"The Toxic Evangelical Variant"

This is a Wednesday night discussion of an article of the same name by Martin Thielen, BNG, 12/6/23. Everything not in parentheses is a direct quote from the article.

Characteristics of TEV.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant breeds perpetual anger.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant denies the realities of science.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant oppresses women.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant hurts the LGBTQ community.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant engages in hyper-partisanship.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant practices gross hypocrisy.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant damages the reputation of Christ and church.

The Toxic Evangelical Variant jettisons Jesus.

“...many other examples of toxic evangelicalism could be given, including self-righteous judgmentalism, a spirit of anti-intellectualism, unbiblical anti-immigrant views, constant violation of the separation of church and state, a growing display of anti-democratic sentiment, and dangerous nationalism, equating love of God with love of America.”

How to respond to the Toxic Evangelical Variant

Run like crazy. (Which we have, for the most part anyway.)

Adopt life-giving faith.

Other nontraditional expressions of faith also exist. (Don’t we know it.)

And people who don’t affirm any religious beliefs still can embrace life-enhancing spiritual values like love, mercy, honesty, reason, authenticity, generosity, tolerance, kindness, service, education, inclusion, justice and the common good. These traits, even without an overtly religious component, are far healthier (and more like Jesus) than the toxic evangelical variant.

Challenge the toxicity.

Offer a better alternative.