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Chelsen Vicari serves as the Institute on Religion and Democracy u2019s evangelical program director. Prior to joining the IRD, she worked for Concerned Women for America, the nation u2019s largest faith-based women u2019s public policy organization. She holds a bachelor of science in political science and history and a master u2019s degree in international politics. Her articles on evangelicalism and public policy have appeared in TheBlaze, Christian Post, and RealClearReligion.
Here’s How the New Christian Left Is Twisting the Gospel
Peek behind the curtain of some “progressive” or “hip” evangelical churches, past the savvy technology and secular music, and you will find more than just a contemporary worship service. You’ll find faith leaders encouraging young evangelicals to trade in their Christian convictions for a gospel filled with compromise. They’re slowly attempting to give evangelicalism an “update”—and the change is not for the good.
It’s painful for me to admit, but we can no longer rest carefree in our evangelical identity—because it is changing. No doubt you have seen the headlines declaring that evangelicalism is doomed because evangelical kids are leaving the faith. It is no secret that there is an expanding gulf between traditional Christian teachings and contemporary moral values. But the sad truth is that the ideological gulf between America’s evangelical grown-ups and their kids, aka the millennials, seems to be widening too. Somehow the blame for this chasm is being heaped on traditional churches. They are accused of having too many rules as well as being homophobic and bigoted. Yes, we’ve heard those false claims from popular culture in its desperate attempt to keep Christianity imprisoned within the sanctuary walls. But now popular culture is being aided by Christ-professing bedfellows whose message to “coexist,” “tolerate” and “keep out of it” is more marketable to the rising generation of evangelicals. (Juicy Ecumenism Jan /6/21) READ MORE>>>>>
Peek behind the curtain of some “progressive” or “hip” evangelical churches, past the savvy technology and secular music, and you will find more than just a contemporary worship service. You’ll find faith leaders encouraging young evangelicals to trade in their Christian convictions for a gospel filled with compromise. They’re slowly attempting to give evangelicalism an “update”—and the change is not for the good.
It’s painful for me to admit, but we can no longer rest carefree in our evangelical identity—because it is changing. No doubt you have seen the headlines declaring that evangelicalism is doomed because evangelical kids are leaving the faith. It is no secret that there is an expanding gulf between traditional Christian teachings and contemporary moral values. But the sad truth is that the ideological gulf between America’s evangelical grown-ups and their kids, aka the millennials, seems to be widening too. Somehow the blame for this chasm is being heaped on traditional churches. They are accused of having too many rules as well as being homophobic and bigoted. Yes, we’ve heard those false claims from popular culture in its desperate attempt to keep Christianity imprisoned within the sanctuary walls. But now popular culture is being aided by Christ-professing bedfellows whose message to “coexist,” “tolerate” and “keep out of it” is more marketable to the rising generation of evangelicals. (Juicy Ecumenism Jan /6/21) READ MORE>>>>>
July 10, 2020: Chelsen Vicari: Christian Post: Why it matters Jen Hatmaker endorses her daughter’s homosexuality
Chelsen Vicari
Evangelical churches need to focus more on preaching biblical truth in order to prepare children to defend historic Christian teachings on social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion from the "distorted" theology being propagated by the Christian left.. That's why I wanted to write Distorted, to give ... the grownups a glimpse into the world of a millennial and what we deal with in churches, what we deal with in youth group, and what we deal with on college campuses where our parents think everything should be fine and dandy and that we should be protected — and that is not necessarily the truth............It's always hard to be ostracized and to be the one who is called these horrible names and hated on Twitter.................But there is a problem in evangelical churches and young people don't know enough about their faith to defend it, and that is making them much more susceptible to deception.......Evangelicals have a lot of catching up to do. … I am a Sunday school teacher right now, and I will tell you that there is a lot of fluffy curriculum out there and we aren't doing a great job of [teaching] the next generation of Evangelicals, which is making us susceptible. We are not talking about the hot issues of abortion and same-sex marriage in Sunday school or in church even. There is a huge trend among evangelical pastors to talk about faith and love and never bring up truth, which is just as important.......What a lot of young Evangelicals don't know is that mainline denominations used to have the most prominent Christian social witness in this country. … Unfortunately, they did start to compromise Christian teachings. Evangelicals kind of came up and filled that role, if you will. What former [IRD] President Diane Knippers recognized early on was that evangelical churches and leaders were following this same strategy, this same route that the mainline denominations had followed that made them sideline denominations. We have to pay attention. And we have to learn what the threats are and how to discern truth and how to discern orthodoxy, and what that means and what that stands for if we are going to defend the faith and not follow in the footsteps of the mainline denominations.
--Chelsen Vicari; Family Research Council discussion on her new book, Distorted: How The New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging Faith; April 2015
--Chelsen Vicari; Family Research Council discussion on her new book, Distorted: How The New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging Faith; April 2015
Sept 8, 2014: Caffienated Thoughts: Chelsen Vicari Joins the Caffeinated Thoughts Briefing Speaker Line-up
Up and coming author Chelsen Vicari joins the speaking line-up for the 1st Annual Caffeinated Thoughts Briefing, a public policy and worldview conference for conservative Christians to be held at the Airport Holiday Inn on Saturday, September 20, 2014 from 9:00a-5:00p.
