Politics and Religion: an Uneasy Marriage

 

Introduction

I’ve always felt a bit uneasy about the relationship between religion and politics.  That’s probably because I’ve never been sure what the relationship between the two should be.  It is evident in this country that religion and politics mix.  Often in good ways, at other times in bad ways.  Regardless of what the relationship should be it is clear that our nation has made an uncomfortable marriage of faith and government.

What role should religion play in government?

I think that there are three primary views people hold about what the relationship between religion and politics should be.

1. Religion shouldn’t play a role in politics.  There is a very small part of me that feels this way.  In a nation with a secular government that believes in the separation of church and state, as our nation does, I feel that everyone, not just Christians, should be guaranteed the freedom to worship as they please and feel comfortable to do so.  I also feel uncomfortable when I hear a politician invoke God because usually it seems that most use God as a political tool, with little actual evidence of faith to back it up.

Even if people believe that religion shouldn’t play any role in politics, there’s no way to completely separate the two.  Any person who regularly practices a religion will be impacted by their religious beliefs.  Their religion will help to shape their worldview and therefore indirectly impact their political convictions.

2. Religion should affect a person’s personal political convictions, but shouldn’t be the only (or even primary) influence on our political leanings.  This is probably the most commonly held view in American politics.  People want to see their religious beliefs enacted into law, but they also believe that there’s a limit.  People who hold to this view know that it’s impractical to legislate morality completely.  Also, if they support the separation of church and state they know that imposing their religious convictions through law runs a thin line, because it could infringe upon the religious convictions of others.

3. Religion should be the primary and only driving force behind political decision making.  This is the extreme at the other end of the spectrum and the opposite of the first view.  Under this view, a person who is religious, should seek to discover their religion’s teachings on various issues and should vote to see those teachings written into law and played out in official government policies.  Many Christians feel this way.  The problem with this again lies with the fact that many of these Christians generally also support the separation of church in state.  They simultaneously don’t want the government to infringe on their religious beliefs, while desiring to see their beliefs enacted into laws for everyone.

What does the Bible say about politics?

The Bible isn’t terribly clear about what role our Christian faith should play in politics.  This is mainly because the Bible knows nothing of democracy.  The Bible only knows two forms of government: theocracy and monarchy.  From the time when God established a relationship with His people on earth through Abraham until the time of the first king of Israel, the Hebrew people were governed by God himself.  God sent prophets to be His voice box, set up a priestly class to lead the people in their religious practices and in their daily lives, established judges to be prophetic military leaders and purveyors of justice, and gave us His law to be followed.  Because of our sin nature, the people of God rarely did a good job of following their King (God himself) or obeying His laws.  This often led to the Hebrew people being conquered or led away into exile.

Eventually the Hebrew people cried out to God and asked Him to give them a king so that they might be like the other nations around them.  God warned the people (through the prophet Samuel) of the dangers of having an earthly king.  He was also aware that the people of Israel had rejected God Himself as their king.  Still, the people did not listen to the warnings and so God gave them a king.  Saul was chosen as the first king, and while he had his moments, he was also deeply flawed and all the things God warned of happened.  He was then succeeded by David, who was a man after God’s own heart, and then David’s son Solomon, who was a man who sought wisdom above all else.  While both were great and godly kings (David was a warrior-king and Solomon was a great diplomat), both suffered from severe moral failures (David slept with a married woman and had her husband killed, and Solomon had nearly 1,000 wives).  After Solomon’s reign ended Israel was lead by a series of immoral and egotistical kings who strayed from God’s leadership and sough only earthly rewards (with a few notable, yet brief, exceptions).

Christ himself remained incredibly politically neutral.  The people of Israel were looking for a political messiah who would bring salvation in the form of freeing the Hebrew people from the rule of the Roman government.  Instead, they got a messiah who saved them from themselves and who seemed incredibly uninterested in politics.  Jesus was only asked about politics once, and it had to do with paying taxes to the civil authority, and Jesus said that we need to submit and pay the taxes that we owe.  Outside of this instance, Jesus remained surprisingly quiet on politics (which perhaps is an indication as to how Christians should be when it comes to politics).

