If you want to get my take on politics and the church, take a look at the "Categories" section on the right side of this page and link on "Politics." Here are some insights from John Ortberg (a summary of his article follows):
Talking Religion and Politics without Getting Co-opted
by John Ortberg
Anybody but me notice that this is an
election year?
...Here's the problem: politics is an important sphere
of human activity, and as such God is keenly interested in it. It was
the Dutch theologian and politician (why don't we have more of those?)
Abraham Kuyper who famously said, "There is not one inch of creation
about which Jesus Christ does not say: 'This is mine!'"
However, as soon as human beings (including church
leaders) start assuming they are in a position to pronounce God's
political leanings, things get a little dicey.
In Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, which
remains the high water mark in presidential theological reflection, he
notes that "Both (the North and the South) read the same Bible, and
pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other." So
maybe a way to place politics in its proper context is with a little
thought experiment.
Imagine that we elected all the right people to all
the right offices. President, Congress, governors, right down to the
school board, city council members, and dog catcher (which, by the way,
does anyone still get to vote for?) Let's imagine that all of these
ideal office holders instituted all the right policies. Every piece of
legislation—from zoning laws, to tax codes, to immigration policy, to
crime bills—is just exactly the way you know it ought to be.
Would that usher in perfection?
...no human system has the ability to change the human
heart. Not even democracy, or capitalism, or post-modern-emergent-ancient-future-missionalism. T.S. Elliot summed up
our quandary brilliantly: "We want a system of order so perfect that we
do not have to be good."
...no human system has the ability to change the human heart. Not even democracy, or capitalism, or post-modern - emergent - ancient - future - missionalism. T.S. Elliot summed up our quandary brilliantly: "We want a system of order so perfect that we do not have to be good."
Systems are important but they're also complicated.
Historian Mark Noll notes that evangelicals often fail to add value in
politics because we like simplicity: good vs. evil; right vs. wrong.
Political and economic arrangements are full of complexity and nuance.
Well-intended legislation may lead to poor results. When we condition
people to think that every bill is a battle between the forces of
righteousness versus the minions of darkness, we do not serve the
process well. But we specialize in polarizing. No parachurch
organization with a political agenda ever sent out a fund-raising
letter noting that an upcoming bill was "likely to do 40 percent more
good than harm."
We ought to be engaged in the political process. ...We should do it in a way that
is civil and respectful and redemptive. ...But we should also remember that the church is not called to be one
more political interest group.
The human race needs an administration of another
kind. There is one possibility. Someone needs to be in a position to
say: "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good
News." Scholars like N.T. Wright remind us that these words were
politically loaded. They deliberately echo or parody the claims of
Rome—that Caesar was Savior, that his kingdom was Good News.
The Gospel of the early church was, among other
things, a deliberate in-your-face to the empire. Pretty cheeky when you
think that the church had a few thousand ragged cohorts and the Empire
ruled sixty-five million hearts. It was pretty clear which horse to bet
on. But here we are, two thousand years later, and we give our children
names like Peter, Paul, and Mary; and we call our dogs Caesar and Nero.
These gospel words of the early church were
deliberately politically loaded. But they were not to be co-opted. They
are to stand above every human party and candidate and political
platform. The church historically has not done well when it gets too
closely associated with empires. The gospel words must transcend higher
to go deeper...
There's more if you link, but these are some good thoughts in the middle of this political season.