Aug 12, 2014: CNM: IRD’s Chelsen Vicari to Join Christian Solidarity Trip to Israel
Evangelical Action Director Chelsen Vicari will travel to Israel August 17-22 as a part of the “Christians in Solidarity with Israel” trip, hosted by the National Source: Institute on Religion & Democracy
Up and coming author Chelsen Vicari joins the speaking line-up for the 1st Annual Caffeinated Thoughts Briefing, a public policy and worldview conference for conservative Christians to be held at the Airport Holiday Inn on Saturday, September 20, 2014 from 9:00a-5:00p.
Aug 12, 2014: CNM: IRD’s Chelsen Vicari to Join Christian Solidarity Trip to Israel
Evangelical Action Director Chelsen Vicari will travel to Israel August 17-22 as a part of the “Christians in Solidarity with Israel” trip, hosted by the National Source: Institute on Religion & Democracy
Oct 18, 2013: Examiner: Wright, Vicari attack Jon Stewart for hypothetical discrimination
Sandy Rios must have been visibly upset when her two co-hosts, Wendy Wright and Chelsen Vicari, managed to significantly out-crazy her on her own show.
Mar 29, 2013: Queerily: A letter to Chelsen Vicari, Online Communications Strategist for Concerned Women for America
I read with great interest yesterday the blogpost you wrote for your organisation, Concerned Women for America, in which you berated the CEO of coffee chain titan, Starbucks, for coming out in support of equal marriage and saying that if shareholders were not happy about the company's position they could sell their shares and buy new ones in a different company. I was so taken with your brave stance that I simply had to drop everything I was doing and put finger to keypad immediately to write this response.
Mar 26, 2013: Pink News: US conservative women’s group: Starbucks discriminates against straight people by supporting gay rights
The blog post by Concerned Women for America, written by its media strategist Chelsen Vicari, claims that the CEO of the coffee giant had become “extreme and intolerant”, and claimed that he was actively refusing the custom of “pro-marriage supporters"
Sandy Rios must have been visibly upset when her two co-hosts, Wendy Wright and Chelsen Vicari, managed to significantly out-crazy her on her own show.
Mar 29, 2013: Queerily: A letter to Chelsen Vicari, Online Communications Strategist for Concerned Women for America
I read with great interest yesterday the blogpost you wrote for your organisation, Concerned Women for America, in which you berated the CEO of coffee chain titan, Starbucks, for coming out in support of equal marriage and saying that if shareholders were not happy about the company's position they could sell their shares and buy new ones in a different company. I was so taken with your brave stance that I simply had to drop everything I was doing and put finger to keypad immediately to write this response.
Mar 26, 2013: Pink News: US conservative women’s group: Starbucks discriminates against straight people by supporting gay rights
The blog post by Concerned Women for America, written by its media strategist Chelsen Vicari, claims that the CEO of the coffee giant had become “extreme and intolerant”, and claimed that he was actively refusing the custom of “pro-marriage supporters"
February 27, 2022
Chelsen Vicari
"Evangelicals have a lot of catching up to do. … I am a Sunday school teacher right now, and I will tell you that there is a lot of fluffy curriculum out there and we aren't doing a great job of [teaching] the next generation of Evangelicals, which is making us susceptible. We are not talking about the hot issues of abortion and same-sex marriage in Sunday school or in church even. There is a huge trend among evangelical pastors to talk about faith and love and never bring up truth, which is just as important." -Chelsen Vicari; April 1, 2015, at a Family Research Council discussion on her new book, Distorted: How The New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging Faith.
CULTURE WATCH: Jan 14, 2013: Chelsen Vicari (Juicy Ecumenism) reported that there was an annual progressive Christian “C21″ gathering of 21 provocative speakers who sought to answer one big question: what must we do to ensure Christianity’s vibrant, lasting future? One of the speakers was identfied as an "Emergent Muslim, " Ani Zonneveld, a female Imam and founder of Muslims for Progressive Value who "proclaimed that the marginalized should be at the center of not only Christianity, but any religion that hopes to thrive in American in the coming years. Moving away from the traditional platitudes of Islam, Zonneveld’s paradigm shift included a new list of moral values and political concerns that Islam must now focus. Her list included: Freedom of speech, Universal Human Rights, Women’s Rights, LGBT Rights, Critical analysis and interpretation, Compassion, and Diversity." and "Finally, focus away from Western Christianity towards the global church would lend to Christianity’s future viability, asserted Enuma Okoro, author of Reluctant Pilgrim. “America has to acknowledge and grapple with the ways in which its unique form of Christianity must be a tad more wrapped up in culture than in faith.” I dont think there is any other way to interpret this because Christianity depends being wrapped up in faith much more than culture.