Why I Write About/To White Evangelicals

by John Ellis

I almost titled this article “You’re so Vain, You Think this Article Is about You,” but decided against it. I don’t mind being provocative if it serves my thesis, but I’ve been writing long enough to know that tongue-in-cheek titles rarely land the way I intend. At best, they come across as an unfunny joke (which would make it not-a-joke). At worst, they cause unnecessary, undesired offense. My instinct to bowdlerize Carly Simon is because the many individuals who’ve questioned me about my use of the label “white evangelical” are largely, I assume, unaware of each other. Most of the pushback and questions I receive are delivered privately. My point is that there is no single person to whom this article is directed. And this is an article I’ve contemplated writing for a couple of years now, having been questioned about it since I began writing to and about white evangelicals nearly four years ago. However, my recent article about Sound of Freedom prompted an unusually large number of friends reaching out to me, concerned and/or confused about why I target white evangelicals. To be honest, and why I’ve resisted writing this article for so long, I don’t understand the confusion. For me, the meta reason why I write to and about white evangelicals is self-evident: I am a white evangelical.  

The philosopher Charles Taylor wisely observed that true psalmists and prophets speak into their communities and not out of them. While I am neither a psalmist nor a prophet, the point still holds. I write to and about white evangelicals because they’re my community. It’s similar, but not quite the same, as the question I sometimes receive about why I always write about Republicans and conservatives and never about Democrats and liberals. For starters, that’s not a correct assessment of my writing, but I understand why those who identify as staunch Republicans and conservatives would feel that way. Secondly, almost everyone I know and interact with are Republicans and conservatives.

After being challenged over a month ago about why I never write about President Biden, I went through my Facebook friend list. Going down the list, I counted every person that I knew or even suspected of being a Democrat/liberal as well as those who are firmly in the #NeverTrump/#NeverGOP camp. Somewhat surprisingly because I thought it would be a little higher, only 16% of my Facebook friends fall into those two categories. A majority of the Democrats/liberals on that list are friends from my theatre days, and I assume they pay next to no attention to anything I say or write at this point anyway. Moving into the real world, the percentage of people I interact with who are Democrats is way less than 16%.

My audience – my community – is largely a conservative Republican audience. Tying into this current article, they are also mostly white evangelicals. I write articles excoriating and warning about the GOP, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, etc. because I am gravely concerned about the syncretism of God and country that is manifesting more and more as an explicit Christian nationalism within my audience – my community. If the Holy Spirit were to suddenly plop me into a context where I was speaking to mainly liberal Democrats, my voice – my writing – would change because my audience would change. Again, all this seems so incredibly self-evident to me that I’m a little baffled as to why I have to explain all this. The focus of my writing is also a product of what I see as a great danger to our – as in, white evangelicals – ability to be faithful witnesses to the Resurrection.

For almost four years now, I’ve been screaming about how there is a sickness in white evangelicalism that is a serious threat to God’s people. And this sickness isn’t incidental to white evangelicalism; it sits at its very core. It’s an ontological sickness. The article “Biblical Critical Theory: The Enlightenment Tempts Us to Eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” is my most recent attempt to articulate more about this sickness. There are many other articles on this blog in which I make arguments about the presence and cause of this sickness. Those articles are not hard to find.

Because it’s not my objective with this article, I’m resisting the urge to remake all the arguments I’ve made in previous articles as well as the arguments I’ve yet to make but plan to make in the future. I will say this, though: If you disagree with my most recent article, for example, simply dismissing me based off trigger words and concepts – like white evangelical – isn’t an intellectually serious position, and it’s definitely not an argument. The two main tent-poles of my warning in that recent article are this: 1. The Enlightenment’s epistemology is one of autonomous rebellion. 2. The Enlightenment’s epistemology is also the main epistemology of white evangelicalism. If you disagree with me, start by refuting those two claims, and then I’ll be willing to have a conversation with you about it (probably not online, though, because online spaces provide extra obstacles that make it harder to have a helpful dialectic).

I guess the question is, then, why I have not left white evangelicalism? Well, I’m not sure where I would go. I believe that in the coming years, people like me will be forced out anyway. When that happens, house churches are the likely future for followers of Jesus in this country. To that, I give my “Amen!”

Not only do I not know where I would go at this point, but people I love are still in the category called white evangelicals. It’s a community that matters to me. Many of them are bothered by what they see and hear around them but are unsure of how to articulate what’s happening and why. My prayer is that I provide at least a little clarity for them. I also have several pastor friends who I know are concerned about the unholy syncretism of God and country and the influence of idolatrous Enlightenment epistemologies within the membership of the churches they serve. I’m sure I have other pastor friends who share that concern who have not revealed that to me.

In short, my main objective with writing about and to white evangelicals is to sound the warning bell that the white evangelical ship is rotting, depraved, and sinking. My desire is to call God’s people counted among white evangelicals to a greater faithfulness to our King and to renounce the unholy syncretism that swirls around them. The time is coming for God’s people in this country to take our rightful place as outcasts, illegal immigrants, and unwanted ambassadors of a greater Kingdom. And when that time comes, I want those whom I love to understand what’s happening, why it’s happening, and to rest in the assurance that our King is in control. We also need a better understanding of the truth that not only do we not need cultural power and prestige to serve faithfully, power and prestige make it harder to serve faithfully.  

Some may wonder what makes me think I’m the person to sound the warning bell. Fair enough, but that’s a different conversation. If that’s you, if you believe I am acting out of arrogance and an unwarranted belief in my knowledge and ability, well, as best I know, you’re not required to read my articles.

There’s one final thing I want to clarify.

Having lived in the Orlando area for over four years, I have found that Orlando area drivers are terrible about lane drift while making turns. That is a statement I’ve grumbled many times to my wife while we’re in the car. And while I believe that statement is true, I don’t believe that it’s true of all Orlando area drivers. Nor do I believe that it’s not true of drivers in, let’s say, Omaha, Nebraska. Furthermore, I would be shocked if anyone heard my statement about Orlando drivers and assumed I was making a universal claim. So? What’s my point?

Well, and keep in mind that I frequently use qualifiers like “most” or “many” when referring to white evangelicals. At least, I try and use them frequently. No doubt, if you go back through my articles with a fine-tooth comb, examples can be found where I didn’t but probably should’ve. I use those qualifiers because I do not believe that all white evangelicals are guilty of the same levels of syncretism.

All of us, including myself, are guilty of some syncretism. This is why deconstruction is (can be) a healthy tool. When Charles Taylor talks about a secular age, he’s not talking about other people. He’s talking about me. He’s talking about you. Using Taylor’s definition of secular, we, as in white evangelicals, are all secular. Our thoughts and beliefs are shaped by secularism to varying degrees. Being aware of where and how this secular syncretism works in our hearts and minds empowers us to resist rebellious idolatries in our prayerful desire to be faithful witnesses to the Resurrection. It helps us shed that secularism. This is a point that’s woven throughout my articles about white evangelicalism. But, by no means, do I believe that my harshest charges, especially, are reflective of everyone counted among white evangelicals. I do believe that being unaware opens us up to a type of creeping temptation that will pull more and more white evangelicals into the worsening embrace of the various idols of syncretism that are unfortunately part of the warp and woof of white evangelicalism.

So, yeah, according to some, I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy writing about white evangelicalism. Even if you disagree with my diagnosis of the problems of white evangelicalism, hopefully this article will clear up any confusion that you may have about why I “target” white evangelicals. For those of my friends and readers who have expressed appreciation for what I write about white evangelicalism, thank you for reading and for your support. I promise you that ain’t stopping anytime soon.

Soli Deo Gloria