Evangelicals pivot from abortion to economy

OPINION:

Christians participating in a recent Barna survey said their top concern this midterm election season was the economy, not abortion, not religious freedom, not the morality crisis of U.S. culture. And that has some pining about the direction of America’s spiritual compass.

It’s a valid point.

After all, the culture shapes policy. If America’s culture — which is to say its moral compass and driving principles — is skewed, muddied and degraded, then so goes all the other systems in place, from politics to education to the economy. 

According to the survey of 2,275 adult evangelicals, 61% said the rising cost of living was having “a lot of influence” on their voting choices, compared to 46% who said similarly for right-to-life issues and 36% for religious freedom concerns.

Yikes. In a nation where rights are supposed to come from God, and government is only in place to preserve and protect those rights, it’s bad news for America’s state of long-term liberties when the supposed godly start to care more about secular concerns than spiritual ones. That’s why we’re in the shape we’re in now, as a matter of fact. If voters put morality first, abortion-loving, transgender-enabling Democrats wouldn’t be in charge. Few Democrats would even be elected.

It’s primarily the faithful — those who worry about the state of their souls with a heavenly creator — who keep the structures intact; the Constitution, as framers warned, would only last so long as the people were moral and virtuous. Why? A limited government is not sustainable for citizens who require never-ceasing regulation and control to keep them in line. Self-government, limited government only works when the government doesn’t have to do the job of establishing and imposing behavioral standards. 

So it’s incumbent on those who know best about the principle of God-given rights — the godly — to ensure that this country stays a Judeo-Christian and biblically principled course, or else tyranny takes root and spreads. This is where we’re at right now; the lawless Democrats and socialists and cultural Marxists have gained much ground in recent years, and have been merrily sowing their anti-American, anti-family, anti-virtue seeds far and wide.

The Democratic successes stem from a rotten culture filled with immorality — and that stems from a nation of people who’ve steadily turned from God, from church, from biblical truths.

So here we are.

Immorality plus Democrats equal burdensome, corrupt government.

Secularism plus socialists bring chaos to America’s economic, educational, political systems.

It’s because even Christians, even evangelicals, have become concerned with the things of the world than with stuff of the spirit.

“Even among the most deeply religious Americans, regardless of their faith of choice, a greater emphasis was placed upon the personal impact of governance choices and public policies,” said George Barna, about the findings from the new Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University survey, The Christian Post reported.

“The focus on self,” Barna continued, “to the exclusion of the community, is a reflection of the syncretistic worldview and the decline of spiritual commitment in America.”

This is not to say Christians shouldn’t care about economic issues — or school issues — or foreign policy issues — or border issues — or any number of other politically tied issues that come up as part of election discussions and ballot box concerns. 

But it is to say that putting gas prices above religious freedom as a top voting concern seems out of whack with what Christians are supposed to represent. It is to say that rating the unborn as a second-tier issue, or lower, to financial security is to miss the biblical mark.

After all, if God were given the platform He deserves in this country, most all the issues, from political to economic, would simply and automatically fall into line. Seek Him first and all the rest will be given.

The tag “it’s the economy, stupid” is a good reminder of what concerns most Americans.

But the tag “it’s the morality, stupid” is a better indicator of what ails America. 

Christians should know that. And Christian voters should make their voices loud enough both at the polls and on a daily basis so all of America knows that, too. Our God-given rights — the core of American Exceptionalism — depend on it.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.