OPINION:
Politicians answer to a higher call that ends at the ballot box. Fusing Christianity with politics cheapens it, robs it of its spiritual vitality and thus destroys true Christianity.
By its very nature, politics is inclined towards corruption, deception, and the accumulation of power. Organized religion, in many regards, has proven to be no better. So, I am particularly leery of those who strive to merge politics with religion and, in the process, turn presidential elections into a test of one’s religiosity, for good or ill.
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I have become even more apprehensive about this merger between religion and politics in recent years.
Certainly, Christian involvement in politics has produced little in terms of definable positive results morally or spiritually, even among conservative Christians. For example, 7 in 10 women who have had an abortion identify as a Christian. Forty percent of births are out of wedlock. The highest divorce rates in the country can be found in the Bible Belt. Ongoing surveys confirm that the states with the highest conservative Christian population remain among the biggest consumers of pornography. Religious “nones” — a group comprised of atheists, agnostics and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” — are now the largest single group in the U.S. Fewer and fewer people are going to church.
The huge mistake was that a religion of great validity was identified with a political party.
In the end, the experiment of merging politics and religion has been a failure.
Francis Schaeffer, a leading Christian theologian of the 20th century whose impact on evangelical Christians was far-reaching, called for Christians to be active in the world, including in politics and government.
Mr. Schaeffer was not just a mentor to me as a young Christian lawyer. He also encouraged me to start The Rutherford Institute, recognizing the need for a Christian-minded civil liberties law firm, think tank, and public policy organization.
As a result, I was present when the Christian Right in America was metastasizing into the political behemoth it is today. By the mid-1980s, because of the hypocrisy I had seen in the evangelical leadership, I recoiled from the movement. But in those early years, I worked alongside Francis Schaeffer. I witnessed first-hand how his teachings and writings were co-opted by leaders of the Christian socio-political movement such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Tim LaHaye, co-founder of the Moral Majority and co-author of the bestselling “Left Behind” novels, among others.
Fueled by the social activism of Mr. Schaeffer and energized by the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, Mr. Falwell and Mr. LaHaye launched the Moral Majority in 1979. That same year, Beverly LaHaye started Concerned Women for America as a biblical counterpoint to the National Organization for Women. Since then, the Christian Right has seldom looked back.
By the early 1980s, the Christian Right had formed a voting bloc that burgeoned into a powerful movement. It effectively ushered Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush into the presidency. As the media empires of evangelical leaders and televangelists grew to encompass print, radio, and television, so too did the reach and power of the Religious Right.
However, while the Christian Right has made big gains politically in the past 50 years, the Christian involvement in politics has produced little in terms of definable positive results spiritually. After all, political action as a cure-all is an illusion. Although it is a valued part of the process in a democracy, the ballot box is not the answer to humankind’s ills. And, in fact, Christians who place their hope in a political answer to the world’s ills often become nothing more than another tool in the politician’s toolbox.
Francis Schaeffer understood this. As he advised in “A Christian Manifesto,” Christians must avoid joining forces with the government and arguing a theocratic position.
The founder of Christianity understood this. Jesus did not seek political power, and He did not teach Christians to seek it either. Jesus spoke truth to power, and it cost Him His life. If Christians really want to follow Jesus, this will necessarily mean that they will often be forced to stand against the governmental and political establishment in speaking truth to power, as well.
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Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His latest books “The Erik Blair Diaries” and “Battlefield America: The War on the American People” are available at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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