The University of Florida recently published a study that tries to set up a “religious left” as an alternative to the “religious right,” but does a better job of demonstrating why those labels are increasingly irrelevant.

Researcher Kenneth Wald says his findings belie the notion that white Christians are, by their very nature, politically conservative and likely to vote Republican. He has identified a growing number of Christians who are more politically liberal and likely to vote Democratic. People who fall into the latter category, according to the university, “tend to place a high value on sacramental rituals, respecting the authority of church leaders and being active members of a religious community.” They’re more likely to be Roman Catholic and members of traditional Protestant denominations than evangelicals, who in turn are more likely to be conservative.

Wald’s conclusion? “When citizens mobilize on behalf of political causes, they shouldn’t give up on the churches and just assume that ‘more religious’ means ‘more conservative.’” If this is what passes for academic insight these days, we’re in the wrong business. We could have told Wald this five years ago – in fact it’s why CMC does what it does. God’s politics aren’t based on man’s standards of right or left, but on His standard of truth.

CMC has often been mis-labeled as a “Religious Right” organization. That is somewhat understandable because on the most prominent social issue of our time, the sanctity of human life and the definition of marriage, Republicans and other conservatives tend to agree with us. But we reject the phony labels of “religious right” and “religious left” because our calling is simply to advocate for God’s truth in the public square.

The Bible doesn’t hew to the platform of either major party, and Christians shouldn’t either. Someday, the academics will catch up with that fact – and when they do, they’ll find a whole lot of people without a political label, telling the truth no matter who it offends.