Faith and Politics

[James Nored]

Many Christians are anxious about the upcoming election. I am an avid political observer, but I place little hope in politics to change the world. Jesus had not a single senator or governor on his side, and yet he transformed the world. Recently, I have been surprised to find people such as Brian McLaren come out and make political endorsements.

So my question is, what role should Christians play in politics? Is there a danger in this?

[James Nored]

Garth, I remember you telling me this story. Pretty interesting.

[Matt Brunk]

James- This is an interesting topic. There is a book out written years ago by Tony Campolo called "Is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat?" It caused me to look at Jesus' life and the way in which he made decisions. My assessment- he would today be called an Independent. Ok- right of center slightly. Certain hot-button topics such as abortion, the death penalty and damaging the environment certainly push people to 1 side of the policitcal continuum. Instead of simply taking the side of 1 candidate or speaking about 1 issue, it is important for us to dig deeper and talk about the real problem(s). Is abortion the problem in America? Or is it a symptom of a bigger problem- people not realizing the value of life or people looking to sex to fill the God-shaped void in their heart.

The world expects Christians to come out, picket, scream and tell everyone else how to live. We need to throw out the talking points and spin and speak to the heart of the problems in our world. Somewhere it is written, "There is nothing new under the sun." Oh yeah- that was God who wrote that in his best-selling book, "The Bible".

[Matt Brunk]

Did you hear Joe Biden speaking in Missouri the other day? It was refreshing to hear a candidate not tear down another political enemy. He said that George Bush is a patiotic American. George Bush is not a bad guy. He used the policies he thought would work to strengthen the USA and the economy.

After that, he did some spin and tried to tie Bush to all the mortgage companies subprime mess and say that all the junk is Bush's fault. BUT, he attacked the policies, not the politican.

Our friends (non-Christian) don't want to hear about what is wrong about a certain church denomination or religion. Much like we don't want to hear party lines anymore. We want to talk about issues. We want to search for truth. Pure, unfiltered, not too easy to swallow truth.

[Lynn S. Nored]

I agree that politics is not the proper medium to transform the world in Christ's image. On the other hand, if we are to "serve the community", isn't there a place for Christians in the public square? Should Christians ignore the public square? And, does being a Christian mean we should not publically adknowledge some political agenda are better from a Christian viewpoint than others. Or is it true that the community sector of public political discourse and life is "off limits" for a Christian. I would be interested in other views of the above.