A surprisingly large number of readers responded to Pastor Ed Dobson's editorial in the May 20 issue on whether political activity belongs on the church's agenda. The letters revealed once again how polarizing this subject can be. Many writers chose to ignore Dobson's narrower focus (political activity in the church) and broadened the discussion to Christian activity in the public square. Just as with the discussion initiated last year by Prof. John Woodbridge ("Fighting Words," Mar. 6, 1995), those who wrote are passionate in their opinions: There is no apparent middle ground, and a near equal division of sentiment.

Ron Kruis of Grand Rapids, Michigan, argues that, historically, it has been "the absence of Christians from the public square that has helped contribute to bad law and bad social policy," while others, like William Wu of Henrietta, New York, agreed that "our priority is the gospel of and witnessing for Christ Jesus." And Jeffrey C. Ording, chair of the Christian Business Men's Committee's Annual Governor's Prayer Breakfast in Illinois, offers a reminder that "We have an obligation to support evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ that God is calling into the political arena [and] trust [they] are being obedient . . . followers of Christ."

Many readers also responded to the several articles on the subject of contemporary Christian music, nearly all agreeing that the ccm industry has gotten off course. Rodney W. Johnson suggests that former industry executive Stan Moser "quit too soon," and that he "ought to use his perception, insight, and Christian commitment to values to galvanize the industry into going back to basics."

AN UNPOPULAR STAND

The editorial "Taking Politics Out of the Sanctuary," by Edward G. Dobson [May 20], seems so biblical and logical, this reader wonders why this concept is so rarely heard in evangelical circles. Pastor Dobson is to be commended for his courage to take an unpopular stand.

When Christians find it necessary to voice a concern to government, the contact should be respectful and kind. To be arrogant and offensive brings reproach on the name of Christ. It is altogether unbecoming and at the same time all too common.

David L. Miller
Partridge, Kans.

* Dobson is on the right track when he says the church should not be co-opted by political action. Whenever I see abortion protesters with graphic photographs and the public reaction to them, I contrast that with Jesus' mandate that "they will know you by your love." Much of our "Christian" political activism has only made it harder to follow Dobson's first priority of sharing the good news.

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Ken Berger
Union City, N.J.

I wonder if there could be a more important editorial? Oswald Chambers, writing at the turn of the century, foresaw a great spiritual showdown at the end of the age: not Christian versus New Age or anything like it; rather, he described treason from within our own ranks. Chambers said the "doctrine of the anti-Christ is absolute moral perfection." He figured the only way the man of sin could "exalt himself above all that is called God" would be for him to make the issue of morality the highest priority. By making such smokescreen issues as abortion and gay rights the focus instead of the cross, the man of sin would attempt to "out-moralize" even God himself.

Bob Day
Boring, Oreg.

* I object more to the tone of the editorial than its content. Dobson seems proud that his church did not join the petition drive to repeal the Gay Rights Ordinance in Grand Rapids. He and his congregation certainly have the right to stand apart from the messy world of politics if they so choose. But there are many good reasons why local churches ought to do what they can to restrain the spread of evil. After all, the same Lord who commanded us to be light also called us to be salt.

Pastor Ray Pritchard
Calvary Memorial Church
Oak Park, Ill.

What one church member considers to be mere "politics" (e.g., the abortion issue), another may see as a grievous act involving victims (the unborn child), created in the image of God and in need of physical intervention. To stifle these voices within the walls of the church is to make the church and the gospel irrelevant.

In order to "remove politics" from the church, pastors must ignore many passages of Scripture that call us to concerted action on behalf of others. Dobson says his "consuming commitment is to the gospel and sharing the good news." That's wonderful. But is he "teaching them to obey" the commands of God and assisting them in that obedience?

Douglas Gwinn
Pasadena, Calif.

* Certainly there are major moral changes needed in our society today. However, the needed changes will not come about by laws or a shift in the political party in power, but by individuals getting to know personally, and being transformed by, the God of the Bible.

John Helgesen
Southold, N.Y.

God calls us to pursue both justice and mercy [Micah 6:8]. No question-mercy is a "kinder, gentler" place to live, and Dobson's criticism of some justice--seeking activists is legitimate. But I would remind him of Francis Schaeffer's words to those who once criticized the Moral Majority: "If you personally do not like some of the details of what they have done, do it better." The Christian role in public policy is one of the most divisive--and pressing--issues in America today. I was hoping for clarity from Ed Dobson, not a reactive one-sidedness. Now, more than ever, we need churches to seek both justice and mercy.

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John Eldredge
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, Colo.

Some 60 years ago the German church failed to take a stand when there still might have been time. If CT had been publishing during this period, might we surmise that its editorial writers would have been critical of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoeller for bringing politics into the sanctuary?

Bruce A. Lavenau
Westchester, Ill.

Dobson's editorial was a home run! Thank you for representing the historic Christian position that evangelism matters more than politics, and that loving our neighbors with a view toward redemption is more biblical than rallying against them.

Van Campbell
Indiana, Pa.

CCM: "LIGHT IN DARKNESS"

* I read the articles on contemporary Christian music in your May 20 issue with interest ["Can't Buy Me Ministry"]. I, too, have begun to wonder exactly what its mission has become; it does often seem that business is just as much, if not more, of a driving force for the artist than is the desire to serve God and the world through song. However, I also feel this music is important to our society, regardless of the motive for creating it, and I disagree with Michael Card that "when you scan the dial, you can't find the Christian radio station" and "many of the songs don't betray anything specifically Christian." When I listen to my pop-Christian station, I hear very few songs that don't convey a godly, truly "Christian" message. And even those that seem to be merely "moral" are important to me.

