[lit-ideas] Re: Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock

I read Boyd's book "Letter to a Skeptic" sevetral years ago. He made a  guest 
appearance as preacher at a Church I was attending at the time on and off  
--- iuntresting converestation with him afterwards re.Derrida's therories vs a  
"Master Text" re. the Bible.
 
H'e's a good guy.
 
Julie rKrueger
========Original  Message========
    Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock  Date: 7/30/06 
8:41:08 AM Central Daylight Time  From: _hwishart@xxxxxxxx 
(mailto:hwishart@xxxxxxx)   To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent 
on:    



I found the following  news article surprising in view of what I personally 
know about the certitude of  most Christian fundamentalists but â.. 
Disowning Conservative  Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock 
Excerpt 
âMr. Boyd finally became fed up, he  said. Before the last presidential 
election, he preached six sermons called âThe  Cross and the Swordâ in 
which he 
said the church should steer clear of politics,  give up moralizing on sexual 
issues, stop claiming the United States as a  âChristian nationâ and stop 
glorifying American military campaigns.   
âWhen the church wins the culture  wars, it inevitably loses,â Mr. Boyd 
preached. âWhen it conquers the world, it  becomes the world. When you put 
your 
trust in the sword, you lose the  cross.â 
Mr. Boyd says he is no liberal. He  is opposed to abortion and thinks 
homosexuality is not Godâs ideal. The response  from his congregation at 
Woodland 
Hills Church here in suburban St. Paul â  packed mostly with politically and 
theologically conservative, middle-class  evangelicals â was passionate. Some 
members walked out of a sermon and never  returned. By the time the dust had 
settled, Woodland Hills, which Mr. Boyd  founded in 1992, had lost about 1,000 
of 
its 5,000  members. 
âââââ. 
And Mr. Boyd has a new book out,  âThe Myth of a Christian Nation: How the 
Quest for Political Power Is Destroying  the Church,â which is based on his 
sermons.  
âThere is a lot of discontent  brewing,â said Brian D. McLaren, the 
founding 
pastor at Cedar Ridge Community  Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and a leader in 
the evangelical movement known as  the âemerging church,â which is at the 
forefront of challenging the more  politicized evangelical establishment. 
âMore and more people are saying  this has gone too far â the dominance of 
the evangelical identity by the  religious right,â Mr. McLaren said. âYou 
cannot say the word âJesusâ in 2006  without having an awful lot of baggage 
going 
along with it. You canât say the  word âChristian,â and you certainly 
canât 
say the word âevangelicalâ without it  now raising connotations and a 
certain cringe factor in people.   
_http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/us/30pastor.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
&oref=slogin_ 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/us/30pastor.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)

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