Someone recently told a group of us that it’s become impossible in Christian circles to even discuss politics. The tensions and the emotions are simply too high to have any kind of discourse. But we need to discuss it. Neither party in America today comes anywhere close to a biblical platform. We have to name that. Even if one seems closer to us than another, we STILL have to name the fact that neither is close to a holistic, biblical, God-centered expression.
Since evangelical Christianity has become wedded to the Republican party platform, we may have lost our ability to be objective. We may have lost our ability to see what that platform speaks to others about God.
More from the song from Bright Eyes:
When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women’s’ rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
Of course this isn’t fair; of course it is biased; of course it comes from people who are more committed to their own political beliefs than to any true pursuit of God. But….
Does our God send kids to die in war? Is God for capital punishment and more incarceration? Does God really want to destroy Muslim souls? Are we God’s weapon in the world as Americans? I would answer…NO.
Will our lives and voices give another picture of God than what Bright Eyes sees in our President?
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot since the 2004 campaigns and election. I would recommend “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It” by Jim Wallis. He addresses the need for both republicans and democrats to examine their alignment with God’s will. Read it! 🙂
so just how do the left and right get god’s will wrong? what do you think?
I think it’s important to look at the example Christ gave with his life and teachings. “What Would Jesus Do” is always a good question to ask 🙂
I also wanted to comment on this statement by Gregg: “We may have lost our ability to see what that platform speaks to others about God.” When I sing the song that goes, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” I often wonder if that truly is how people identify Christians. I would argue that many (or most?) see Christians by our judgement of other people – most recently manifested in the presidential election and anti-gay-marriage campaigns. What happened to the love? -Just my thoughts… 🙂
i agree. i don’t understand why, if there was such concern about the “marriage” and sexual identity issues in this last election, we don’t see more follow up by the “victors”. why aren’t we hearing about a concerted outreach ministry to “help” those we have chosen to focus on as sinners? why aren’t there public gestures by the churches to try to do as christ did and go out of the way to reach out in love? if abortion is such a big issue for the right, why aren’t we providing more funds and housing for unwed mothers, more funding for at risk children?it doesn’t seem very loving to me at all. i personally don’t even like being identified as a christian because of the hypocrisy that i see;and i am a christian. what must it feel like to those who are on the receiving end of our moral crusading?
amen!