January/February 2022
I would like to take issue with a point in George Marsden’s interesting and even enlightening article. When discussing the ways in which evangelicalism has incorporated political beliefs over the years, he points to the recent disagreements concerning mask mandates, stating: “It is hard to think of any principle in biblical ethics that would justify opposing regulations that would help protect one’s neighbors. . . . So white evangelicals, despite their gospel teachings rather than because of them, have been one of the groups most likely to oppose community measures” (27–28). Conservative evangelicals have certainly been inclined to go against the government health measures with regard to COVID-19. Yet the issues he addresses are far bigger. It is a misrepresentation to say that those white evangelicals who choose to oppose such measures are doing so in spite of their gospel teachings. On the contrary, many who oppose those things can and will gladly give scriptural defense for their choices. In just one paragraph, by neglecting to use a more supported version of his point, Marsden weakened the credibility of the essay. Acknowledging the nuances of the issue, or even using a different example altogether, might have been a better and more intellectually honest option. —Claire Owen
Claire Owen helpfully suggests that in my illustration regarding mask-wearing and vaccinations, I might have added some words like “in my opinion” to acknowledge that Christians have honest differences concerning these issues. I doubt, though, whether those differences often involve disagreements about biblical ethical principles. I suspect that what most often divides Christians on these issues are differences regarding matters of fact whether these purported health measures actually help protect our neighbors. Take the simplest case: mask wearing. So far as I can tell, overwhelming percentages of doctors and scientists studying worldwide data from over a century concerning masks agree that such measures have proven helpful in dealing with a pandemic such as we now have. If we trust that consensus, then it would seem that Christians, wishing to protect their neighbors and themselves, ought to be on the side of supporting mask wearing as much as is reasonable. Yet I am pretty sure that in America, white evangelicals are among those most likely to question that medical-scientific consensus. My guess is that such questioning arises largely because, in our politically poisoned and polarized culture, they get their opinions on such contested issues largely from partisan news sources where it is common to say that masks are ineffective and just “theater.”
I confess that in my illustration I did not acknowledge that some Christians honestly (even if I think mistakenly) dissent from the medical-scientific consensus. And that may make it sound as though I am saying that Christians who oppose masking or vaccinations are therefore being unbiblical in an intentional way. Rather, my implication is that, if I am correct in trusting the medical-scientific consensus, then those who reject that consensus are promoting practices that ironically run contrary to their own good biblical principles and intentions to help their neighbors. So, I say that “despite their gospel teachings, rather than because of them,” they oppose measures that would in fact help protect their neighbors. I am grateful to be able to clarify that nuance here. —George Marsden
