I’m using three separate posts to address a statement I’ve read in a couple different places. It goes something like this. “Christians are homophobic, right wing, hypocrites.”
Working from last to first, I began last week by addressing the perception that Christians are hypocrites. (If you haven’t read it you may want to check it out at my blog.)
This week let’s think about the perception that Christians are “right wing.” Of course the term has nothing to do with theology or biblical interpretation or even spirituality. It’s a political term. We all know that normally, when someone uses the term “right wing,” they are using it to refer to the most conservative members of the Republican Party.
Years ago one of the most publically visible figures in the evangelical church world, Jerry Falwell, led a group called the “Moral Majority” to endorse and campaign for political candidates who, he believed, would further the causes dear to the hearts of the “majority” of American citizens. Because of his association with Ronald Regan and other well known Republicans, many non-Christians began assuming that all Christians were “right wing.” That perception persists to this day and is perpetuated by other public religious figures including Pat Robertson. (I think that’s a fairly unbiased historical overview.)
So to some extent, I think the perception that all Christians are “right wing” is at least understandable, even if it’s not accurate. (Some Christians are actually “left wing” and some are “middle winged” and some have “no wings” at all.)
The problem, in my opinion, is bigger than Christians being associated with a political party, any political party. The problem, again in my opinion, is what might be called religious nationalism. Religious nationalism is the belief that religion, in our case Christianity, must manipulate the governments of the world in order to accomplish its mission in the world.
So we hear statements like, “we must take our nation back for God,” or “we need to get our nation back to its Judeo/Christian heritage.”
(By the way, we may need to examine what we would be “getting back” to. Do we want to get back to a time when our nation enslaved another race of people and Southern preachers defended it from their pulpits? Do we want to get back to a time when that same race of people were oppressed and persecuted by people who wore sheets on Saturday night and suits on Sunday morning? Do we want to get back to segregation, discrimination and oppression of our brothers and sisters? Could it be that we tend to romanticize the past? Sorry for the rant. I’ll stop now. )
The point I’m trying to make, the one I should have already made, is that historically the Church has been most powerful, not when she manipulated the political process but when she transcended it. The first three centuries of the Jesus movement literally changed the world. Christians were most influential, not when they controlled the Roman government but when they were persecuted by it.
I would argue that Spirit of Christ, working in this world through the church, does not need the government’s help. Maybe when we funnel our resources, including time, energy and money, into trying to get the government to support our cause, we actually show that our trust is misplaced. How has hiring lobbyists, or soliciting petition signers or getting “God’s man” elected worked for us so far?
Could it be that our propensity to manipulate the political world actually grows out of a lack of faith? Could it be that we just don’t really, fully trust the power of the resurrected Christ to change our world, so instead we trust our human ability to change Washington D.C.? Could it be that we need to get back to what Jesus commanded us to do? “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. [And] Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
I’m happy to hear what you think.
Well said.
ReplyDelete