Paul gives perhaps the most direct instruction as to how Christians should act when it comes to politics.  In Romans we are told that we must “submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.”  It would do us well to remember that the “authorities that exist have been established by God.”  While this doesn’t mean that all earthly authorities will be godly (and indeed, all will sin and make poor decisions) it does mean that all have been established in God’s will and we as Christians need to respect them.  It also means that if our chosen candidate loses that American didn’t make the wrong choice or go against God’s will (indeed, as a believer in free will, I’m more inclined to believe that both choices fall within God’s will and it is up to us to decide).  Paul also warns that anyone who rebels against the ruling authorities is rebelling against God who established those authorities and that the authorities are God’s servants.  Again, we need to respect the leadership in elected office, and understand that they have been established by God.

Paul also tells us to pray for all those inauthority.  This means all leaders.  Not just our American leaders or our preferred candidate.  As Christians, we should never pray for our candidate to win, but rather we should ask God to guide us in making our decision and pray that whoever is elected will seek to always follow God’s will.

The dangers of mixing religion and politics

The danger with allowing our religious beliefs to influence our politics is that the influence can also go the other way where our politics will influence our religious convictions.  One of the biggest problems with being an American Christian is the word order.  Too many Christians identify themselves as being Americans first and Christians second.  They allow their patriotism and political leanings to affect their Christian convictions.  They allow their party to dictate to them what is right and wrong and true, instead of leaning on scripture to dictate to them what is right and wrong and true.

This year I have seen two flyers designed for churches to pride to their members to help them decide who they should vote for as Christians.  While I’m not opposed to a pastor helping his/her congregation understand the important issues and the Biblical stance on those issues, I don’t believe that it’s their place to dictate to their congregants who they should vote for.  Each person must take responsibility to become informed and make a conscientious decision based on what scripture has to say and where the candidates stand.  I had high hopes that these flyers would truly be informative and unbiased, as their “non-partisan” label claimed.  Unfortunately, both were clear endorsements of Mr. Romney.  Both simply selected a few issues and stated whether each candidate supported or opposed, with the clear intent of leading Christians to believe that Mr. Romney is the only correct choice for a Christian.

Here are the issues listed:

Issues listed on both flyers

• Repeal of Obamacare 
• Same sex marriage 
• Taxpayer funding of abortion 
• Defense of marriage act 
• Mandated contraceptive coverage

Items listed on only one flyer

• Overturn Roe v. Wade 
• Government funding of Planned Parenthood  
• Ban on human cloning  
• Parental choice in education  
• Banning lawsuits against gun companies in cases of gun violence  
• Repeal of Estate Tax  
• 20% Tax Cut Across the Board  
• Balanced Budget Amendment  
• Cutting Medicare $716 Billion  
• Cap and Trade Tax

You can view the flyers here and here.

Source: Faith and Freedom Coalition, Americans of Faith, and Ohio Christian Alliance.

While I could spend a lot of time talking about how ridiculous some of these points are I will only make a few observations.  These are only some of the issues relevant in this election, and I would argue that some are incredibly minor issues, while other major issues were left off.  The phrasing of the issues and the issues that were selected were clearly designed to point people to vote for Mitt Romney.  There was no explanation of any of the issues or the candidate’s stance on them, only whether they supported or opposed it.  There was also no explanation about what the Biblical stance was on any of these issues.  I would have no issue with a church providing it's members with a comprehensive list of major issues, a description of the Biblical stance on those issues (supported by scripture), and an accurate depiction of each candidate's/party's stance on those issues.  However, instead of being helpful tools for Christian voters attempting to make an informed decision, these flyers are little more than uninformative propaganda that have absolutely no place in a church.

