1.20.2006

15 seconds of fame

Fuller hosted a panel discussion last night that was aired on our local public radio station 89.3 KPCC. The topic was "The Intersection of Politics and Evangelical Christianity." You can listen to the program here. Listen especially to the first question asked by a member of the audience (it's at the beginning of the third and final section of the show). The question was asked to Fuller's president, Rich Mouw. It was:

What do you say to those whose general perception of Evangelicalism is one that equates it with the Red States? That is, how do we re-claim the term 'Evangelical' for a more diversified perspective? I'm thinking especially as it is related in the media.
This is an exact quotation of the inquirer's question. I know, because I kept the card on which I wrote the question.

Just to be clear though that I did not rush to the mic when the question and answer time came. The producers had people write their questions on cards, and include their name. The producer and others collected the cards prior to the third section and then selected a handful to be asked during the latter part of the recording.

The broadcast is worth listening to, even without my question.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this little page article this morning from the NYtimes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/opinion/20marsh.html?incamp=article_popular_1
It doesn't really answer anything to profound - just good thoughts and reminders.

Mark Baker-Wright said...

As I had indicated to you that evening, I actually had written down a very similar question to ask the panelists myself that evening. (For those who don't know, part of the reason for writing down the questions on cards was to ensure that time was not wasted by near-duplicate questions.)

Mine had a slightly different twist (which took more time to articulate, which is probably one reason they didn't go with it.... *sigh*) in that I specifically said that I know of several Christians who refuse to accept the label "Evangelical" because they do not want to be identified with "right-wing politics." Yet their theology is very much "evangelical" (if arguably left-leaning). This provided the basis for my question of how to reclaim the "evangelical" label. As an aside, I'm reminded of comments by one of our co-workers yesterday regarding wordiness....

It seems to me to be a tragedy that we're forfeiting the label "evangelical" to the conservatives.

Igford said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Igford said...

I always thought an evangelist was someone who told the good news of Christianity to others.

When did it become a right-wing left-wing thing?

Chris Spinks said...

Doug, I'm not quite sure if your comment was meant to be a joke. If so, sorry my funy bone was not working when I read it. If it was not a joke, I thought I should point out that we were talking about Evangelicals, not Evangelists.

Igford said...

Ha!

Actually, that is funny. But it wasn't meant to be. I just read it wrong and I didn't listen to the radio link before commenting.

Them two words sure do look similar.

(hides in shame)