Beth Anne’s Reviews > The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism > Status Update

I think we'd all do well to remember: God's plan for the ages has nothing to do with America. We need Him. He doesn't need us.

Can we really expect Americans to take lessons on virtue from a president who brags about grabbing women by their vaginas?...Evangelicals can rationalize all of this—going on about "binary decisions" and "the lesser of two evils" until they convince themselves it's true—but the unwillingness to demand and enforce a higher standard has sapped their arguments of moral urgency.

Christianity is inherently countercultural. That's how it thrives. When it tries to become the dominant culture, it becomes corrupted. That's been the case from the very beginning.

How can Christianity accommodate itself to such appalling anti-Christian conduct? and once you get to a point where you can say anybody's conduct can be excused because God has a larger plan and uses flawed vessels, then what is left of an actual Christianity at that point?

Today's evangelicalism preaches bitterness toward unbelievers and bottomless grace for churchgoing Christians, yet the New Testament model is exactly the opposite, stressing strict accountability for those inside the Church and abounding charity to those outside it.

Unsavory alliances would need to be forged. Sordid tactics would need to be embraced. The first step toward preserving Christian values, it seemed, was to do away with Christian values.

“They need help to understand that you can care for your country without worshipping your country,” Bacote said. “They also need help to understand that you can care for your country and seek good for your neighbors. Just because other people are getting something, doesn’t mean you’re losing something.”