One of the most egregious instances I’ve ever seen of a Christian leader allowing his political preference to dictate his religious convictions happened this past week when Rev. Billie Graham endorsed Mitt Romney for president.  Normally there wouldn’t be anything particularly significant or noteworthy about this, except that when he did so, his ministry removed the Mormon faith (the faith of Mitt Romney) from its list of cults.  While I do not know the reason why it was removed, I can make the assumption based on the timing that it was because Rev. Graham had chosen to endorse Mr. Romney because he was the Republican nominee, and he couldn’t, in good conscience, endorse someone to be the standard bearer of Christian morality in American government if he openly believed that person to be a member of a cult.  I doubt the he suddenly came to the conclusion that Mormonism is a legitimate religion or part of Orthodox Christianity (as they claim to be Christians).  It is clear to me that he allowed his political beliefs to supersede his religious convictions, and that is a disappointing thing to see from such a stalwart of the faith during the past century.

Conclusion

As Christian, we need to remember that we must not be swayed by our world, but that we must seek to create change within our world.  I wasn’t raised to be a Democrat or a Republican.  I was raised to be a follower of Christ, who looks first to scripture, then seeks to make an informed decision.  We all need to look to scripture as our ultimate authority.  We have a responsibility as Christians to become informed and make our decision based on where the candidates stand in relationship to what scripture teaches.  We must be very careful not to let our political leanings influence our theology.

My Political Background

Introduction

Recently my dad commented to me, “I don’t know where you and your sister, but you especially, got your interest and concern for politics from.”  I honestly don’t know either.  Perhaps it is because my mom used to have the news on when we were getting ready for school every morning.  Maybe it’s because I enjoy a good debate.  Perhaps it is merely because as a Christian I believe that I have a responsibility to engage with the culture, be a participant in the world I live in, and seek to change the world through the saving gospel message of Jesus Christ.

My Diverse and Apolitical Upbringing

Politics was rarely a topic of discussion around the dinner table in my house growing up.  It wasn’t that politics was a taboo subject, or something we believed was a matter of private conviction and therefore not appropriate dinner time banter, but it just wasn’t something of great importance that anyone in my family felt the need to discuss.

Usually I would ask who my parents and grandparents were voting for in presidential elections, and usually they would tell me.  Again, not much discussion of issues or why my family members were voting the way they were, just simply a statement of fact as to which hole they would punch in the ballot come November.

I believe that it’s important to explain the political worldview in which I was raised to give context for my current views.  However, I didn’t ask any of my family member’s permission to talk about their voting history, so I will attempt to give some explanation, without revealing any personal details.  I know that at least one of my parents has voted for both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in my lifetime and I believe the other one has primarily (if not exclusively) voted Republican.  One set of grandparents have voted for Republican and Democratic candidates, as well as a third party candidate in my lifetime.  My paternal grandmother would have no problem with me telling everyone (and would be happy that I am doing so) that she was a lifelong Democrat who never veered from the party line.

I wasn't raised to be a Republican or a Democrat.  I was raised to be a follower of Christ.  When it came to politics I was taught to look first to scripture and let the Spirit be my guide as I seek the proper course to take.  My next responsibility is to become informed.  To research the candidates and the party's platforms, and find out who the best person and ideas are, as they relate to scripture.  Too many people are raised on one side of the aisle or the other and only become informed so as to support their point of view, instead of letting their stance be determined by the facts.  I hope that my upbringing and an explanation of my voting history will show that I have always sought to be well informed and to let scripture and the facts guide my decisions, instead of the other way around.

My Voting History

I first became interested in politics in 1992 when George H. W. Bush (R) was running for reelection against Bill Clinton (D) and Ross Perot (I).  I was in first grade at the time, and my class ran a mock election for our school that November.  Our teacher asked us to break into three groups, one for each candidate, joining the one for the candidate we supported.  I joined the Bill Clinton group, because I had heard that he had wanted to become president since he was in the first grade, and I was in the first grade (a great reason to support a candidate, I know).  I became Clinton’s campaign manager at my school, and led my group in promoting the Arkansas governor in my school for our nation’s highest office.  On Election Day we staged an election in our school, and unfortunately for me, Mr. Bush was reelected.  While I was disappointed with the loss at school, I was excited the next morning when I learned that my candidate had won the actual election.  In 1996 I recall supporting Mr. Clinton again, though I still wasn’t really interested in presidential politics in terms of issues at the time.