Since when did "good morals" come from anyone but God anyway? Music that proclaims godly messages, even if not about God, is light in the darkness. If artists can get more out into the world and make it as high quality as possible, so that it will be attractive to all kinds of listeners, they will do much to help combat the evil Satan is trying to accomplish through secular music.

Cheri Blomquist
Springfield, Ill.

* A few years back we did not see life-sized displays of the artists in bookstores. Yet, when you listened to the albums put out by artists like Keith Green or the 2nd Chapter of Acts or Dallas Holm, you could sense the presence of the Lord in a special way. This may be subjective on my part, but maybe this industry has lost its "innocence" by glorifying the artists instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Ronald Rinaldi
Springfield, Mo.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were on the staff of a local Christian school. In planning a formal affair, we decided to get a Christian group to provide the music. After contacting the booking agent, we were presented with a contract for which I needed legal counsel to review. The group came and, subsequent to that, won their first "Dove Award." The next year, we contacted their agent and found that their price had increased substantially as a result of their newfound fame. It was at that point that I realized contemporary Christian music is not ministry--it is entertainment. With the exception of the lyrics of their music, there was no difference between dealing with them or Hootie and the Blowfish.

David L. Propes
Decatur, Ga.

* Thanks so much for keeping out in the open the tension always existing where commerce and Christianity intersect. I'm in the process of relocating Artists in Christian Testimony to the Nashville area. And happily, I see much spiritual integrity, and commitment to the local church and to Christ's values lived out in the marketplace in the people I've met.

Byron Spradlin, Director
Artists in Christian Testimony
Nashville, Tenn.

You omitted one important facet: while the pop/rock culture does indeed appear to shun all things "Christian," the same cannot be said for country music. Some of the best Christian music today is being made by "secular" country music artists. Kathy Mattea's Good News is the most thoughtful collection of songs about the Incarnation I have ever heard.

Lisa A. Cawyer
San Diego, Calif.

Your articles about CCM distress me for what they leave out. The ever-expanding CCM money-driven industry/ministry got its ever-expanding piece of the pie-shaped chart by driving out whatever was there before--the good anthems and the sacred classics. You write as though these never existed. We have a generation that rarely, if ever, hears music from Elijah by Mendelssohn, "Great Is Jehovah" by Schubert, or "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" from Handel's Messiah, just to scratch the surface.

Warren Paul Newmeyer
Roslyn, Pa.

TRUE COMMUNITY

* I am sorry that Philip Yancey is so easily bored with people like himself ["Why I Don't Go to a Megachurch," May 20]. I suspect that, like the rest of us, his self-proclaimed tendency to "hang out with folks like me" has less to do with the size of the church he "visits" than he (or G. K. Chesterton) may think. True community is not somehow forced on us by virtue of limited options. True community results from choices we make to accept and honor one another, with, or in spite of, all our irritating differences or boring similarities. While I admit that avoiding one another is more difficult in a small church, I can't accept Yancey's apparent conclusion that nonavoidance equals community. I believe community is much more than that, and it can be forged in churches of all sizes--even in the dreaded megachurch!

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David Horton
Palatine, Ill.

THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM

- One faces a dismaying task in trying to present an accurate montage of the church scene in Jerusalem and/or Israel today. The May 20 cover story ["Will the Jerusalem Church Survive the Peace Process?"] leaves the reader with doubts of the viability and future of the church in Jerusalem due to current political, economic, social, and religious pressures.

Some of the sources for this story are noted for their biased view of the Hebrew Scripture (our Old Testament). For instance, one Arab church leader in Jerusalem, who was quoted, stated in my hearing, "The God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament, but a tribal deity." On another occasion in a public meeting, that same leader tore the Hebrew Scriptures from the Bible, claiming all that matters is the New Testament. To ignore the place of Israel in both Testaments is an injustice to God and his covenants in the Bible with his as-yet unfulfilled promises of a land, people, and nation forever to the literal offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Distinct from his covenants with the seed of Jacob, there is today a very vital church in Jerusalem and many kehilot (congregations) throughout Israel. There are gatherings of Israeli and Arab congregations meeting in joint services of prayer, proclamation, and fellowship, proving there is a "unity of the body" that transcends political, social, and religious differences in Israel.

Our promise from the Head of the church is that the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it." God will bring to pass his determined future for the church and for Israel.

William E. Currie
International Director, Church Ministries
AMF International
Lynwood, Ill.

Holocaust guilt among evangelical Christians can be brought to its natural and logical conclusion by adding one more item to their agenda: They can effectively preach or lecture to the Arabs, Muslim and Christian alike, stating that if many Arabs maintain a smug attitude of superiority over Western civilization over the years, they prove it by welcoming the Jews of Israel instead of wanting to murder them as was done by the Nazis. Otherwise their religious bigotry will remain at the same level of the Western world before 1933.

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Milton L. Kosberg
Palm Springs, Calif.

BRING BACK THE READERS' POLL!

The CT Book Awards now reflect the views of "scholars, pastors, writers, and other church leaders" [April 29]. Although we are told what to read by these pundits, CT should include a bestseller list (what we read) and reinstitute the readers' poll (what we like to read).

In the past, the readers' poll has served to filter the opinions of the professionals through the views of a large group of reading Christians. CT is missing a valuable resource that its energetic readers provided in the readers' poll. Not only has it served as a guide to classic Christian reading--"Pilgrim's Progress," "Mere Christianity," "Where Is God When It Hurts?"--but it has been a reality test for touted new books.

Delvyn C. Case, Jr., M.D.
Cumberland Foreside, Maine

Brief letters are welcome. They may be edited for space and clarity and must include the writer's name and address. Send to Eutychus, Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188; fax: 708/260-0114 (area code changes to 630 on August 3). E-mail: ctedit@aol.com. Letters preceded by * were received online.

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