Time for Reform: Issue 2 - Politics

When I say someone is a Christian, what political party do you immediately assume this person would be tied to? Well, if you said “the Republican Party,” you’re absolutely right. And this is a major, major problem.

Here’s the biggest problem with the church and politics: Politics, by their very nature, are intended to divide. The church, by it’s God-given purpose, is intended to unite. Can anyone else here see the problem?

Politics is an ugly game. It forces people to look past the human and to generalize based on a set of rules. If you’re a Republican, chances are you 1) support lower taxes 2) support most wars 3) support prayer in schools and on and on. If you’re a Democrat, chances are you 1) support higher taxes 2) support more Federal social programs and 3) want less “religion” in government and on and on. The problem with these assumptions? They’re hardly true of every person tied to that party, but they’re assumptions we make based on a label alone. It keeps us from engaging people individually and avoiding them altogether in some cases. Rather than getting to know a person and what makes them tick, we judge a person and choose whether or not to engage them or to shun them. Also, considering this country is nearly divided 50/50 between the two parties (or more likely, 30/30/40 independent), by affiliating ourselves with a political party, we immediately build walls between us and a substantial number of people. The church should be in the wall-busting business, not wall-building.

I know of quite a few liberals who don’t go to churches almost for the political reason alone. They feel alienated and disrespected or feel that their beliefs are not valued or to be heard.

So, how can this reform be done? Simple - Christians don’t need to politicize their values. It is great to value the unborn life, but don’t politicize it. It is great to want to pray, but don’t politicize it. It is great to follow the Ten Commandments, but don’t politicize it. Forcing your values on a person will always backfire, no matter what those values are. So, instead of throwing money to political action committees that seek to instill these values in government, we should put that money into ministries that will reach people and teach them the trueness of these values.  We should also embrace people who see politics differently from us. Believing abortion should be legal does not mean you want more abortions. Some people, myself included, believe the legality allows us better opportunities to address the issue at its source. Believing that prayer should not be forced in schools does not mean you don’t believe in prayer.

It’s time for the church to “…give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s…”

This entry was posted on October 17, 2007 at 9:09 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.