Marcus Goodyear isSenior Editor of TheHighCalling.org and Christianity Today's "Faith in the Workplace" feature.
Politics are about power and control.
Whether we like it or not, we live in a society in which people do not agree about beliefs, ideals, commitments, or hopes. We don't share the same traditions of faith. We don't participate in the same public rituals. I'm borrowing some of this language from James Davison Hunter's ideas at the Ethics and Public Policy Center because of his conclusions about politics as a force for social change.
Hunter says politics doesn't change culture effectively. He says, "Power does the work that culture used to do." As we grow increasingly fragmented and pluralistic in our beliefs, we need systems of power to hold us together. And the final source of legitimate power is the state itself.
Too often, Christians have turned to the state to seek validity. If the state can grant power, we work, we lobby, we vote, we organize, and we rally to garner some of that power in our direction.
But I worry we are putting the cart before the horse. We don't need the state to validate our faith. Our faith is valid whether or not the culture around us accepts it.
Does this mean we should dismiss politics and go into our prayer corners to wait for Jesus? No. Our daily work is a high calling to serve God -- and that includes politics. Some of us will be called to serve God through politics as conservatives or liberals, Democrats or Republicans, on the national level, state level, or local level. Others will be called to volunteer our time to serve the country around a particular issue. All of us are called to vote with integrity and understanding to the best of our ability.
And yet the rhetoric of politics makes it very difficult to serve with integrity. How can Christian Republicans, Christian Democrats, and Christian Independents serve God without joining in the mud-slinging and name-calling? I suggest we consider the Ten Commandments of Serving God through Politics:
1. Do not worship political theories or parties. (You shall have no other gods before me.) Do not worship ideas or theories instead of God. Not your stance on global warming or capitalism or deregulation or education or abortion or gay marriage or health care or international trade or war. Do not put your hopes in a political stance or party line or economic theory. Those things are important, but they should not distract us from our unity in Christ Jesus.
2. Do not worship political figures or images. (You shall not make for yourself an idol.) Obama is not the savior. Neither is Sarah Palin. Neither is the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. Do not bow to Elephants or Donkeys. Good leadership is important. Political pep rallies and mascots can be fun, but they should not distract us from our unity in Christ Jesus.
3. God is not divinely endorsing your political opinion. (You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God.) This is slippery. But it is important. We can't answer the question Who Would Jesus Vote For? except in the privacy of our own hearts. I'm serious. This doesn't mean Christians can't express political opinions if they are so inclined. But it does mean we must humbly represent our opinions as our own personal opinions, not God's opinion. Neither party is God's party. And in a sense, we ought to take politicians at their word if they call themselves Christians and acknowledge God publicly.
[Read the rest of Goodyear's essay at the Cross and Culture blog.]
Douglas Groothuis is Professor of Philosophy at Denver Theological Seminary:
Between Christians "Right" and "Left," there is a widening gap both relationally and ideologically. Principled Christian conservatives -- who prize limited, Constitutional government, secure borders, individual liberty, the protection of unborn human life, the traditional family, and a strong national defense -- find it difficult to accept that fellow believers would vote for a man, Barack Obama, who denies all of these things and who promised to "fundamentally transform America." We conservatives want no such thing, but rather that America should live up to its founding ideals.
We are concerned that the Christian Left often accuses us of not caring for the poor simply because we do not view the state as the primary means for their empowerment. Rather, we favor a society of opportunity over a society of entitlement, massive civil government, and excessive regulation. We want to see the energies of the church, voluntary associations, and individuals let loose as opposed to constrained by a messianic state that views itself as the primary arbiter of wealth and opportunity. We know full well that the Bible speaks much of helping "the poor and the oppressed," but we are not convinced that left-wing programs best accomplish that task and benefit society as a whole.
Having been part of the evangelical Left for a few years as a young man -- reading Sojourners regularly, as well as books by Ron Sider, Jim Wallis, William Stringfellow, and others -- I now view that approach as naïve, unworkable, and ultimately detrimental to America. While no Christian should put a human ideology above the Kingdom of God or the Bible, I find a classically conservative approach to be more biblical as well as successful historically. Statism, in all its forms, is idolatry; it robs citizens of their freedoms and consolidates an unprincipled power for itself. I look to writers such as Edmund Burke, the American founders, and, more recently, William F. Buckley (Up From Liberalism), Richard John Neuhaus (The Naked Public Square), and Francis Schaeffer (A Christian Manifesto) for inspiration on political philosophy.
The causes of the political tensions between evangelicals are, to some degree, matters of misunderstanding. Some of the causes of tension are unavoidable, however, since conservatism and modern liberalism are two very different animals. For the sake of civility and Christian charity, each side needs to make the case biblically, historically, and empirically that its ideals should win the day.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In