The Role of the Church in Politics
All too often we hear the clamor for “Separation of Church and State”. And usually, it is agreed upon that churches who violate this separation of church and state, those who bust through the wall of separation, should lose their tax-exempt status. It is believed that American churches have played politics for too long. That the Religious Right, the Moral Majority, has given us presidents like George W. Bush, creator of such nemeses as the Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the Axis of Evil, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and No Child Left Behind. Because of the preaching of churches supporting Bush and his doctrines, we are still fighting these nemeses, and will be for a long time. Attack them where it hurts, their coffers, by revoking their tax exemption, and we won’t have to face these problems in the future. This refrain can be heard from both sides, as well. In addition to those who oppose the Religious Right and President Bush, you have those who disapprove of President Obama, ACORN, and Pastor Jeremiah Wright.
So what is the church’s role in politics? Do we refrain from preaching the truth because politicians and their disciples on either side don’t like it? I think the answer is, and should be, hell no!
First, we must acknowledge that the church does have a prophetic role with the government. Where would David have been if the Lord’s prophet had alerted him to his sin with Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba? (1Sa 12) How would David have known to expect peril for Israel if the Prophet Gad had not condemned him for the census he performed? (2Sa 24) Or if Samuel had not confronted the sins of Saul? Would the Emperor Theodosius have continued slaughtering innocents of Bishop Ambrose of Milan had not withstood him? How much worse would English attacks on Ireland have been if St.Patrick had not confronted the king and his bishops?
Finally, we must consider what is actually opposed. Is it what the church is preaching politically that is opposed? Or, is it that the church is preaching politically that is opposed? In my research and experience, the complaint may be that the church is preaching, but the reasons for this being wrong is always because of what she is preaching. This being said, why does the church preach wrongly? Why does the church, when it does preach politically, preach wrongly?
This is because the church is confused about its role in society. It has been consistently told, and believed, that it isn’t to preach politics. When something comes up that it feels strongly about and can convince itself that it should speak up, it attaches itself to the man with the message, rather than the message. So, the church, upset with abortion in America, attaches itself to the Republican Party and its representatives, like Bush, and accepts everything (with few exceptions) that he says: hook, line, and sinker. If the church would acknowledge that the Scriptures address everything, even politics and the law, she might be more inclined to address the issues as they come up: education, war, property rights, honest money, marriage–as a family institution not government, life, torture, Habeus Corpus, theft, taxation, etc. Then, church leaders can stand up–as Ambrose did–and refuse communion to those who commit murder (either through war or abortion), and who are thieving tyrants (through inflation and excessive taxation).
Some churches get this only half wrong. John Piper’s church in Minnesota, believes it is not the church’s role to preach politics, EXCEPT in the areas of abortion and racism. How they make exceptions and then limit it to just those two arenas, I am clueless. However, he does preach those issues as issues, and not by attaching himself to a person and all of his platform. Other churches get it all the way wrong.
The solution, however, is not to limit them from preaching politics–that itself is a violation of the separation of church and state, telling the church what she can and cannot preach. The solution is to wake the church up to fulfill its role more fully. And to do that, they have to accept that the whole Bible address all of life. Then, we can see churches fulfilling their role, and fulfilling it well.
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November 6th, 2009 at 9:19 am
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by mgbianc: New blog post: The Role of the Church in Politics http://cli.gs/Zd0D5...
November 6th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Hey- there is a new film which mixes BOTH abortion and racism – tell the real agenda of abortion – called: Maafa21. See a clip here: http://www.maafa21.com