The criticism leveled against An Evangelical Manifesto, released this week, covers the expected territory, from questions about the motives of the steering committee and signers, to warnings that the devil is behind it all, to—get this—charges that the title of the document implies a connection with what is commonly called the Communist Manifesto. Never mind that the word was in use long before Marx and Engels were even alive. The naysayers have spoken: “They used the word ‘manifesto’! They must be Commies!” *
Here’s what bothers me about the statement (which, by the way, I could easily sign, with a clear, non-Marxist conscience). After chiding both the left and the right for politicizing faith, making Christians “useful idiots for one political party or another,” the document continues:

Called to an allegiance higher than party, ideology, and nationality, we Evangelicals see it our duty to engage with politics, but our equal duty never to be completely equated with any party, partisan ideology, economic system, or nationality.

And yet, there is no call to true political independence. The manifesto states that Christians are never to be “completely equated with any party [or] partisan ideology,” but the reality is that if you are registered with a major party, you are equated with its ideology, like it or not. Just tell people you’re a Democrat, for instance, and they automatically assume a host of things about you. Unless you get defensive and have loads of time to set them straight—or you have a public forum like many of the manifesto signers have—that’s the end of it. You and a set of liberal stances are now inextricably linked in their minds.
As I was writing We the Purple: Faith, Politics and the Independent Voter, I was careful not to try to convert partisans to the independent cause. My two-pronged purpose was to explain who independents are and to assure voters who were already independent that they are not alone. That said, as an evangelical I feel I have a moral responsibility to be politically independent. But before you start attacking that—and you know who you are—let me say this: YMMV. Your Moral (responsibility) May Vary. If your conscience permits you to be a member of either major party or even a third party, that’s fine. Mine doesn’t. We’re all cool with that, right?
The manifesto missed an opportunity to look beyond the two parties in its challenge to Christians to avoid becoming useful partisan idiots. As an independent, I believe we can be useful in bringing about genuine political transformation—by disassociating ourselves from the partisan system that treated us like idiots in the first place.
* Disclaimer: I should note that We the Purple has been described as a “manifesto for the independent voter” by my very Christian publisher and publicists. So let me say this: “They used the word ‘manifesto’! And they’re not Commies!”