(They try to share with you the most important thing they possess: their faith. Would it hurt to tolerate their love for you enough to afford them what every American deserves: a voice in the public square?)

Exactly what have evangelicals done to create such controversy? Express their views? All Americans are encouraged to do so. Vote for candidates who support their interests? Each voter who steps into the booth votes his/her conscience. There is an unfounded suspicion of evangelicals based upon nothing but a world view that includes a creator, an afterlife, and a desire to share their faith. It seems unreasonable to me that a society that prides itself on open-mindedness takes such a narrow view of fellow human beings simply because they join “prayer meetings,” carry around a Bible, and discuss their most prized possession—their faith.

I am always confused when I hear the news media spit out the word “evangelical” with such contempt. My first reaction is that these people certainly haven’t met many evangelicals. As described in interviews and discussion groups on the 24 hour news programs, evangelicals appear to be mean, bull-headed ignoramuses who hate everyone who is different than themselves. Intolerant, gun-toting hillbillies who scramble around each day stapling copies of the Ten Commandments everywhere. It is easy to extract tiny slivers of someone’s world view and twist it until it sounds scary and outrageous. If forced to defend carefully chosen elements of their own world view, most New Yorkers or Left Coasters would appear pretty snooty, intolerant, and scary to the rest of America as well.

Certainly there are evangelicals who are abusive, abrasive, and antagonistic. Any collection of human beings will have an element of that. My suggestion is that there is actually less of that sort among evangelicals than among most other groups of people with differing world views. Evangelicals are highly involved with programs that reach out to those in our society who are less fortunate. Proportionally, these people churn out various charities to the needy at amazing rates. The humanitarian causes supported by evangelicals reach beyond our borders to the countries of the world, which are filled with people from every race, color, and faith.

Evangelicals are one of the most misunderstood and maligned groups of people in history. They are often associated with the cruel tendencies of historic Christianity which conducted “crusades” and “inquisitions.” In fact, history reveals that early evangelicals were the primary focus of attack by the church establishment—called heretics and tortured for their version of faith in God. The majority of evangelical are motivated by love. It is the center of their world vision. It is the core of their belief system. It is their creed that gives us the noble axiom: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!  

Certain aspects of that belief system are taken and used as examples of just how intolerant evangelicals can be. Examine their motivation before you express the same intolerance towards evangelicals that you attribute to them. If he truly believes in a heaven and a hell, wouldn’t love dictate that he informs people of such knowledge? Wouldn’t anything less be wicked? Holding his tongue because some may not agree with him concerning the existence of an afterlife would constitute compromise. Hiding that information to escape the discomfort of having your views castigated publicly would seem ignoble, at best. Even if an individual stumbles in his attempt to share his faith, his motivation is love, not intolerance. He doesn’t want you to go to a place he considers the most horrific imaginable and, instead, desires to share an eternity with you in what is described in one word as “paradise.” That is hardly a reason to hate an evangelical, isn’t it?

Social stances taken by evangelicals earn them the disfavor of the liberal media. On issues like abortion or gay marriage, narrow-mindedness is defined by some as having any view that restricts abortion or denies gay marriage. Having a position doesn’t constitute narrow-mindedness, even if their view happens to be the minority view. Truth be told, the evangelical view on these issues is more mainstream American than the opposition’s view. Why does the evangelical speak up? Because if he truly believes that abortion is the taking of an innocent life, he certainly is obligated to at least speak against the practice. At the very least, love dictates that he fights for the most innocent among us who can’t fight for themselves. If he truly believes that gay marriage would undermine the institution of marriage, could he do anything but speak his conviction? Again, just what is it about evangelicals that cause some to imagine these Bible-thumpers have no right to express their opinion? Instead of debating the issue, why is the evangelical demonized instead?

The only conclusion I can reach is that there is a double standard when it comes to tolerance. The last group of people the politically correct can attack with impunity is Christian evangelicals. Evangelicals do not receive extra points in heaven for sharing their faith with you. It is hard. It is embarrassing. Most times they are mocked or even worse. Yet they try to share with you the most important thing they possess: their faith. Would it hurt to tolerate their love for you enough to afford them what every American deserves: a voice in the public square?