It’s not all politics

It seems there have been more articles and commentaries lately about people of faith being involved in the public debate over issues of morality, and the false arguments against them. Here’s another one.

Without question the Gospel has supernatural power to change lives, and those changed lives can change the world. William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teresa come immediately to mind.

Some Christians wrongly conclude, however, that political involvement is therefore a waste of time. This is a mistake. The Gospel is never communicated in a political or cultural vacuum.

“The effective and mass communication of the gospel depends upon the freedom to proclaim it,” wrote Hugh Hewitt. The Apostle Paul told Christ’s followers to pray for those in authority so believers might lead a tranquil, quiet life in godliness and dignity. In a democratic society those prayers can and should be augmented by action.

The doctrine of political passivity is flawed in its understanding of the function of law, the changing definition of “politics,” the role of the Christian citizen in the moral education of a nation, and the original intent of the First Amendment.

These arguments are smokescreens thrown up to discredit strong moral voices.

What specifically does it mean to say that Christians should avoid “politics”? Initially it meant that churches shouldn’t campaign for a particular candidate. “Keep religion in the domain of theology, morality, and family relationships,” we were told, “and leave politics to the pros.”

Here’s what it’s all about…

When Christians follow a policy of “no politics,” it’s easy to silence the moral voice of the Church. Simply label any issue “political” and followers of Christ wave the white flag.

This policy is tantamount to surrender. When we are pushed out of the public square, there’s nothing left to talk about but purely sectarian issues: manner of worship, methods of baptism, music in the sanctuary—and angels dancing on pins. We are allowed to have our parochial discussions behind the closed doors of our churches, but we can speak of nothing that—in the minds of those we are trying to reach—has anything to do with the real world.

That’s what secular progressives would like. But Christians have an important role in the public square.

Christian author Philip Yancey writes, “We have no mandate to ‘Christianize’ the United States—an impossible goal in any case. Yet Christians can work simultaneously toward a different goal, the ‘moralization’ of society. We can help tether the values and even the laws of society to some basis in transcendence.”

The myth of political passivity unwittingly makes a Christian virtue out of the vice of negligence. When we ignore our obligation to morally instruct the nation merely because someone labels it “politics,” then it won’t be long before the country teems with injustice as every man simply does “what is right in his own eyes.”

Pope Benedict frequently remarks about this “dictatorship of relativism.” And Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput recently delivered an outstanding address on the importance of engaging the debate over moral convictions in the public square. With no apologies for some false dichotomy between morality and the public square.