My next moment of political involvement came while I was in the sixth grade when I wrote a multi-page letter to my state senator and state representative outlining why I believed the Ohio Proficiency Test (now called the Ohio Graduation Test) was unfair, unreliable, and why it should be replaced as a method of assessing how students were learning and meeting standards across the state.  I actually received a letter back from Jim Jordan, my state representative.  While he dismissed all of my reasons and ideas for change, he was very polite and it was nice to receive a response.

In 2000 I was definitely a George W. Bush (R) supporter, and was pleased both to see that Ohio had voted for him and that he ended up being the eventual president (ironic that I supported the son of the president I “campaigned” against in 1992 instead of the VP of the man I tried to elect).  I turned 18 two months before the election in 2004, and was excited to vote for the first time.  I voted for George W. Bush, and was a very strong supporter.  I voted a basically straight Republican ticket that year with one exception.  As a college student outside of Chicago, I registered in Illinois, and I voted for Barack Obama (D) for Senate.

By the time the 2008 election rolled around I had become pretty disappointed with where the Bush presidency had ended, but this did not mean that I had decided not to vote for a Republican again.  When the Iowa Caucuses had ended I was far more excited to see that Mike Huckabee had won the Republican Caucus than I was to see that Mr. Obama had won the Democratic Caucus.  As the campaign trudged on and as it became clear who the two nominees would be, I remained undecided.  I was split pretty evenly about which candidate I agreed with on various issues.  It wasn’t until about a week before Election Day that I made up my mind.  What made my decision was that I decided that I agreed with Mr. Obama on more of the issues that I felt were most important at the time (namely the economy).  That same year, though, I still voted a primarily Republican ticket.  Outside of the President, I’m not sure I voted for a single other Democrat.

Since 2008, I have continued to vote primarily Republican in most elections.  I have voted for Democrats when I felt that they were the best candidate or when they were the incumbent and I felt that they had done a good job and felt no need for a change.  I did vote to reelect Ted Strickland (D) for governor (mainly because at that point I would have rather had the devil I knew over the devil I didn’t), but I also believe that Gov. John Kasich (R) has done a very good job as our governor and I am likely to vote for him in the next Ohio gubernatorial election.

Since I turned 18, I have probably voted for Republican candidates 75% of the time, if not more.  There was even a time where I identified myself as a Republican.  Ever since the 2004 election I’ve identified myself as an independent because I realized that I don’t completely agree with either party, and if I don’t (and if I don’t plan on voting a straight party ticket) then I don’t feel I can identify myself as a member of one party over the other.  At this point though, I have moved from being a right leaning moderate to being a left leaning moderate.

Conclusion

Over the next few days I’ll explain why I have moved to the left (or rather, why I believe the left has come more in line with my religious convictions since I don't believe that my convictions haven’t changed much).  I hope that this post has provided some context for my current views, and I look forward to exploring these important issues in more detail.  I invite you to leave feedback here or on Facebook (although I’d prefer you leave your feedback here).

I encourage open and meaningful debate, and will not edit anyone’s posts because their opinion is different than mine, but if the conversation becomes too negative or if people begin making person attacks, outlandish statements, or simply saying things that are false then I will deleted your posts.  Please remain civil and respectful.  I’d also appreciate it if we keep the conversation to the topic of the post that day, and I’ve outlined the schedule of what I will be posting about in my introduction post.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read these blogs and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who is willing to engaging with me in this process.  I am both honored and humbled.

The Theology of Politics

 

Introduction

Over the past three decades or so, the Republican Party has convinced the nation that they have a monopoly on Christian morality.  I don’t believe that they do.  While I don’t believe that either political party perfectly reflects my Christian convictions, I do believe that right now the Democratic Party reflects those convictions better than the Republican Party does.

On some issues the Democrats better represent the biblical stance on an issue.  On other issues the Republicans are better biblical representatives.  On some issues neither party does a good job of holding to the biblical stance.  On other issues there really is no clear biblical perspective, so the stance for Christians is more open.

