Idolatry seems like such an old-fashioned, time-worn concept, but it is coming back into vogue as a useful tool for theological analysis. And it is beginning to be a thread in posts on this blog. Recently, one of my other threads—the one that was following Rep. Todd Akin from Missouri—ended with the observation that faith tends to devolve into ideology, which is our modern form of biblical idolatry. Recently, I came across an article by Chuck Colson, as conservative an evangelical as you could want, entitled, "
Ideology and the Budget Deal," which makes much the same point although he doesn't use the word idolatry. In that article, Colson briefly analyzes the recent debt ceiling brouhaha, and concludes,
What this debate has demonstrated is that America is deadlocked in a titanic ideological struggle. The danger is that without responsible leadership, deadlocked societies can descend quickly into chaos. And chaos can easily lead to tyranny.
As you have heard me say many times, and it bears repeating again and again, ideology is a man-made formulation: It is the enemy of true conservatism, which is governed by revealed truth and the wisdom of those who have gone before us. And it is certainly an enemy of the Gospel which rests on revealed propositional truth.
Colson's description of ideology as a dangerous product of the human mind is spot on. The political gamesmanship during the debt ceiling debate showcased the dangers of ideology in a way that few Americans missed. Maybe, we'll be a little more careful about the kind of people we elect to Congress next time around. If we elect rigid ideologues, such as Rep. Akin, to public office, what we reap are the consequences, which are starkly those of a contemporary form of idolatry that transforms faith into ideology. By the way, I would add to Colson's comments that ideologies are also the enemies of true liberalism.
