Sunday.....Christianity.....The Christian And Politics

Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson were both part of Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority who not only left the organization but used their journalistic skills to work against it. The result was their 1999 book Blinded By Might, Can the Religious Right Save America. I pulled the book off of the shelf to reread it for it was the time of its publication that I began to seriously question a Christian's place in politics. I have written time and time again, and emphasized to the best of my ability, how it is futility to depend on politics and the government it produces to save America against enemies without and within. We continue to, not only cross that line, but build on the other side and fail to even return for short visits of reflection. The warnings given in the book are all well founded but the authors warn only against the snakes off of the road being traveled and ignore the highwaymen and murderers who wait in prey for the overconfident traveler. The critics always proffer the advice that a Christian still has responsibilities to perform in civic matters but the advice given, by the authors and others who concentrate on this problem, is as helpful as George Carlin's sportscaster who gives the scores...8 to 5, 4 to 1, 7 nothing, 10 to 8 and 6 to 5. Just as the Saul Alinsky clones have duped their followers with illogical and downright false sound-bites that propel them on their Progressive journey, the Republiican leadership all too often leads their patriots with a handfull of issues that fit nicely on cardboard signs but also serve to keep them from thinking through the issues in order to adequately defend them. I agree with the authors of Blinded By Might in that when the church involves itself in politics, it accomplishes little and nearly ruins itself. The grand failure of today's pulpits is twofold, first they are too often a proxy for politicians, but secondly and infinitely more important, they fail to see that preaching the Bible (as they like to bill themselves) can even be done by cults and that to truly preach the Bible is to preach Christ. The authors rebelled against what they saw in the Moral Majority as the ultimate aphrodisiac...power and also its failure to see that America needs change from the inside-out.  Dobson's reasoning seemed to be on the concept of loving your enemies while Cal Thomas concentrated on the parable of the landowner who said to wait until the harvest to pull the weeds and burn them. Thomas quotes Harry Blamires in a book that I also highly recommend, The Christian Mind, in as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion-its morality, its worship; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal. Another worthy quote comes from C. S. Lewis I didn't go to religion to make me happy, I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want a religion to  make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity. Thomas says our challenge is not to bring pressure through new strategies of the Republican party, rather it is to bring reflection, a respect for history, and standards of faith to the whirl of information and the advance of technology...this is the gift we offer to culture. Interestingly, since since the publication, Ed Dobson voted for Barack Obama in 2008 while Cal Thomas continues with his syndicated column sounding a lot like the politically aware person he always was. I'm as concerned as the authors were on the mix of politics and Christianity in the strategies of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed but Bill Clinton was treated sympathetically in the book while Dr. James Dobson was severely taken to task. The proclamation of the Gospel is the truth that should motivate us and the only answer to the evils and tyrannies of this world. It would be wiser to look at Dr. Dobson as someone in the same boat as we are, engage him in areas we disagree but rejoice in the contributions he made while not letting our own follies stray too far from our minds. One answer to this problem, in my opinion, is separation of politics from the pulpit and not expulsion of politics from the Christian mind for as John Bunyan so beautifully described in Pilgrim's Progress, we are on a path, and as Christian encountered two lions on his journey, they were tethered. All the tyrannies we face are also tethered as they might destroy our salvation but they are not tethered as they affect our lives and the futures of our families. We cannot abdicate our responsiblliilties nor can we accept voting once every two years as fulfilling that obligation. As a church, we are as illiterate in the doctrines behind the parables as we are in the reasoning behind the issues of the day and motives behind the rhetoric of the politicans. We need a sound Christian mind even more than any constitution. I made an infrequent visit to a nationally known Christian bookstore today. Christian bookstores were always weak in doctrinally strong Christian literature and always plentiful in the latest fads in Christian circles but this particular bookstore had gone well beyond the term weak. On the shelves, face out, were books by Van Jones, William Sloane Coffin Jr. and Richard Dawkins. Also highlighted was a new book called God Is Not One which is no mere apologetic book on the world's religions but a legitimization of them. On a special table at the entrance were environmental books including The Green Bible complete with a forward by Desmond Tutu. To the Christians who are not willing to enter the realm of politics, there is a pacifist option available, even more important, thus more needed than retaking the Congress, and that is defending the Gospel but I warn you, it is equally difficult and attracts the same kind of charges, anger and vitriolics.