Letters: Editorial: Orbán at CPAC: Beware the misuse of Christianity

Re: Editorial: Orbán at CPAC: Beware the misuse of Christianity

Thank you for your article about Orbán at CPAC. It is important that Christians listen to the entire message a leader like Orbán is saying. Unfortunately, too many are using “conservative politics” to mean the same thing as “Christian.”

Conservatives are grabbing at many things, hoping to avoid slipping down the slope of socialism and liberalism by refusing to consider anything a fellow Christian brother or sister—whether Republican or Democrat—says. We label one another “libtards” and “RINOs,” and these terms tear down a democracy rather than strengthen it.

We are called first to love the Lord and then to love our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? The one you sit on the pew with. The one you sit on the bus with. The one you work with. The one you serve your country with. The one from across the border struggling to keep his family alive. Yes, those are our neighbors.

We are supposed to be of God’s kingdom. Why can’t we start living that way now here on Earth with our fellow man?

Remember the song we sang as children: “Be careful little ears what you hear, little mouth what you say?” Or: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world?” Now that we are grown, we cannot forget those simple songs with huge meaning.

It is OK to be involved in politics, and it is OK for Christians to have different ideas about politics, but don’t put words in the Lord’s mouth. And watch what those who want your vote are saying. Listen carefully. Read carefully.

Being a good citizen is important. Being a good Christian is vital.

Susan Barkley
Plainview, Texas

I really get tired of people who make pronouncements about things they know little about, or who don’t put things in their proper context. To understand the position of a leader from another country requires knowledge of many of the cultural contexts that formulate the leader’s values and methods.

It is so easy to look at things through our own progressive American lens and paint everyone who is trying to revitalize and save their country from disappearing as dangerous people.

For 11 years, my family lived and served in Hungary as Baptist missionaries.

There are only about 10 million Hungarians in Hungary, and about that many in the border countries cut off from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon. If they die off, so does 1,000 years of beauty, culture, and their profoundly difficult and unique language.

That is the context for Viktor Orbán’s comments about keeping a pool of Hungarians and keeping the language alive. It is not racism. It is nurturing the survival of a phenomenal, historic and brilliant people group.

Ten million Hungarians also want to maintain much of their own culture. I happen to agree with the Hungarian people. It is their prerogative to choose their own leaders and preserve their culture. We have no business calling them names or insinuating they are something they are not.

I watched Orbán’s entire speech at CPAC. After watching all the changes that came into Europe with the European Union, and experiencing many of them firsthand, I understood exactly what Orbán was talking about. He doesn’t want Hungary to disappear or lose its sovereignty.

As a Baptist, I have no doubt Orbán’s Christian faith is personal and genuine—that he is a real believer. As you say, life in God flows from Jesus, not Constantine. He gets that.

Ed Jordan
Gwynn, Va.