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Challenging Political Assumptions
Although I am a follower of Christ, a conservative, an evangelical with a "fundamental" understanding of the Bible, I am frequently dismayed or discouraged by my dear brothers and sisters who seem to have a faith informed by politics more than politics informed by faith. What do I mean by that? I mean that we take our "religious" emphasis cues from our political standpoint rather than carefully and fully apply our faith to our politics. Its subtle and I think so many Christians, often including pastors, haven't noticed the difference.
Let me further explain this phenomenon. If I were to ask you who had the "Christian" point of view in the last election and therefore was the "candidate of choice" for Christians, most people (including) pastors I know from our Maine churches would say Romney/Republican. They would base this on an issue combination of Opposition to Abortion, Opposition to Welfare, Opposition to Taxes/Government Spending, Opposition to Gun Control, Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage. In fact, I have read enough facebook posts, op-eds, and Christian organization newsletters to know that these days, Same-Sex marriage is sometimes the beginning and end of determining whether the candidate/party is "Christian."
So would it surprise you to know that a majority of evangelicals supported Obama if you eliminate whites? So how do we fit that uncomfortable fact into our political faith? Do we just decide that they are sinful, worldly Christians that don't love Jesus as much as us white evangelicals do? A dangerous assumption that sounds a little racist. It also means that we have now used a political test to determine someone's spiritual standing. Instead, we have to expand our paradigm and realize that these evangelicals have other issues that inform them beyond the ones we may be using. Indeed, many of these issues include, poverty, immigration, racial justice, just to name three. So now we ask ourselves; Does Jesus, and the Bible in general, have forceful teachings about caring for the poor, caring for the stranger/sojourner, and justice? I agree that the Bible speaks against homosexuality, and shows that life begins in the womb, not after birth. For my conservative brothers who are right now beginning to think I sound decidedly "liberal", you need to know that I'm very conservative politically. But these other Christians, by emphasizing poverty over same-sex marriage as an issue are no more condoning homosexuality than a white evangelical is condoning poverty by minimizing welfare issues in favor of same-sex marriage.
When we start looking at a wider picture, we start having a tension. Do I prioritize same-sex marriage over compassion for the poor? Both are taught firmly in Scripture. Which is a bigger threat to the spiritual standing of my children, rampant American materialism/consumerism, or gay rights? I would argue both are. So I find that the issue is not so simple. I find that neither political party is Christian. I find that both are trying to do somethings that really run counter to Biblical teaching and some things that are more or less compatible with Christian teaching. So maybe I should be careful about labeling any one political party, or candidate as "Christian" or "Non-Christian"
I'm not done. I know this is long, but I like to work my way around an issue to make sure I am critically thinking, not just engaged in polemics.
As our selected issues have run amok in society, namely same-sex marriage, I have heard Christians, including some I really respect, theorize that bad things are now happening because of our society's stand on this issue. This assumes that America is blessed as long as its stays Biblical on this issue and will cease to be blessed now that America is not. Again, I'm not arguing that abandoning the Bible on this issue is not bad for society. I just think this is a simplistic approach that is more about supporting our point of view than the facts.
So let's look at some other evidence. Did you know that as an American you are much more likely to suffer a violent death then those who live in far less evangelical, far more liberal countries? Our rate of violent death is about 6 in every 100,000. Second place is Finland which runs a distant second of 2 for every 100,000. American men have the lowest life expectancy of wealthy countries and American women the second lowest. We have more gun violence, worse health, and much more deaths due to drunk driving and drugs. We have a higher level of poverty, especially looking at kids.
Are all these societal ills a result of the fact that America has turned her back on her "Chrisitan" heritage? Hard to argue intelligently when the countries that are doing better than us have less Christian influence, are far more secular and far more liberal for the most part . Finland, our distant second, records 5% church attendance (which includes more than just evangelicals) while America records 43% (same caveat). (2004 figures. Source: Wikipedia).
As a Christian, I look at our high poverty rate, our high rate of gun violence, our high rate of violent death and our poor health. Then I decide what causes I want to champion, what my faith dictates, what Jesus would want to focus on, what furthers the Gospel. Where should I expend my energy and what issues should I call attention to? With so many sins besetting us, which ones are causing the "decline" of our civilization. Which "causes" should we be most known for in this dying world?
I'm not going to try to answer those questions for you, but I think so often we Christians who are sojourning in America are sounding like we are defending our faith in America instead of proclaiming our faith in Christ. Let's take a careful, thoughtful, intelligent, and Biblically comprehensive view. We do not need to "go soft" on sin to perhaps reevaluate which things we are trumpeting and what role we are seeking to play in the American society. Above all, I personally believe that it is a tragedy in the making if the loudest message that a very lost, dying world hears from followers of Christ is anything other than, God loved you so much that He gave His only Son to die for your sins so that whoever puts their trust in Him will never perish in judgement but have eternal life.
Sources to help provoke thought:
Exodus 23:1-2, Lev. 19:15, Lev. 25:35, Deut 10:14-22, Deut 15:7-11, Deut 27:19, Psalm 139:13, Psalm 140:12, Prov 1:19, Prov 3:31, Prov. 14:31, Prov. 28:27, Isa. 44:2, Jer. 1:5, Hab 2:12, Matt 19:21-24, Matt 23:23, 1 Cor. 6, 1 Tim. 1:8-11,
This entry was posted by ozymandius and is filed under Church Life, Politics, Theology Lived, Pastors.1 comment
About the Author
After growing up in Maine, Ira graduated from Bible College and wandered into Western Maine and has never found his way back out. He has a deep love for the rural churches of Maine and the people who make up this great state. He loves Truth over Tradition, Christ over Culture, and People over Process. He love to equip, teach, and disciple and longs to see the Maine church grow healthy and make disciples.