You be the judge

Ana Marie Cox is not a household name among religious conservatives, but during the first decade of this century she sailed the snarky waters of Washington punditry in the vessel Wonkette, an online magazine of left-wing political commentary. As founding editor, Cox set the tone for Wonkette’s piratical style: slashing and profane. When she jumped ship to write a novel, other roles awaited her: blogger for Time magazine’s “Swampland,” frequent guest on left-wing talk shows, and contributing editor for Playboy.

But in the early years of this decade Cox “went dark”: separated from her journalist husband, canceled obligations, and entered an intense period of anxiety and self-doubt. That story has a happy ending, related by Cox herself in a post on The Daily Beast website: “Why I’m Coming Out as a Christian.”

She credits her conversion to friends who were prepared to follow Peter’s instruction and gave an answer for the hope within them (1 Peter 3:15). At the bottom of her depression, Cox began asking about the source of their apparent serenity and joy. She listened to what they said. She looked until she found Him—not a vague spirituality but a Person. Now, “I try, every day, to give my will and my life over to God. I try to be like Christ. I get down on my knees and pray.”

Newfound faith doesn’t mean that this “progressive, feminist, tattooed, pro-choice, graduate-educated believer” is planning to vote Republican next year. Conversion didn’t go that far, and here Cox feels a bit vulnerable about “coming out”—not because of pushback from fellow liberals, but from fellow Christians. (See “Quotables,” April 4.) Is the burden of proof on her, and if so, what constitutes proof?

[Cox] did not have to justify God. Instead, He justifies her through Christ.

Last February, Gov. Scott Walker came under criticism for his answer to the question, Is President Obama a Christian? “I’ve never asked him,” Walker replied, “so I don’t know.” Not the best answer, as even conservatives have pointed out, but it was the wrong question, put to the wrong person, and most likely for the wrong motives. When it comes to the personal faith of public figures, how to judge? “I’ve had people tell me I was going to hell because I wasn’t the right kind of Christian,” Ana Marie Cox told conservative blogger Matt Lewis. Should we ask if there is such a thing as “the right kind”?

Or, can we measure a believer against a checklist of beliefs? What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?, by mainline Protestant pastor Martin Thielen, lays out a series of 10 simplistic principles imagined to be hallmarks of the faith (such as “Good Christians don’t doubt,” and “True Christians can’t believe in evolution”). These are easy to demolish, clearing the field for 10 progressive principles—about which Thielen can be as dogmatic as the most vigorous Bible-thumper. But he wisely introduces them as questions, not precepts: Am I accepted? What brings fulfillment? What matters most? And heading the list: Who is Jesus?

That’s the question Ana Marie Cox the political animal encountered when she began talking to Christian friends. Then the answer burst upon her: She did not have to justify God. Instead, He justifies her through Christ. “I am completely whole and loved by God without doing anything.” And, “There is nothing so great I can do to make God love me more.” Any conflicting beliefs she still holds will, sooner or later, bow to this one—or else they will distort it and make Jesus himself subservient to politics. That happens on the right as well as the left.

We can and should debate Christian principles, and scriptural witness must be allowed a voice. After Who is Jesus? the second question should be, Who says? If the Bible tells us so, what else does it have to tell us? Cox admits she’s not scripturally literate, but she’s a work in progress. Aren’t we all? The tone of her piece is humble and grateful, beginning where we all must begin: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Let him who judges, start here.

Email jcheaney@wng.org