What I'm trying to accomplish

Over the next five days I will be posting five brief essays explaining why I am a Christian who has chosen to vote Democrat in the upcoming election.  I also want to do this to assure others (and myself) that my choice to vote this way is because of my Christian convictions and not in spite of them.

My goal with this isn’t to convince anyone to vote Democrat or to come over to my way of seeing things.  My goal is simply to lay out the important political issues as I see them, examine each party’s stance on those issues, and see what scripture has to say about them.  I also want to take a look at the candidates and evaluate each of them from a biblical perspective.

This exercise is more for my own benefit than it is for the benefit of others.  It is merely a way for me to explore, research, think through, and examine how I as a Christian see my role in this world as I interact with the American political system.

If you choose to read along, I invite you to interact with me, but more importantly, I invite you to interact with scripture and with our Heavenly Father as you examine the important issues facing us as citizens of America today.

A few notes on procedure

I will post one blog each evening beginning tomorrow and ending on Friday.

Monday - My political upbringing
Tuesday - The relationship between religion and politics
Wednesday - A look at the candidates
Thursday - The "Christian Issues:" Abortion and Gay Marriage
Friday - A biblical take on the issues and where the Parties stand

I will be referencing a lot of scripture, but I won’t necessarily be directly quoting verses or long passages, so whenever I reference or quote the Bible I will link to the verse or passage I am talking about.  Whenever I quote statistics or studies, I will also link to the source of the information whenever possible, so that you can check my sources and read more on items you would like to know more about.

I want to encourage discourse on these important issues.  Feel free to use your Google account to comment directly on the blog (this would be my preference), or you can comment on the links I will post on Facebook each day.  I also want to remind everyone to remain civil and respectful as we discuss issues that often stir up intense emotions.

Thank you for reading these posts and for participating with me as I go through this process of engaging the political process as a Christian.

A Selfish Revelation

Yesterday while I was at work at my “other job” (waiting tables at an Italian restaurant) I came to the realization that I’m an incredibly selfish person.

When food is up in the window I will skip over other people’s orders that have been there longer than mine in order to take my food out to my table (even though we are supposed to run food for everyone and in the order that it came up).  I get annoyed when a fellow server reaches over me for the ice scoop and begins filling glasses with ice while I’m still at the drink machine filling my glasses, even though I often do the same thing.  My concern for the success of my fellow employees or for the company as a whole only goes as far as it directly impacts me and the amount of money that I make.

My selfishness extends far beyond the workplace and my desire to maximize my income, regardless of how it affects those around me.  My selfishness extends deep into my spiritual life.  I want to be spiritual and grow closer to God for my own sake, but not for the sake of others.  My desire to help others grow spiritually really only goes as deep as my desire to make myself feel good for helping them.  It’s not the least bit altruistic, but rather it is incredibly selfish.

I’m reminded that, as the prophet Isaiah said, our “righteous acts are filthy rags” to God.  Even my good deeds are an extension of my selfishness, and as such, God doesn’t see them as good, he sees them as filthy rags.  Indeed some good may be done through my actions, but it is in spite of myself, not because of me.  It is only by the power of God through me that good comes of my selfishly motivated spirituality.

I’m so selfish that I often keep the good news of Christ to myself.  I have been saved by God’s grace, but instead of sharing this with others and introducing them to Christ so that they also might be saved, I keep quiet.  If I truly loved and cared for those around me, I would be sharing the message of Jesus Christ every chance I got.

As a human, I have a sin nature and I am motivated by a desire to do what benefits me.  Being humble and acting selflessly is not a natural thing to do.  I need to learn to consider the needs of others and place them above my own.  I can’t do this on my own.  Only God can transform me and help me to become the being that He desires for me to be.

Heavenly Father, help me to overcome my selfishness.  Help me to see people and care for them and their needs, instead of placing all of their value in how they can help me.  Make me to be more like your son Christ, who put others ahead of himself.  Allow me to see the needs of others and give me a desire to help people for their sake, and not for my own.  Make me into the person you want me to be, motivated by love, and not by selfishness.  In Jesus name, amen.