At its core, and under the guise of the pseudo-Christian virtues of progress and tolerance, ‘liberal’ Christian heresy entails a destructive lie.
My child’s private Catholic elementary school recently welcomed a queer-promoting transgender advocate as part of its “antiracism” speaker series, declaring “diversity of identity and thought” is “a core characteristic of our Catholic faith.” The school insinuated the “transgender experience” and “defining ourselves for ourselves” can “result in more love,” and that such ideas are consistent with the sanctity of each individual as created in God’s image.
The school’s embrace of anti-Christian, Marxist critical race theory was outrageous enough. The latest attempt, however, aims to pass off as Catholic an ideology that undermines Catholic teaching on family and sexuality while blaspheming the Creator and Judge. So I decided to yank my child out of the school and find a more theologically sound learning environment.
This is the “liberal” Christianity that is corrupting our schools, universities, and churches at the hands of woke, misguided, or just poorly catechized administrators, teachers, and pastors. At its core, and under the guise of the pseudo-Christian virtues of progress and tolerance, the “liberal” Christian heresy entails the most destructive lie in the history of the church: a rejection of the self-denial and sacrifice demonstrated on the road to Golgotha.
Indeed, as such a posture distorts the very meaning of what it means to be Christian, it is the most pernicious threat confronting Christians today.
The Media’s Role Cheerleading ‘Liberal’ Christianity
Whether it’s Catholic bishops kneeling to the Black Lives Matter movement, Jesuit priests questioning the biblical condemnation of homosexuality, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s election of their first transgender bishop, or Baptist pastors promoting abortion, “liberal” Christian heresy abounds. The cancerous idea that God’s law is subject to the prevailing culture has spread from politics, academia, and the corporate media, and is permeating our Christian institutions.
The ascendency of “Catholic Joe Biden” to the White House produced a flurry of media commentary gushing over the promising future of “progressive” Christianity. The New York Times kicked things off with the claim that under Biden, “a different, more liberal Christianity” is on the rise, suggesting he “has elevated his own liberal Catholicism to the center of our national life.”
An NBC op-ed rejoices that the election of candidates like Marxist sympathizer Raphael Warnock heralds a shift in American religious discourse toward social, racial, economic, and climate justice. USA Today frets that naysaying white evangelicals and mainline Catholics would likely resist attempts to realign Christian norms to reflect Biden’s “equity”-based identity politics agenda that promotes access to abortion and LGBTQ legal preferences.
These articles disingenuously pit abortion and sexual morality against poverty, racism, immigration, and the environment, juxtaposing a pesky group of anachronistic Christian “bigots” on the right with their “progressive” counterparts on the left. The message is clear: “conservative” Christianity bad; “liberal” Christianity good.
The division is illusory, however. God’s law, which flows from His perfect nature, is rational, immutable, and eternal. It doesn’t “evolve” and “adapt.” Christ’s message of repentance and redemption applies to all people and all nations across all ages.
‘The Myth of Progress’
Unfortunately, too many Christians have fallen for what Rod Dreher refers to in “Live Not By Lies” as “the Myth of Progress.” This belief, central to Marxist ideology, maintains mankind is marching ever forward toward perfect liberty, equality, and solidarity, holding that those who get in the way are ignorant, backward, and bigoted.
Wrapped up in this myth is the equally pernicious notion of “tolerance,” which — in the current context — requires one laud the doctrines and behaviors that radical ideologues approve of as moving society “forward” while mercilessly condemning the beliefs, traditions, and standards that oppose it.
The 20th-century totalitarian regimes all vowed to usher in a utopian society, yet wound up enslaving their people and committing crimes against humanity. As Dreher explains, when a biblical understanding of God is severed from the picture, so-called “progress” toward the betterment of mankind becomes a descent into chaos, depravity, and darkness.
