abstract: goals like limited government are ultimately sustainable only in Christian terms but progress can and should be made toward them now, regardless of the present climate

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Editor's Note: The previous two issues of The Christian Statesman contained letters [here, here, and here] in response to Rod Martin's article Quiet Revolution: The Christianization of the Republican Party that appeared in the November-December 2002 issue of The Christian Statesman. Here, Rod Martin responds to his critics.

Rev. McCracken makes good points in his letter (March-April 2002), and yet I am forced to disagree with him in part, on this basis: though our ultimate goals might be a grand explicitly Christian commonwealth suffused with the glory and majesty of our Lord, short of some deus ex machina contrivance, that simply is not on the immediate horizon. In the short term, Christians will do very well indeed to resume cultural leadership, first within conservatism and increasingly in the broader society, and to place more (and better quality) godly men in key positions. Getting the cart before the horse--or expecting too much too quickly--will lead to failure (Prov. 24:7). All Reformed folk would do well to meditate on Matthew 13 in this regard.

Moreover, while I agree that goals like "limited government" are ultimately sustainable only in Christian terms, progress can and should be made toward them now, regardless of the present climate; and the benefit of that is far from marginal, as state worship is the idol of our age. I would respectfully suggest to Rev. McCracken, in fact, that until more progress is made against that idol (something which can be done in very ordinary terms indeed, as the fall of the East Bloc demonstrated), a Christian revival would very likely be overwhelmingly syncretistic, embracing both Christ and the über state, and take us back more to the Social Gospel or to 1930s New Dealism than to the better sort of world the good Reverend seeks.

Finally, regarding the letters published in the January-February 2003 issue, particularly that from Al Cronkrite, it is quite clear that the authors simply did not read my article. Mr. Cronkrite notably labels my "misguided optimism" regarding the doubling of the number of conservative Christians in positions of actual power within the Republican Party over the past eight years as "pure fantasy," without bothering to note that this is not my (or anyone's) opinion, but the result of a decade-long statistical study (more details are available on my website at www.theVanguard.org). Christians do in fact now control the state GOP in 36 percent of the states, and hold a large and growing minority position in 82 percent of the rest.

One gets the feeling that this actual progress--against his many bold predictions to the contrary--annoys Mr. Cronkrite greatly; but his annoyance doesn't make it any less true.

Mr. Cronkrite goes on to slam the Christian brothers who have carried outthis amazing work, a work many have said in these very pages was"impossible." He says that American Christians are "immature," "prone to stupidity and foolishness," and that "bringing about godly dominion in society is beyond their ken." Well, maybe that's true, although the numbers don't show it--exactly what progress has the very proud Mr. Cronkrite made toward dislodging the atheistic left in America, one wonders? But this much is certain: his characterization of the vast majority of his brethren is haughty and hateful, and demonstrates yet again that "reformed and always reforming" too often means nothing but "too pure for you."

To Mr. Cronkrite and his ilk, I would kindly suggest imitating not merely the law but the love of Christ before expecting American Christians to listen to them, much less follow them. A Dale Carnegie course wouldn't hurt either.

- Rod Martin

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