How I stopped being a culture warrior

On a recent post on Frank Schaeffer, the son of the famed Francis Schaeffer, I posted the reply below as part of my reminiscences about Francis Schaeffer and becoming a culture warrior. As I have re-read it, I realize that it is, of course, incomplete. But, perhaps I will post it here as well, and make some additional comments on it later. In reality, Francis Schaeffer actually paved my way into Orthodoxy, by his very books. But, that is a subject for another time.

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As an older teenager returned to the faith, I was associated with a congregation that had ties to L’Abri. [Author note: L’Abri was the place where Francis and Edith Schaeffer lived for many years in Switzerland.] I read all of the Francis Schaeffer books, anxiously waiting for the next one to come out. His books introduced me to the discipline of philosophy. Eventually, I went on to earn an M.Phil. at a secular state university.

I saw the changes in his books and movies as he went towards more political activism. His most shocking book was on the possibility of another American revolution, and he did not mean simply an intellectual revolution. However, I trusted him and kept on. I became a good right-wing culture warrior, until . . .

As an aside, let me mention that there are many right-wing culture warriors outside of fundamentalism. You might be surprised to find out that some of the strongest of them are found within the Catholics [and Orthodox] who are part of the Right to Life movement.

The “until” moment for me was when God blessed me by having me assigned to a place where I ended up having to do inner city ministry. And, on top of that, I was based out of an Orthodox parish that had a mainly first-generation Arab constituency (as in born over there, emigrated to the USA). And, all of a sudden I encountered folk who were not being addressed by the culture war. In fact, many of them were the not-so-subtle targets of the culture war.

Some of the Arab ones had gone through the agony of having their young men called in after 2001, while the stories flowed out of those who were here legally, yet were detained based on a paperwork error. [Look back at those days, the most common error was the failure to report a change of domicile within 30 days, not exactly a heavy-duty crime.] Some of the Puerto Ricans [natural born USA citizens, every one, but allowed to speak Spanish as part of the treaty that makes Puerto Rico a commonwealth] spoke of being harassed for their accent or their looks as a result of the border disputes. And, I began to see the not-quite-as-hidden-anymore nastiness in the culture war. There really is a nativist movement that is very strong precisely because most do not realize how much they parrot the phrases and opinions of that movement.

Finally, I realized that there were even people seriously arguing that if people like myself [I am a naturalized citizen.] complained, then we should lose our citizenship. And, then, I further realized that our good “Christian” culture warriors were focused on only a few subjects, i.e., abortion, the Ten Commandments and prayer in schools, affirmative action, etc. Any concerns that I brought up about other issues [as an inner-city priest] were simply “liberal” viewpoints and I was told that I needed to “return” to a sound view on these issues. At best, I was told that those were issues but that “abortion” overshadowed everything, even the life of those who were still alive and living with us.

And, so, I am no longer a right-wing culture warrior. While my regrets are nowhere near as strong as Frank’s seem to be, who also became Orthodox, I also look back with some regrets.