Light On Dark Water

You may have seen the story at The Daily Beast in which Ana Marie Cox explains why she's coming out as a Christian. It's a touching statement, and my first thought was I hope the bruised reed won't be broken.

I thought I recognized Cox's name. She was the originator of a blog called Wonkette, which I recall reading a few times ten years or so when blogs were still fairly new. I didn't like it. If I remember correctly it was mainly the sort of liberal snark with which I have very little patience, even less now than then. The tone of this piece–open, direct, humble–could hardly be more different from what I recall of Wonkette. I would really like to know more about her conversion.

The bruised reed reference, as everyone who reads this blog probably knows, is to Matthew 12:20, which in turn is a reference to Isaiah 4:23 (and no, I don't have those citations in my head–I looked them up):

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

I've never been entirely sure what that means in its context, but the image of someone taking care not to break a fragile thing always comes to mind when I meet or hear of someone coming into the faith from outside. I always fear for them a little.

Who might do the breaking here? Well, it could be her secular leftist peers–it's hard, obviously, to go against the consensus of your friends and family. But much more disturbing is the possibility that it could be us, her fellow Christians. There are a lot of ways we could do this, of course, starting with basic old-time self-righteousness and the normal failure of Christians to live up to their calling. The one that really worries me in this case, though, is the association of Christianity and right-wing politics. There are far too many Christians who think that the one requires the other.

I'm a conservative myself ("conservative but not right-wing," I like to say) and am confident that my political views are compatible with the principles of my faith. That doesn't mean that the two are one. I'm always a little surprised when I come across someone who seems to believe that conservatism follows necessarily from Christianity. It shouldn't even need to be said that one can be on the political left and still be a faithful Christian. But it does, in some circles at least. 

There are good reasons in the history of the past hundred years for the association of orthodox Christianity and conservative politics. But we should never mistake that accident of history with ultimate principles. In the end–another thing that really shouldn't need to be said–the faith always transcends all earthly political views. And for that matter, no set of political opinions really encompasses the whole truth about even mundane matters. 

Say a prayer for Ana Marie Cox.