Coleman Luck > Quotes

“When Christian moral standards are imposed on a society by political and/or military conquest an inevitable process begins. First, there is a period of relief and apparent success for the agenda of the victors. The most egregious wrongs are righted. For a while the vanquished (those who disagree with the new moral order) are intimidated into silence. But very soon they begin to regain power as the society, never having experienced real spiritual transformation, grows tired of restraint. Then one of two things happens. Either the “victors” and their laws are swept away leaving that society even more decadent than before, or the “victors” tighten control and enforce their laws through increasing oppression. Every time the Christian Church has become enmeshed with political and/or military power her true mission has been compromised no matter which direction society has turned.”
― Coleman Luck, The Curse of Conservatism

“If I have accepted His gift of salvation, if I have allowed Him to break the chains that bound my soul, if I know that before God all men and women are equal, shouldn’t I as a Christian strive for freedom and equality for all people whenever possible?”
― Coleman Luck, The Curse of Conservatism

“In His greatest hour of crisis Jesus proclaimed that His Kingdom was not of this world. Christians have been trying to prove Him wrong ever since. American Conservatism is a curse because, in our desperation for societal change, it tempted us to believe that if we didn’t force collective transformation through political action there was no hope. The nation was lost.  This temptation to trust in worldly power is precisely what Jesus refused all of His life, especially during His temptation in the wilderness.”
― Coleman Luck, The Curse of Conservatism