Division of America

Peter Leithart over at First Things puts a finger on what I fear will be an element in the coming years of American politics. Just as, in my opinion, disagreement with the policies of Barack Obama during the campaign was taken as a critique of hope, Leithart fears that disagreement with the policies of Barack Obama will be taken as racism. Indeed, if the Obama election was about race--and I don't think it was--then critique of his administration can't help but be about race. (Moreover, if it was about race, then the divisions of race remain, with just a different race ruling. It's only if the election was not about race does it actually reveal an improvement in race relations.)

It seems to me that this political moment--a country whose elite are concerned with racial and economic divisions--is exactly when the Reformed theology and Radical Orthodoxy conversation must take center stage among theologians concerned with cultural commentary and critique. Radical Orthodoxy reminds us that the real divisions between people are not sociological, but theological. It's religion that divides us because it's religion that has been the source of unity of so many groups. This is not a bad thing. There's no such thing as a judgment free zone, nor should there be. The Reformers, on the other hand, must continue to speak to their politicians and to their culture because culture is created by God, as well, and we do well to preserve, promote, and defend aspects of the culture of which Christians can be proud and that will be brought into the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus (Rev. 21:26).