The Church and Its New Adultery: AKA Faith and Politics.

The race is on. Obama vs. Clinton vs. Edwards vs. Others and Romney vs. Huckabee vs. McCain vs. Giuliani vs. Others. The race for the next President of the United States of America. You’d have to be a penguin living in farthest reaches of Antarctica not to know this is going on. Even then, look out for the Democrats; one of them might come down to kiss you because you’re supposed to be melting and all. Some of us are reveling in this; seeing our 200 plus year old democratic process in action. Some of us are just waiting for them to write dictatorship into the constitution so we don’t have to go through this song and dance every four years. Candidates are spending record amounts of money on campaigns promising fiscal responsibility; flying around in private jets promoting tougher standards on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s difficult to find a side that isn’t all promises and little to no action. Then there’s the fact that I’m a white, middle-classed, Christian male and I’ve already been told with whom I’m suppose to side.

That’s right. Faith and politics is the topic I’ve chosen to tackle this post; the most quintessential taboo subject in the history of all communication. Feathers could be ruffled, toes could be stepped on, feelings could turn uncomfortable; you’ve been warned.

So, what role does my faith and your faith play in our politics? Is it a prominent player; leading the team in points, rebounds, and assists? Or does it sit on the bench; waiting to be called on to fetch water and towels and such? If I’m a Christian, should I only vote for Christians? If I’m a Christian should I not vote for members of another faith when there’s a Christian on the ballot?

Well, for those who do claim a faith, you know it really is inseparable from the rest of your life. The decisions you make stem from what you believe and what you believe stems from the decisions you make. (Yeah, it’s weird.) So to say, “Hey! Put your faith aside!” when it comes to the area of politics is essentially impossible. Then, if you’re a star player, your faith becomes a star player. If you’re a benchwarmer, then your faith becomes a benchwarmer. Plain and simple; you are not detached from your beliefs, nor are your beliefs detached from you.

Now that the detachment of faith from ourselves is established as impossible (be it in very few and probably unconvincing words), the question can really be asked. That is, what role should faith play in politics? I recently read a few things regarding this question. (Hence, why it’s a topic I’m currently writing about. I suppose if I were reading about ducks, I would write about ducks. Maybe I should read more about ducks? Ducks seem to be a far less offensive topic.) One specifically being an opinion article found in U.S.A. Today. The article was entitled “A Plea to Evangelicals – From an Evangelical.” The author, according to U.S.A. Today, a “Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, and author of The Future of Faith in American Politics,” set out to argue that Evangelical conservatives seem to be bringing to the public a form of Christianity that the public may or may not be asking for. I agreed with his argument. Let me highlight a few of his points.

Conservative evangelicalism has become synonymous with Christianity and vice versa. If someone what’s to know where Christians stand on issues, rather than ask the Christians they know, they can look to a conservative evangelical for all the info. According to the author of the article, this is a dangerous position for Christianity to be in.

"Our reputation is at stake, our voice in the culture, and the health of our
religious communities. If the most vocal evangelicals get this wrong, it damages
all evangelicals — all religious believers, really. I am not just talking
about a bit of embarrassment in polite company. If there are people who reject
God or the church, Christianity or religiously inspired moral values because of
what conservative evangelical political activists do, this is disastrous from a
Christian point of view. There are many such people. Here we are at the very
heart of our religious mission, and it is getting fouled up by our
politics."

How has this come about you may ask? He answers. It seems, for the past 20 plus years, Christianity has married itself to the Republican Party. It’s true. Now, I’m no theological expert, but I remember reading somewhere that the Church is Christ’s bride. How can the bride of Christ be married to anything other that Christ itself without committing adultery? It can’t.

"Once any group of Christians gives itself away so completely to a political
party, it ceases to be the church. The church becomes a branch office of the
group's political party of choice — The First Republican Church in
America. This is the root problem, and it leads to all the other specific
mistakes that follow: using the church (or parachurch organizations) and its
considerable resources for direct or veiled candidate endorsements, political
strategizing, dissemination of essentially partisan "voter guides," and
get-out-the-vote efforts. A whole lot more than tax status is threatened when
churches go over so completely to the business of secular politics."

So instead of doing Christ’s work, God’s work, we are doing the work of man.

“Specifically for Christians, we (should) know that the mission of the church is
to be Christ's faithful people, and to do its core work of preaching, teaching
and serving our neighbors. If it is true (as we boldly believe) that the church
is the central location for the work God is doing to redeem the world, then our
focus should be on the church's work, not the state's. As one aspect of our
God-inspired love for our neighbor, we can ask the state and its leaders to do
justice, protect life and advance the common good. We can do this in many quite
constructive ways, from scholarly work to declarations of principles to activism
on specific issues.
But we dare not identify the work of any state, any
political party or any politician with the work of God or the task of the
church. Every time we do so we end up embarrassing ourselves, enraging the
neighbors we are called to love, deepening the culture wars and damaging our own
mission.”

Now, this is not to say that if you are a Christian, or even broader, if you are affiliated with any religious organization, that you cannot claim yourself to a specific political party. This is also not to say that one’s involvement in politics, if the person is religious, should be on a very limited basis. Absolutely not. The danger lies in the Church affiliating itself with anything other than Christ. Thus, as members of this Church (if you proclaim Christ, you are a member), we should first and foremost be affiliating ourselves with Christ.

Where you stand politically may not be the same as your brother or sister in Christ standing right next to you worshiping on a Sunday morning. That’s okay. God created us all uniquely (Interesting isn’t it? How we can all be unique and yet all be of the image of God who is one. Yeah, it’s weird.) and it should just flow naturally from that that we’d think uniquely as well. Unity in the body is not called to be over political issues, but over Christ.

Now, that wasn’t so bad was it? If it was, let me know. The way I like to work and write is by suggestion. So, if there’s something you’d like to hear my thoughts on or you’d like me to experience and write about, let me know that too. I rarely say no to a challenge, so all suggestions are welcome.

2008: A Goal Odyssey

Goals for 2008

As presented by Clayton Zylstra.

1. Continue looking for opportunities to exercise.

2. Consciously become less wasteful. That means eating the heels of a loaf of bread. That means recycling whenever possible. That means not making unnecessary trips in my car. That means not buying things unless I need them; unfortunately the definition of need will probably fluctuate throughout the year.

3. Become a better overall influence to everyone I come in contact with; physical contact or cyber contact. This goes along with being less wasteful; you know, not wasting opportunities and such. This means having others’ joys, concerns, well-beings before my own, always. This means when I can help someone, I help them. This means when someone doesn’t want my help, I don’t force my help on them. This means if someone doesn’t want to see me anymore, I don’t see them. This means if someone wants to see me more, I see them. This means if someone wants to talk about things I don’t want to hear about, I listen.

4. Climb Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams before I leave with Operation Mobilization.

5. Spend an entire month where I buy 0 food. I’d like to see how well I eat without spending money. Hopefully I don’t die.

6. Not die. (I can’t make any guarantees.)

7. Sport a beard of length less than a half an inch and of length 3 inches all in the same month.

8. I won’t have a girlfriend for at least 2 years; I’d like to be satisfied with that fact.

9. Find a deodorant that actually works on me. Not that I smell, but I sweat.

10. Thank a little person.

I shall see how well I met these in 12 months.