Robert Godfrey has reportedly said that no denomination has remained true to the Gospel for more than 200 years. Like a gravitational pull, all churches and denominations tend to veer to the left, away from orthodoxy, and are "carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14). This is what Megan Basham talks about in the controversial "Shepherds for Sale," which has generated a fair share of both praise and criticism since its release on July 30..
Basham's purpose is to show how some luminaries in the evangelical Christian world have adopted positions on issues such as climate change, illegal immigration, abortion, covid policies, the MeToo movement and LGBT that seem to "punch right and coddle left," as the saying goes. Basham's contention frequently is not so much that these leaders are dead wrong in the views that they hold, but that they frequently present leftist views as if they are obvious and indisputable. "Why have so many well-known evangelical institutions and leaders in recent years started promoting causes that no plain reading of Scripture would demand, like lobbying for fossil fuel regulations or dismantling white privilege, while issues that unequivocally call for Christian clarity find them silent and stymied?" (p.XXI). I've wondered that many times myself.
For instance, megachurch pastor Rick Warren is quoted during the covid pandemic as saying that "wearing a mask is the great commandment," and that a pastor's "job" is to tell their people to get the vaccine (p.105). It is not necessarily a leftist position to wear a mask, and of course we should all be inclined to weigh the evidence as to whether the vaccine is/was advisable, but to present these as divine commands? As if a Christian is disobeying God if he/she refuses the vaccine? That is definitely not the pastor's job.
Warren is one of many high-profile names that Basham targets in the book. Others include Russell Moore, Andy Stanley, Ed Stetzer, David French, Curtis Chang, Matt Chandler and J.D. Greear. Greear was president of the Southern Baptist Convention, which gets the majority of attention in the book, but the PCA is included also, particularly with regard to the Revoice controversy (p.220-225). And the most well-known PCA pastor, Tim Keller, also got Basham's attention for implying that since we don't make idolatry illegal, perhaps we shouldn't make abortion illegal either (p. 59). I am forever indebted to Tim Keller as an influence on my own ministry, and know that we all misspeak from time to time, but his logic here is less than sound.
"Shepherds for Sale" is a work of investigative journalism, not an academic treatise, so often Basham tells lengthy and interesting stories of people who were disappointed to discover their church had gone woke, or who got sucked into in the LGBT movement. Without inside information on all of these anecdotes, I can't judge as to whether Basham's reporting is reliable, but I did follow the PCA's Revoice controversy closely, and can say that Basham's account of it was fair and accurate. She didn't throw the PCA under the bus, but did rightfully note that the PCA was slow to oppose "soft LGBTQ affirmation” (again, a fair description) in its midst (p.224).
Some people just like to fight. They're looking for a heretic behind every door, and suspicious of everyone who doesn't think like them. Maybe Megan Basham is that kind of person, I don't know. But I do know that the Bible warns us that the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but instead will follow teachers to suit their own passions (2 Timothy 4:3). I guess we shouldn't be surprised when we find that this comes to be true even in the evangelical church.
NOTE: If you want to hear Megan respond to some of the criticism she has received, check out the Aug. 30 edition of the podcast, “The World and Everything In It."