Balmer's lament

Interview: How others see us: An evangelical liberal lashes out at the religious right | Marvin Olasky

In Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament (Perseus, 2006), Barnard College professor Randall Balmer hurls many darts at conservative Christians—and some are on target.

For example, he writes that "the Bible contains something like 2,000 references to the poor and the believer's responsibility for the poor. Sadly, that obligation seems not to have trickled down into public policy." That's true—although 10 years of welfare reform have improved matters, much more could be done.

Balmer also declares that "those who make it their business to demand high standards of moral rectitude from others ought to be able to approach those standards themselves. My evangelical theology tells me that we are, all of us, sinners and flawed individuals. But it also teaches the importance of confession, restitution, and amendment of behavior." He is right to note that some "putatively Christian power brokers" have put on an air of purity while falling into adultery, theft, and other sins, and have then emphasized cover-up, not confession.