Leading Evangelical periodical,
Christianity Today, through its editor-at-large, Philip Yancey, has addressed the seldom mentioned “t” word (theocracy) in a leading editorial posted 07/10/06 - (see “The Lure of Theocracy, As we flee decadence, we must watch our step.” -
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/007/24.64.html).
Yancey, seen by many as one presenting Evangelicalism at its intellectual best, demonstrates, in my opinion, what a hot button issue the “t” word must be in CT circles. Yancey reports having been in Egypt at gathering of Christian leaders from the Middle East. He observed how Christians experienced living as a minority in Moslem lands where the community had priority over the individual, where the Mosque and the state fit together like a hand and glove. “Most Christians I talked to at this conference” Yancey wrote, “would rather raise their children in a closely guarded Islamic society than in the United States, where freedom so often leads to decadence.”
While reading the article, I felt a bit lost. When was he going to address the words of his thought provoking title “The Lure of Theocracy”--in regards to our own culture? On and on he went about Islamic history and how it made their cultures all encompassing theocracies today. Finally, in the very last paragraph he made his point as to what all this Islamic background stuff was leading to:
“Hearing firsthand about Islamic culture,” he wrote, “increased my understanding, but it also made me nervous about my own society. The very things we resist in Islam, some Christians find tempting. We, too, seek political power and a legal code that reflects revealed morality. We, too, share a concern about raising our children in a climate of moral decadence. We, too, tend to see others (including Muslims) as a stereotyped community, rather than as individuals.
Will we turn toward our own version of the harsh fundamentalism sweeping Islam today?”
I know this is presumptuous but it is tempting to imagine CT’s editorial meetings and how they might discuss the different ways to report the rising negative influence of the Evangelical political right and the use and abuse of theocratic rhetoric that pervades the very organizations that pay big money to advertise in their magazine. Yancey’s approach was so cautious that most readers no doubt will get lost and miss the point so indirectly formulated in the very last sentence. Had I not been an active talk2action reader and looking for some answers, his point would have passed me by. Still he made the point and I thank Yancey for taking CT a step in the right direction. Who knows, it may have taken much courage to say anything at all.
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