25 October 2021
In a recent article by regular Gospel Coalition contributor Will Anderson on Christians moving from woke blue states to more conservative states, the Southern California pastor laments that “millions are flocking to red states in pursuit of lower taxes, safer streets, higher district ratings, schools that don’t teach transgenderism or critical race theory, and more recently, states without mask mandates and vaccine passports.” He counters that as Christians, we ought not to feel “at home” in the world and accuses those who move from places like California to Wyoming, Idaho or Tennessee of “escapism” and striving to “vehemently avoid awkwardness, pain, and discomfort.” His accusation reveals that he has no understanding of the current socio-political climate at all. The fact that he equates escaping leftist persecution and building a better life for your covenantal children with comfort-seeking, also reveals that he doesn’t understand the first thing of what it means to serve God.
Contrary to Anderson's prejudice against and hatred of homogeneity, Scripture teaches homogeneous covenantal social orders are actually the divinely ordained means by which God is glorified and his Kingdom expanded (Acts 17:26-27). When conservative Christians therefore move away from places where they suffer persecution by the godless and in search of freedom, organic community and peace (just like the Pilgrims who founded the first American colonies did, by the way), they do so to fulfil the cultural mandate, and therefore to accuse such people, especially in the current political climate, of “escapism” is slanderous. Furthermore, it is also extremely counterproductive, as the only alternative for many of these people is to remain consigned to the illegitimate and usurping authority of the enemies of Christ.
While conservatives naturally don’t want to see leftists moving to their neighborhood, and while having to move in itself is never an ideal option, the reasons for moving that pastor Anderson casts as illegitimate, are in fact the exact opposite. The Pactum Institute, because of our commitment to the cultivation of small community and clan living based on the principle of subsidiarity, rejects the slanderous accusations of pastor Will Anderson against conservative Christians in the strongest of terms.