Leading Pastor Says Jesus Is “Too Woke” For Christians

He worries about the current trajectory of the nation’s faith and what he sees as a “crisis” within Christianity, particularly regarding the interplay of faith and politics.

Many are finding it difficult to fulfill their spiritual roles, having their preaching challenged through the prism of contemporary political divides. 

These principles serve to guide Christians toward a life of love, peace and humility. This core aspect of the faith, though, is meeting skepticism in the political landscape of modern America.

People will question them after, asking where they got those “liberal talking points.” Despite the fact pastors are quoting Christ, their words are met with skepticism from those who see these ideas as “liberal” or “weak.”

The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and its clear endorsement of forgiveness are a core part of Christian doctrine. If some Christians are now viewing them as irrelevant to the modern day, this could signify a worrying shift in how Christianity is understood and applied in America.

Moore said when he told pastors that he was quoting Jesus Christ by calling people to turn the other cheek: “The response would not be, ‘I apologize’. The response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.’” For Moore, the crisis is that Christ’s own teachings are now subversive.

In his words: “Almost every part of American life is tribalized and factionalized,” with this extending to the church. He fears this fusion of political partisanship with spiritual teachings may dilute the core messages of Christianity.

He pointed out how a lot of political issues are “packaged in terms of existential threat”, creating a sense of urgency that might not be proportional to the situation at hand. To Moore the issue does not only affect evangelical Christians. It makes everyone believe that “desperate times call for desperate measures”.

Fundamentally, protestant evangelicalism is a conservative sect of Christianity. This denomination is not on the same wavelength as more liberal or moderate Christianities like non-evangelical Protestantism or Catholicism. Perhaps Moore’s call for less tribalism was always going to fall on deaf ears.

Instead, he believes the solution lies in communities and local initiatives: “My counsel is always ‘small and local.’ I think we have to do something different and show a different way.” He believes this is the key to combatting the impact of political tribalism on Christianity.

Moore calls on pastors and normal Christians alike to “actually read the Bible rather than mine it for passages to win arguments”.

He draws a distinction between “revival or nostalgia” of Protestant evangelicalism but emphasizes that churchgoers cannot have both. To dampen the growing sense of tribalism, you cannot simultaneously rally forth with a new zeal and also harken back to the past.

He writes that the church reminds people that a crisis such as the one he refers to can “lead to grace”. Moore continues: “Churches must stop the frantic rhetoric and desperate lack of confidence that seek to hold on to the Bible Belt of the past.”

Moore writes: “Those worthy of the word evangelical should nurture the joyous and tranquil fullness of faith that prays for something new. We must refocus our attention on conversion rather than culture wars.”

‘Turning the other cheek’ becomes much more difficult when a church already divides people along the lines of the ‘saved’ and those who are already ‘condemned’.

Rather than simply refraining from retaliation, the devil lies in the detail. Theologians like N.T. Wright and P.T. Penley have noted that Roman soldiers would slap Jewish citizens on their right cheek with the back of their hand, a slap reserved for inferiors. Turning the other cheek forced Roman soldiers to hit a colonized people as an equal.

He has openly criticized Donald Trump, which saw him somewhat ostracized by other evangelical leaders, many of whom embraced and voiced support for the former president. 

Ultimately, Moore stepped down from his position in the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and left the Southern Baptist Convention altogether soon after.

Following his departure from the Southern Baptist Convention after putting himself at odds with other prominent evangelical leaders, Moore explored how faith has become intertwined with culture wars and politics in his book ‘Losing Our Religion’.

Moore’s concerns really serve as a reminder that the core teachings of Christianity center on love, humility and compassion — this is something that should remain untouched by politics and stresses the important responsibility religious teachers and leaders have in upholding the sanctity of these teachings in the contemporary political landscape.

Some seem inclined to emphasize how Jesus’ teachings align with values that some might see as liberal, while others question the seriousness of Moore’s perceived “crisis.” Others outright reject the notion of organized religion and advocate spirituality. The dialogue around Moore’s concerns underscores the current tensions as politics meets faith.

In an article for Baptist News Global, retired United Methodist minister, Martin Thielen, listed out the teachings of Jesus such as “welcoming strangers”, and avoiding the “self-righteous judgment of others” that have been compromised because of anti-LGBTQ legislation and anti-immigrant sentiments.

He concurred with Moore, writing: “a large number of American Christians no longer even try to follow the example and teachings of Christ. Instead, Jesus is too “woke” for them. Russell Moore is correct. This is a crisis. And it needs to stop.”

The pastor believes that we should return to a type of church that “stands apart from those sorts of factions”. Moore said: “I think if we’re going to get past the blood-and-soil sort of nationalism or all of the other kinds of totalizing cultural identities, it’s going to require rethinking what the church is.”