Should we match the left’s activism?

Which religious groups are most politically active? According to professor and statistician Ryan Burge, the most politically engaged religious groups in 2024 are the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, Jews, and atheists. After these groups, other mainline denominations (Presbyterian Church [USA], the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and National Baptist Convention) are the most engaged. These groups are all largely liberal and progressive in their politics, overwhelmingly supporting Democrats. It’s not until the middle of the pack that conservative Christians are represented: Missouri Synod Lutherans, Presbyterian Church in America, non-denominational Christians, and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The data is perhaps not surprising, but it does provoke some questions for conservative Christians: Should we seek to match the political engagement of the left?

On the one hand, some Christians argue, “Absolutely not. The Left has abandoned traditional Christianity and turned politics into their religion.” Commentators across the political spectrum have noted the religious fervor of progressive politics. As Helen Lewis put it in The Atlantic in 2022, “For some activists, politics has usurped the role that religion used to play as a source of meaning and purpose in our lives. … They’ve substituted one religion for another.” Or as Joshua Mitchell has argued, “identity politics is an incomplete religion, a spiritual economy, according to which pure innocent victim groups must ascend, and the impure groups must be purged.” He concluded: “Politics and religion have become one.”

Thus, rather than attending worship services, they attend political rallies. Rather than participating in Christian rituals such as the Lord’s Supper, they participate in social activism, signaling their virtue and innocence through marching, flying the rainbow flag, or putting up Black Lives Matter or Abolish ICE posters. So, should conservative Christians match their political engagement? No, because they are committing political idolatry.

On the other hand, the measures of engagement are fairly benign and basic. Attend a local political meeting. Put up a political sign. Work for a candidate. Attend a protest or march. Contact a public official. Donate money to a candidate. The more of these you do, the more politically engaged you are (according to the survey). But these are basic activities of citizenship in a representative democracy. So of course, conservative Christians should increase their engagement in normal politics, supporting candidates who will establish righteous and just policies in accordance with God’s law.

But the rejoinder comes back: “It’s not the activities themselves, but the intensity, zeal, and frequency of the left’s engagement that is the problem. Since the left has made politics their religion, they treat it as a totalizing commitment, requiring significant time, effort, and money, and faithful Christians simply must not follow them into their false religious zeal, even if devoted to more biblical causes.”

This is where the rubber meets the road. If the left is attempting to zealously impose its utopian vision on the country—opening the border, expanding access to abortion, indoctrinating children into gender ideology, abolishing the police, and bringing socialism to our cities—then how should conservative Christians resist such efforts? Isn’t it reasonable to expect that those defending American civilization should match the zeal of those seeking to alter and destroy it?

It’s not idolatry to resist the idolatry of the left. It’s not worldly to defend the good things that we have inherited from our fathers. In fact, given the destruction wrought by leftist policies, love for our neighbors would seem to require us to participate in basic political actions in order to prevent the great evil that the left intends to inflict on our fellow citizens. At the very least, more conservative evangelicals should attend local political meetings, contact their public officials, put up political signs, and work for political candidates that will pursue the common good and protect our rights and liberties.

Unfortunately, many Christian leaders encourage a pietistic abdication in the political arena that they reject in other areas. Some evangelical slogans function as kneecaps to prevent Christian political action, offering false dichotomies such as “Pursue spiritual revival, not political renewal” and “We’re not called to win the culture, but instead to love our neighbor.” But, of course, one of the ways we love our neighbors is by establishing and maintaining a just and orderly society. And there is no reason we can’t pursue both spiritual revival and political renewal.

Conservative Christians ought to be politically engaged. Get involved. Find candidates worth supporting and help mobilize voters. Call public officials to encourage them or exhort them (or even pray with them!). And even if you can’t get involved yourself, don’t discourage those who do. Instead, thank them for doing good and necessary work to preserve and defend our society.