BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (3/6/2012)



As a born-again Evangelical Protestant, I’m dismayed by the much of the Evangelical movement’s affiliation with the Republicans. In their affiliation they’ve replaced the ethic of charity and mercy with an ethic of anti-vice purity, the aim of which seems to exclude and condemn. To be sure, there are islands of the old-fashioned evangelicalism, such as Hope Cottage and Dorsey Manor, but their voices seem drowned out by so such harsh vituperation.



They’ve forgotten Reinhold Niebuhr’s point that the Gospel ethic of love translates into social justice. The signal morals of Christianity are grace and mercy, and grace and mercy mean health care for everyone.



“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream (Amos 5:24).” Happily, many young Evangelicals are becoming socially conscious.



Of course, the Democrats are no bed of roses. Many of them ridicule faith and people of faith as though the faithful were dim-witted, an attitude particularly offensive.   They seem unaware of the rich resources in a life of faith. The fact is that I don’t see many secularists starting homes for the down-and-out. More often than not, it’s the people of faith, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, who are down in the trenches. We forget that the civil rights movement grew out of the churches. I know because I was there in Selma.



However their faults, the Democrats for all of their dim secularity believe in social justice, and that counts for a lot.  As Matthew said, “By their fruits ye shall know them (7:16).”