As you can imagine, politically conservative evangelicals often see the evangelical left as a threat. So it’s no surprise to see the arts and faith festival, Wild Goose, come under attack. Leading the charge, as he usually does, is Mark Tooley of the Institute for Religion and Democracy. Every month or two, he writes up an articulate denunciation of Jim Wallis or Maryknoll or Ron Sider or anyone pronouncing themselves both religiously orthodox and politically progressive. Wild Goose, which began today in the hills of North Carolina, has lots of them, including Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Mike and Julie Clawson, Brian McLaren, and Jay Bakker.
Here are some of the juicy quotes (taken from this Christian Post article):
- Mark Tooley: “Most Religious Left groups that advocated leftist policies in past generations are now in severe decline, and their activists are now targeting evangelical youth.”
- Ken Silva: “The wise Christian will have nothing to do with these neo-Gnostic fools who’ve unbuckled themselves from the Word of God and have embarked upon their Wild Goose Chase of subjective experience.”
- Mark Tooley: “Many ‘Wild Goose’ voices flatter themselves with fanciful dreams of sophistication and praise from secular elites. Their 1960s-style hoopla is supposedly updated for the 21st century. But ultimately this featherless old Wild Goose won’t fly.”
- D.A. Carson: Many of the movement’s thinkers take a reductionistic view of modernism, are dismissive of confessional Christianity, and are reluctant to assert that Christianity is true and authoritative.
- Mark Tooley: “Wild Goose exemplifies how the Evangelical Left translates ‘social justice’ into Big Government and pacifism.”
Any Wild Goose alums want to tell us about their experiences?
David R. Swartz 