Am I a Liberal or a Conservative Christian?

I can understand that based on what I blog and what I share on social media that it might be difficult to determine whether I am a liberal or a conservative Christian. Although a recent Twitter (X) poll suggested that more people see me as a liberal Christian:

So in preparation for my blog post on the type of Christian I am, what do you think? Am I a liberal or a conservative Christian? Interpret this as theological and/or political as you wish. I purposely am only giving two options.

— Stephen Bedard 🇨🇦 (@SJBedard) April 5, 2024

I will confess that this was not a very fair question as those who pay attention to my comments know that I am somewhere in the middle.

I also understand that these labels are not that useful. I am realizing this more and more as I see certain conservatives claiming that The Gospel Coalition (a very conservative Christian organization) has become too liberal. There are always going to be people to the left and to the right of every person.

But what about me? Even if I am some kind of moderate, am I liberal-leaning or conservative-leaning? The truth is that I know that there are conservatives who find me too liberal and liberals who find me too conservative. I’m okay with that.

I am not too worried if I fit into the categories that people want me to belong to. At the same time, I thought it might be appropriate for me to share what I actually believe. This may make both some liberals and conservatives unhappy.

I need to share one disclaimer here. What I am going to share is not necessarily beliefs that represent organizations I am affiliated with, including: Brookfield Baptist Church, Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada, Royal Canadian Chaplain Service, or the Canadian Armed Forces. What I share here is only that which I personally believe.

What makes me look conservative

There are aspects of my theology that make me look rather conservative.

• I hold to an orthodox theology. I am not Reformed but my theology would be firmly within the boundaries of historical Christianity. By this, I mean that I hold to the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds (although not quite sure about “descended into hell.”)
• I have a high view of Scripture. I believe Scripture is inspired, that we have what God wants us to have, and that the New Testament reliably preserves for us the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as the beginnings of the Christian church.
• I believe that it is only through Jesus that we experience eternal life. Everything pivots on the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• I believe that God answers prayer. Prayer is not just a spiritual discipline but God somehow responds to prayer. I have no idea how this works. I believe that miracles did and still do happen.
• I believe that God created the universe and humankind. I am also open to some form of intelligent design.
• I believe in evangelism, not in the sense of forcing Christianity on people, but in the sense of sharing our experience of Jesus with those who are interested in learning.
• I believe that sexual activity should be within the context of marriage.
• I am pro-life and I believe that the loss of any unborn baby, whether by miscarriage or abortion, is an actual loss of human life and that it is appropriate to grieve.
• I believe there will be some sort of judgment in which we have to answer to God for the way we have lived our lives. I believe this is connected with the return of Jesus.

What makes me look liberal

Some of what I have shared would be red flags for some liberal Christians. There are other things that would cause conservative Christians to question my theology.

• I believe that the core principle behind Christianity is love. And by love, I do not mean telling everyone who is different how bad they are. I mean love in the common sense manner.
• I do not hold to a strict inerrancy. Not that I think the Bible is unreliable, I just see the modern concept of inerrancy as a recent invention. I also question its usefulness in looking at ancient writings according to ancient standards of precision.
• I do not hold to eternal conscious torment. I lean towards conditional immortality (annhilationism). I would love to be a universalist but I am not there.
• I believe the universe and the earth are billions of years old. Human life is much more recent but probably in the hundreds of thousands of years. I have no problem with God using evolution in getting us here.
• I believe that a person can be gay and/or transgender and be a Christian. I believe a Christian is one who puts their faith in Jesus. To exclude 2SLGBTQA+ people because of passages that may or may not be relevant to committed monogamous same-sex relationships would also require us to exclude those who claim to be Christian and yet still exhibit greed, envy, argumentativeness, and numerous other “acceptable” behaviour that are in the same lists.
• I love and respect people of other religions. I do not know what God’s plan is for them but I will fight for their right to freedom of religious expression as much as that of my own.
• I reject the culture war and refuse to put labels of conservative and liberal above that of Jesus follower.
• I believe that Christians are called to minister to and fight for justice for marginalized people.
• I believe that women should have full access to all participation in the church, including that of pastor.
• While I am pro-life, I believe the best practice of the church is not to impose this legally but to provide support for those mothers and families that would like to keep their baby but feel that their economic situation would not allow it. There is evidence of abortion rates going down when there is an increase in social services.
• I believe in social justice and I do not see Critical Race Theory as a bad thing. There is systemic racism in our society and we should fight against it. I believe in climate change that has been worsened by human influence and that we need better creation care.

So what am I?

I have been accused of being a progressive Christian but I reject that label. The reason is that many of the progressive Christians I have encountered are just as intolerant as the fundamentalists, they just pick a different group to be intolerant to.

I could just say I am a Christian or a Jesus follower, which is accurate enough, but does not say much. I would say that I am broadly evangelical but without a commitment to a conservative (or a liberal) worldview. I have some major problems with evangelicalism, especially as found in certain countries, but still feel some connection to an evangelical identity.

Now, you may have read this post and thought that I have gone too far (either to the right or to the left) and you cannot imagine how I could have reached such conclusions. Fair enough.

But I hope that you stick with me on my theological journey. I have changed a lot over my lifetime, in some ways that I never expected. I suspect that I will continue to change in the years that I have left.

I do not claim certainty that every position that I have taken is completely correct and I do not attempt to impose my beliefs on others, including of the congregation of which I am a pastor. My main concern is to be personally faithful to God and to police other people’s beliefs is more than I am qualified to do.