Are Christians Wary of the Tea Party Movement?

I bet there will be some talk today about a piece at the Politico today. See Tea parties stir evangelicals' fears

Instapundit is early on out of the starting gate as to this.

EVANGELICALS SCARED OF THE TEA PARTIES? “Too libertarian.” I have to say, I haven’t seen a lot of evidence of this. But hey, there’s a lot to fear from those spooky libertarians — they’re trying to take over the government . . . and then leave you alone!

UPDATE: Erick Erickson emails: “I call bullshit.” And reader Robert Crawford writes: “Admittedly, I’m no Evangelical, so it’s no surprise I’ve never heard of the groups involved, but the Politico story about Evangelicals being uncomfortable with the Tea Parties reeks of astroturf. The line about ‘the incivility, the name-calling, the pathos of politics’ rings as more a Democrat talking point, in particular.” I suspect we’ll see a lot of efforts to divide the Tea Party movement. That’s because it’s working.

Now the article has faults but it is a tad more balanced than is being portrayed above. I also think both Glen and Erick are focusing on wrong things perhaps.

Needless to say I am willing to be that even some of the most conservative evangelicals leaders are not too happy to see one of the major proponents of the Tea Party movement and a libertarian , that is Glen Beck, urging people to leave their Church if they talk about social justice. Who and what is next?

Now the article I think makes the sound observation that the tea party movement is quite diverse. I imagine a Louisiana or Mississippi Tea party will look a lot different than a Maine Tea Party.

However it right to note there is some tension. There is a Libertarian / Club For Growth element in the Tea Parties. These same folks made like a holy hell for Mike Huckabee with some calling him a Christian socialist I suspect if Sam Brownback had caught fire they would have been going after him too.

Now what is interesting about the article is that we see more evidence that the Tea Party will not really be a "party" but a dedicated to a certain number of issues. Well I think that is fine. In fact I argue it is the proper course for them to do so to achieve success.

Again I think the article is pretty well balanced. For instance see Dr Richard Land ,who is the Southern Baptist Convention's head poltical guy ,interesting comments on the last page.

Still even in Glen's comments we can see the tension of different viewpoints when he says "But hey, there’s a lot to fear from those spooky libertarians — they’re trying to take over the government . . . and then leave you alone!"

Now we see this attitude a great bit among Libertarians. I think on the Federal level most social conservatives would be fine with DOMA being upheld and allowing the issue to be debated on the state level. As we now see in vivid detail the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. is not being left alone as to this issue. I am not seeing a whole much of Libertarians right now crying any tears over that. In fact it does not see to be on their radar at all.

In the article itself
“People didn’t come out into the streets to protest gay marriage or abortion,” said Steinhauser, who said that he hoped the Republican Party would follow the contract’s cue and “stop bringing up flag-burning amendments and the gay marriage thing when they’re not what people are focused on.”

What? Leaving aside the issue if people are talking flag burning amendments a great deal did this person notice the March Life in D.C. and various pro-life marches across the country just a couple of months ago? Also please note what is holding up all this Health Care bill stuff!! Yes that issue of abortion.

In the end it is much too early for Social Conservatives think the Tea Party is a danger to it's goals. However there are enough warning signs to be watching. I has become rather cliche for social conservative to rant against the establishment GOP on pro-life concerns. I have thought this has been way overblown. It would be ironic though that if pro-life concerns were thwarted by a very ant establishment moment and not by the GOP establishment that has often been the whipping boy.