Q&A: Richard Land | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

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Christianity Today, August, 2007 |

Q&A: Richard Land

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission talks about his new book, The Divided States of America?

Interview by Collin Hansen | posted 7/30/2007 08:26AM

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Do evangelicals treat some political issues as black-and-white that should be categorized as gray?

God may not have a position on the precise nature of the tax burden on the American people. But I believe he does have quite a specific position when it comes to his institution, holy matrimony. Now, I think there are some tax policies that work better than others in terms of results. The Bush tax cuts have produced more revenue for the government than Clinton's tax increases did. So the question has to be asked: Which economic system works? Do you really want to help poor people or just stick it to rich people?

How can evangelicals improve at translating Scriptural principles into law?

When Martin Luther King Jr. was in the Birmingham jail, he wrote that he was in that jail because he refused to obey an unjust law. It's an unjust law because it doesn't coincide with the moral law of God. To me that's making a moral argument.

It's more important now than it was in Lincoln's time or King's time. We live in a culture when more people are disconnected from any adequate understanding of biblical teaching.

You say that we are a nation blessed by God. Doesn't that lead to a destructive national pride?

A blessing by its definition is unmerited and undeserved. We can't take any credit for it. It certainly should be no occasion for pride. In fact, it's an occasion to obligation.

You write that we shouldn't work for legislation that proclaims America is a Christian nation. Why not?

For one thing, that reading of history is inaccurate. Having said that, we can win the argument I'm making. We can convince a significant majority of the American people to support government accommodation of religion and principled pluralism. You're not going to convince the American people to give a privileged position to Christianity.

Related elsewhere:

The Divided States of America? is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

Richard Land heads the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which highlighted his book on its site and radio program.

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August 2007, Vol. 51, No. 8

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John G.

Posted: August 01, 2007 8:50 PM

The three previous commentators have displayed much venom but little understanding or Christian love. "Disgusted Reader" obviously has some special insight to know who is "part of the problem." If by "problem" he means racial issues, that wasn't even under discussion. And he tars all Southern Baptists with a very large brush. Mr. Marshall fails to define how he believes that Mr. Land is "responsible for such division," and incidentally, since when is interviewing someone the same as "promoting"? Also, he dismissed Mr. Land as a non-Christian by putting the word "Christian" in quotes. Mr. Pike is simply outright disrespectful (read 1st Peter 2:17). And he fails to understand the nature of the tax cuts and economic matters. I'm glad that most Christians I know personally are more understanding, forgiving, and willing to listen to reason than you three are.

Bill	Posted: July 31, 2007 12:22 PM

I think that the comment from Mr. Pike is unfortunate. Although I am sure he thinks that referring to Dr. Land as "Dickie Land" is very clever...not really. Mixing together the Bush tax cuts with Iraq is also not particularly intellectually honest. Dr. Land does not say in the interview that Bush is a better President than Clinton. He does say that his tax cuts seemed more productive than Clinton's.Whether the increased revenue should have been spent on Iraq or not is a separate issue. The idea that Dr. Land should not quote Dr. King is ludicrous. I, for one, am happy Dr. Land is not trying to have the U.S. called a Christian nation and is looking for protection for religious beliefs amid multiculturalism.

Raymond Takashi Swenson

Posted: July 30, 2007 1:13 PM

One of the political views expressed by some American Christians that is not in fact based on the Bible is their flat out opposition to political candidates who belong to minority religions. The New Testament shows that the Church grew up in a political environment where the rulers were not Christian, and that, looking forward to the eventual return of Christ to reign over all the earth, Christians did not seek political power or object to it being exercised by those who were not of their religious community. Objecting to a candidate of moral integrity solely on the ground that he or she is a Jew, a Mormon, a Buddhist or a Muslim has no precedent or charter in scripture. Those who claim that such prejudice is an obligation of Christians are blaming God for their own intolerance. They are following the Ku Klux Klan in preaching a Christian tribalism, not the loving message of the Savior who taught that the Good Samaritan fulfilled all the law and the prophets.