We've forgotten how to blush

From the Dashboard >

Progressive writer Tyler Huckabee says a lot of things I disagree with. His “deconstruction” from evangelicalism has become part of his personal brand, a sort of credibility badge among the post-church Left. I’ve found that for many in that world, the point of deconstruction is not to build anything new, but simply to establish distance from those unsophisticated enough to still believe in a holy God who speaks clearly through an inerrant Word.

Yet every so often, Huckabee wanders into a moment of moral clarity that reminds me that a remnant of his Christian conscience remains resiliently intact. His recent column in Sojourners (a magazine whose ideological roots are demonstrably far closer to Marx than Moses) was one of these heartening occasions. The piece was surprisingly solid, even if in its later stages it included the obligatory drive-by accusations about “Israeli genocide” and blanket condemnation of ICE officials.

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Still, the central thrust of Huckabee’s argument is both needed and true, and all people wearing the name of Christ should be willing to say so.

In the article, Huckabee described the now-infamous situation in Virginia, where Democrat Jay Jones won the race for attorney general despite a leaked text in which he said if he had two bullets and could choose among Hitler, Pol Pot, or Republican Speaker Todd Gilbert, then Gilbert “gets two bullets to the head.” He also referred to Gilbert’s children as “little fascists.”

To his credit, Huckabee – a man who openly supported Kamala Harris for the presidency – wrote:

I want to be clear at the outset here: This is disqualifying, and Jones should have dropped out…Jokes like this are a diminishment to the soul…It is – and I choose this word carefully – shameful.

He’s right. In an age where people apologize as a public relations strategy far more than an expression of actual repentance, it is refreshing to hear anyone – left, right, constructed, or deconstructed – identify something as morally disqualifying.

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Huckabee continued by quoting conservative writer Jonah Goldberg:

We live in an age where partisans want shamelessness in their candidates rather than punish it.

We do. And Christians should be the first to note how contrary that is to the character of a believer. In a world of outrage addiction and moral relativism, shame is now regarded as inherently abusive, a weapon of hellfire preachers better left in the unenlightened past. But Huckabee admirably defends the notion of properly ordered shame:

Understood rightly, shame is also a sign of self-respect…a goalpost anchored to the lofty height that our conduct fell beneath.

This is good philosophy, and it’s also good theology. Why? Because Huckabee roots it in God’s word:

Jeremiah 6:15 tells us that the Israelites “acted shamefully; they committed abomination, yet they were not ashamed.” The prophet Jeremiah then delivers his most contemptuous words: “They did not know how to blush.”

Jeremiah knew, and we are now seeing for ourselves, that a civilization that forgets how to blush will eventually forget how to behave.

After these prescient observations it was disappointing to see Huckabee then give into boilerplate political talking points, though I understand these are now required confessionals in the world of progressive Christianity.

He wrote:

We should feel shame about supplying Israel with the weapons to commit genocide in Gaza…Every American should feel shame about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s treatment of immigrants.

And with that, the piercing clarity with which he had been writing evaporated. The accusation of “genocide” – a word with actual meaning – is deployed recklessly as a convenient moral bludgeon. And the sweeping implication that ICE officers, many of whom are ordinary men and women working impossible jobs, are shamefully abusive is slanderously far from anything remotely resembling Christian charity.

It is here that Huckabee’s deconstruction reveals itself. Absent a transcendent, authoritative moral standard, “shame” becomes little more than a political weapon. But despite the drift, there still remains something sincere and even courageous about Huckabee’s willingness to call his own “side” to account as he appeals to all of us to do better. He concludes:

Until we recover the capacity to feel shame – real, red-faced, stomach-turning shame – we will keep calling evil good, and keep congratulating ourselves for it.

That line deserves to be read slowly.
In fact, it deserves to be preached.

A culture incapable of feeling shame is a culture incapable of repentance. And a culture incapable of repentance is a culture incapable of healing. In a world allergic to things like accountability, truth, and consequence, the ability to blush is a unique gift and an admirable witness. It is the first sign that the conscience is still alive.

So while I disagree often with Tyler Huckabee’s politics, his theological trajectory, and several of his moral conclusions, I couldn’t imagine him being more right about how shamelessness is hollowing out the American soul.

The prophet said Israel “did not know how to blush.” God help us learn how again.