Apparently, the selection of Sarah Palin by John McCain has triggered a number of questions and accusations against evangelicals. The debate is essentially over this question: “Evangelicals are willing to have a woman serve in the White House, but not as the pastor of a church? Isn’t that just a little inconsistent?”
In light of the events a couple weeks ago at Irving Bible Church, this is a significant question, and one that is explained and summarized well by Al Mohler. His entire blog entry from this morning, “The Church and the World — a Raging Debate at ‘On Faith,'” is well worth reading.
He concludes:
In reality, Sally Quinn’s articles and the question posed to “On Faith” illuminate an important aspect of our current cultural situation — and serve as a warning to the church. The clear and unavoidable implication of this question is that there must be no distinction between the church and the world. If equal employment opportunity is the rule in the secular world, must not the church follow the same rules?
This reasoning is perfectly understandable coming from the secular world. How else would we expect the secular mind to think? But coming from inside the church this logic is both fatal and unfaithful.