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It appears that yet another group of liberals is trying to claim that they speak for conservatives. The Republican party if full of those, from John McCain, as de facto head of the party that’s supposed to represent us (who told us to calm down), to the Western Washington Republican party leaders who call themselves ‘conservatives’ while work against religious conservatives (who usually make or break Republican campaigns).

This latest attempt is from the religious left. A group calling themselves ‘Evangelicals leaders’ is claiming that ‘Evangelicals’ are tired of politics creeping into their faith. This is just plain wrong in so many ways.

First of all, only a minority of Christians call themselves ‘evangelicals’. Most of us make a categorical distinction between our beliefs and those of self-proclaimed evangelicals. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say that referring to conservative Christians as ‘evangelicals’ shows ignorance and in some cases outright bigotry. The only term that’s worse is ‘fundamentalist’, which usually comes from narrow-minded, non-religious, left-wing bigots.

Next, they’re putting together a ‘manifesto’. Most Christians have only one ‘manifesto’, that’s the Bible. Some adhere to various parts of writings and declarations from the second century of the Christian church or beyond, but few, if any, hold to all parts of them, mostly because anything past the canonized Bible tends to contradict other writings and the Bible itself. But that’s another discussion altogether. Most church-goers won’t necessarily agree with every point of their own churches Statement of Faith, much less something that comes from another group.

Then comes the issue of the statements of this forthcoming manifesto. I haven’t read it. I can’t even find it. It’s supposed to be released in DC next week. A few things came out in a press release or have been quoted by those who have read it. So far, I don’t agree with what I’ve heard beyond a basic assent to an underlying principle that might be indirectly referenced by a statement or two (translation: fat-chance).

I should point out that the document, which claims to complain about how much politics have found its way into the church, is being released in Washington, DC, the nation’s political capital. If it were truly intended to protect the faith of Christians, I can think of a few places that would be a better venue, such as Nashville or Colorado Springs, both hubs of certain types of activity for several Christian groups. This is clearly a political document aimed at Christians, rather than an article of faith aimed at politics.

I personally believe that as a Christian in America, it is our duty to bring our faith into our politics, just as our opponents in the political arena bring their own version of faith (usually faith in man, nature or some obscure, random series of occurrences often referred to as ‘the universe’) into their politics.

The reason that we have a duty to participate in politics is that unlike other forms of government (kingdom, dictatorship, pure democracy, aristocracy, etc.) our form of government has the people ruling themselves. The highest ranking member of our political structure is the voter. Each voter delegates his authority to someone whom the majority agree would be a fitting representative. Whether you agree with the majority or not, you’ve given your assent to his or her representation by the simple act of voting.

That gives us a responsibility to choose (or at least vote for) someone who truly represents our values, who we can trust to steer the government in a way that is consistent with our values. As Christians, our values intersect with politics most in the area of morality and social values. So when Christians cast a vote, they are doing what they can to influence the political machine in our society, and so they can (and most would agree that they should) cast their vote in a way that is consistent with their faith.

Conversely, I think that with that responsibility placed on each citizen of the U.S., and therefore each Christian who is a citizen of the U.S., political issues should be addressed in the context of their faith. Having the responsibility of self-government should be taken just as seriously as the responsibilities of family, jobs and ministries. Citizenship, which includes voting, is a responsibility that cannot be separated from a Christian’s other responsibilities in life. Those responsibilities are inseparably intertwined.

So for a pastor or minister to neglect discussion of political issues is to neglect an important part of the lives of the people that he (or she) is responsible to teach and to lead. I’m not suggesting blind following of a self-appointed leader, which is usually the response that anti-religious bigots throw out.

What I am saying is that a pastor or minister has a responsibility to search the scriptures to find where they have application to the political issues facing the people he (or she) is responsible to lead (pastor, shepherd). Having done so, each Christian (little Christ, or follower of Christ) has a responsibility to further search the Scriptures to determine if the things they’ve been told are actually so.

Jesus said, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.” Putting ‘national government’ in the place of ‘Caesar’ (an accurate application to modern times), He would say today, “render unto national government what belongs to national government, and unto God what is God’s”. The leadership of our vote is one of the things we ‘render unto’ our government, just like taxes or jury duty. How we cast that vote comes from who we are and the values we hold dear. Those values come from God’s Word and His Spirit, which He put within us.

So to the people who say that we should get politics out of our faith, I would say that as Christians our responsibility is to keep them together and to do the best that we can in helping to lead this nation, one vote at a time.

They do not speak for me.

AP: ‘Conservative’ Christian’s ‘Manifesto’ Has Few Conservatives Involved
AP Newsbreak: Evangelicals say faith is now too political

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm and is filed under National Issues, Religion. 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.