Christians in America, Intro
Bloggers note: The opinions in this blog do not represent an official position of Park St. Brethren Church. They are correct, but they are my opinions, not necessarily the church’s. 
Also, when I refer to “Church” from now on, I am referring to the whole community of Jesus-followers, not a particular congregation or organization of believers.
Over the past year, ever since the Presidential Primaries, I have become more and more frustrated and disappointed with the political landscape in America. Along with that comes a similar frustration with the Christian Community and its general confusion about the roles of government and Church. Last night I was listening to both sides of the debate on the “Cap and Trade” bill and my frustration came to a hard boil as I realized how badly we’re missing the point of government in America. I feel like the beauty of the Constitution, and its foundations, are slipping away and that we will never be able to restore it. I also feel like the beauty of the Gospel, and its power that is independent of national boundaries, is being misrepresented and placed in a cage. Both of these prospects bring great sadness and discouragement to my heart.
As I’ve listened to Christian young adults’ views on government, as they relate to faith and life in America, it has occurred to me that most of you are sincere in wanting to live out your faith in a Godly way in all areas of life and there is a new “passive activism” among you. The activist part shows a heart-felt interest in areas of justice, compassion and renewal in society. The passive part is that you haven’t always invested yourselves in seeking out an understanding of the foundations of Christianity and American government to grasp the complexities and hard work that go along with becoming Christian-Americans with influence. In my opinion, this passive activism is resulting in a handing-over of our God-given role to others whose motives aren’t the same.
There are many people who lack the nerve to mix politics and religion. Some think that Jesus’ lack of direct teaching on the mix sets an example for us to be silent as well. I am compelled to believe that much of his silence was not a signal to keep silent on the mix, but more a sign that He saw all parts of life as related to all other parts. Too many specifics from Him defining separate roles of politics and spirituality would make them seem too disconnected. I believe that His silence gives us a chance to freely represent him within the messy stew of politics and religion that changes with each age and form of government.
Others are too eager to directly link American political patriotism to Jesus. Because America has been known as a culturally Christian nation, Americanism and Christianity have become interchangeable for some. Some preachers and authors confuse the two and make Jesus out to be an American. Other editorialists and politicians use Jesus as the poster child for their programs and positions without really embracing the heart of His message.
Over the next two weeks I need to seek some balance and bedrock in this mess. I want to invite you along in the process as I think aloud. I believe that there are a few areas where politics and our faith have t0 coexist. I believe that we spiritual people are called to be political as well when it comes to some very key ideals. I want to put it out there right now that the two, politics and Christianity, come together in a place called liberty (a.k.a freedom). If we understand the spiritual source of this ideal, we will understand our political role in the world. A shared understanding of liberty should unite the Church in its political sense of direction and should make activism not only social but spiritual…and never passive. If young adults can begin to grasp the idea of liberty from God’s perspective, mission and activism will go hand in hand.
Here are some themes I’m going to dice up in the next two weeks:
Good vs. Bad vs. Evil - Before the Fall it was “all good.” The Fall opened a tendency in us to categorize everything into two basic groups: good and bad. As each of us is decides for ourselves what is good and bad, it creates conflict between us when we don’t agree. When this conflict is left to its own, it’s the seed of all kinds of evil. Laws and governments exist to mediate these conflicts. Politics is about bringing balance to these laws and governments for the common good. Politics is unavoidable.
Rights vs. Privileges – Rights come from God. They define the things in life that He has provided for all people everywhere. They remain the same no matter how a government interprets them or ignores them. They are not subject to people’s preferences. Privileges are the things in life that we are permitted to enjoy. They can change based on circumstances. They can be given and taken away. We become disappointed when we confuse rights and privileges.
Freedom and Liberty - Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Freedom and liberty are the states of being 100% able to pursue what is good in life. Since the Fall has created conflict between people and groups as to what is “good,” God’s brand of freedom calls on us to look out for other people’s rights, not our own. When we reverse the Fall and act on behalf of others’ freedom, our motives are redeemed and good emerges. The problem is that those that aren’t playing by the same rules create conflict for those who are selflessly looking out for others. While those people can take away our privileges, they can’t kill our freedom. This kind of freedom changes worlds. This is the ideal upon which the Gospel is based and our country was founded.
I hope you’ll be patient and process these ideals with me. I look forward to tons of conversation!
Tags: America, Christian, Christian-Americans, God, government, Jesus, landscape in america, Laws
Doug…good stuff, and I fundamentally agree. Politics is simply the systematic application of influencing public opinion. Religion, I fear, is the politicising of faith. The “oil-and-water” there is that politics is a “manmade” entity, while faith is a pathway to God and Truth. Your basic frustration has to be similar to mine…Christians, who have “rationalized” through political influence on them, core tenets of the faith. They have bought the “influence” of politics to say that faith and politics MUST be separated. I say, your faith must govern your politics, or you can’t really call yourself a “Christian”. If your politics cause you to do something that Christ would not do…you have violated those limits. I agree with your premise, that young people today do not have a good enough foundation in the faith to use it to govern their politics. Hence, Christians rationalizing abortion, sexuality, and other issues from a political perspective, and NOT applying sound Christian principles to their politics.
Keep rolling on, Doug. My internal reactions to your post were interesting for me to assess as I read through it. I’m essentially very interested to see where you run with this discussion, and will continue to pay attention.
in Jesus,
Adam Baker
Michael… Thanks for your comments!
With young adults, I don’t think the issues are abortion or sexuality. Maybe they should be, but I think those issues belong to us older guys. The current political discourse centers more around compassion, justice and environment and what should be the interplay of faith and politics in these areas? My hunch is that the dramatic swing of young Christians from Republic candidate to Democrat candidate in the last presidential election can almost entirely be attributed to Obama’s ability to perceive that these are the burning issues for younger people. In my opinion, his approach is contorted, but at least he knew what to talk about. The Republicans showed themselves to be extremely out of touch with what it on the hearts and mind of the younger voters.
Doug, this is a great theme to be talking about & I’ve been watching to see what kind of comments/feedback you get. I’m not a part of your group, but I’ve been involved in a similar group here in Midland. I have a couple of random thoughts about your last three paragraphs: I agree that the fall led to a tendency to look at things two dimensional…good/bad, Christian/non-Christian, us/them. As you say, we see this in politics and the church all the time. But it seems that Christ saw things in 3 dimensional…where his way diverged from both ‘norms’ as in the two sons in Luke 15, or challenging the ‘conventional’ wisdom of religiousness in the Pharisees and the Samaritan woman. Jesus forces us to be other-minded, and not trusting in our conventional, ideological thinking. Oswald Sanders said, “It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. There is only one true liberty – the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.”
Hi Bruce…Welcome aboard!
You’ll get no argument from me here. I am getting ready to post the next segment of this mind-flow and I think it will begin to address some of what you’ve brought up.