Common wisdom says that religion and politics should not be mixed. I think that is only half true. Let me explain.
When it comes to politics mixing with religion I agree the two should not mix. The reason is that it almost always becomes a very toxic blend. This is because politicians have agendas that usually contradict and undermine the best about religion. What is more, they have vested interests in using religion to their own advantage. History shows that when this happens religion is used to justify conflict, oppression, war, economic and social injustice. Indeed, when politics mixes with religion, the former becomes tyrannical and the latter loses credibility. .
But the opposite is not the case. Of course, if when we speak of religion we mean organized religion, then I would agree that it should not be mixed with politics. Our founders understood the dangers inherent in that and so chose to prohibit the mixing of the two while also guaranteeing the right of anyone to be religious. They could have written a theocratic Constitution, but chose instead to write one that was intentionally religiously neutral.
On the other hand, if we are talking about “faith” when we use the word “religion,” then I think the two not only should be mixed, but have to be in order for faith to make a difference in people’s lives. Politics is about issues, about agendas, about making laws and using them in certain ways. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that politics is about power, and morality is about the right use of power. This is because politics is about the relationship between people and their government.
Now, if faith has nothing to say about that relationship, nothing to say about the right use of power, then faith has nothing to say that anyone would need to hear. Faith, after all, is about how you live, the values, priorities, commitments, and ways of thinking that guide how you treat other people. That inevitably interacts with politics. If faith is isolated from politics, then it truly is so heavenly that it is not worth an earthly thing.
While visiting my mother in October of 2004 in Lynchburg, Virginia where I grew up, I happened to catch Jerry Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour on the television as I was flipping through the channels. He was talking about the presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry. In urging his congregation to vote he said, “I don’t want you to vote Democrat or Republican. I want you to vote Christian.”
I remember thinking, he is exactly right, and he also put it in very cleaver way. Christians should vote their faith. If your faith makes a difference in your life, then you cannot NOT vote Christian. The difference between Jerry and me then, and remains so with his sons who now follow in his footsteps, is how they and I understand what “voting Christian” means. We have different views on what it means to be Christian in the first place, which makes what we believe about how being Christian would affect the way I vote also very different.
But the “vote Christian” part Jerry talked about is spot on. And that is why I say religion, that is, faith, should mix with politics. Not in any institutional way. Not in a state sanctioned religion way. I am talking about mixing the two because religious people ought to be engaging the great issues of today from the perspective of their faith. Many Christians will do this in a way that I don’t like. I will do it in a way they don’t like. But I believe the American way is for each of us to have the freedom and responsibility to do it as long as we know and accept where the boundaries markers are.
What say ye?
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“Voting Christian” for me is having the wisdom to recognize the issues in politics knowing that some will test my faith and helps me to face them with courage. As a christian I will be tolerant in my attitude yet strong, strong to speak up for those who have no voice. To speak the right word, to take the right action when I see injustice and unkindness.This will be my responsibility towards my brothers and sisters not because I am American, but as a human being with a Christ-spirit.
Ones faith, the personal interpretation of spiritual values and meanings, is an integral part of ones personality and I cannot see this NOT influencing every aspect of a persons interaction with others, individually and collectvely. We WILL vote, an act which envisions a cultural manifestation, based on our values. This is how life on earth becomes as it is in heaven, eventually, when our minds are attune with our spirits at their height of alignment with God’s will..
In faith we act out of a scope of vision which is as large or small as our undertanding of the Creator and where we fit in as a species in what He has created. This is our spiritual maturity. Humans are all over the map with regard to our spiritual maturity; person by person, culture by culture, nation by nation and thus our world chaos. We are still “earning knowledge”; one of the most thought provoking descriptions I’ve come across for the purpose of life. In this purposeful journey we need to act to make manifest our own spiritual vision of life here and gradually, with however much time we require, God’s plan will happen. Of course, everyone interpreting God through the lens of love, seeing others as His creation and our brothers, is our greatest threshold. While this journey is taking place we will “vote” our visions and our societies will “look” like our values. We will get the government we deserve. The world today portrays values conflicts which highlight a broad understanding of brotherhood among common people that are challenging governments seemingly without that value. I think this is promising though the road will be difficult. I will vote for “brotherhood”!