Faith or Ideology?

Ideology
Definition: Ideology is a systematic political

worldview that has public policy implications.

The concept of ideology can be seen to some extent

in Francis Bacons theory in Novum Organum (1620) of the idola which were preconceptions of the tribe, market, theatre as sources of error that served as obstacles in the path to true knowledge.

 In a 2007 book, unChristian:

What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters David Kinnaman uses research data supplied by Barna to show that a huge number of young adults are leaving churches because of their disgust with the culture wars and overtly political attitudes in the pulpit.

The End of Evangelicalism?

Dave Fitch, The End of

Evangelicalism (2011) Fitch shows how Evangelicalism developed a political ideology as a response to a historical trauma rooted in the conflict between fundamentalists and liberal modernists in the early part of the 20th century.

19th Century Evangelicals

Evangelicals in the 19th century

were at the forefront of progressive social reform. One of the reasons that Charles Finney was a founding President of Oberlin College in Ohio and attempted to move forward social reform in such areas as abolitionism, temperance, and womens rights.

Master-Signifiers
The problem with an ideology is that it focuses

peoples faith on abstract symbols and concepts that serve as master-signifiers (for a definition, see Slavoj Zizek) rather than on the person of Christ. 3 Evangelical master-signifiers: An Inerrant Bible Personal Conversion The Christian Nation

How can religious ideology be distinguished from religious faith?

Ideology contains certainties; faith contains

mysteries. Ideology promotes militancy; faith promotes humility. Ideology must be implemented with energetic human force; faith rests in the providence of God. Ideology produces antagonism between opposing parties; faith produces love for ones enemy that bridges ideological divisions.