”

This is the first paragraph of the introduction, which is titled - - How this book came to be and why it may irritate some readers. This is the reason why Boyd preached a sermon series entitled “The Cross and the Sword.” By the way, Boyd is the senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota as well as an author. The central thesis of the book is this: He believes a significant portion of American evangelicalism is guilty of political and nationalistic idolatry. In other words, many American evangelicals have allowed their understanding of the Kingdom of God to become distorted with political ideals, agendas, and other issues. It has become about voting for the “Christian” candidate, outlawing gay marriages, outlawing abortion, keeping the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, etc. etc. etc.

Boyd writes of two kingdoms. One is the kingdom of the world. The second is the kingdom of God. He says that evangelicalism has fused the two kingdoms into a preferred kingdom of the world rather than focus on the understanding of God’s kingdom. Which is to say Jesus. Who, never let himself get pulled into the political disputes of his day. The author believes the fusing of the two kingdoms is caused by the myth that America is a Christian nation with the church as its guardian.

Now, for my take on his thesis. It seems that every election, whether it be local, state, or national, I get more and more uncomfortable with the actions and words of the candidates who openly profess to being Christians. I have been feeling, for some time now, that these folks, while sincere in their beliefs, are doing an awful lot of damage to the name and cause of Jesus. I see them alienating and in most cases bullying anyone that doesn’t agree with them. I might add here that they always do this in the name of Jesus. I’ve not found anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus alienated or bullied anyone except for the corrupt religious leaders of his day. In fact it’s the very type of people that modern day politicians treat like outcasts that Jesus embraced, loved, and ministered to. For me, it’s very hard to reconcile the Jesus that I read about in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John with the Jesus I see and hear about come election time.

I was hooked on the book after reading just the introduction. I was hooked because, from what Boyd writes in the introduction, I believe he is right.