Ever thought, as I do, that the church is much too involved in politics?
I’m in the formative stages of developing what will begin as monthly newsletter to start a continuing conversation on what I think is an important issue for the Church. I am currently putting together an initial subscriber’s list. If you are interested in this topic or in helping me get the word out, please send me an email. I’ll have a subscriber link up soon, but for now just hit the contact link on the header and let me know. Any and all are welcome.
As an American I believe the Founders intention was to protect the church from the state. The last thing they wanted was another national church imposed by the government. Conversely there is a fine line believer must walk between our responsibility as individuals exercising our rights as citizens and seeking to impose our beliefs through civil government. Because of this, our church has an expressed and advertised policy of being non-political as a church body. Our elders and other leaders avoid political issues within the church and do not endorse candidates or parties. This does not mean we cannot address moral issues but actually frees leaderships to speak God’s truths without worry of those issues being overshadowed by political agendas.
In my thirty-plus years of being a believer, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a message on political matters. (Though I’ve heard there are some churches where that is not the case…mostly liberal churches.) I understand this is because churches are supposed to be apolitical organizations (whether that is constitutional or even right is another discussion). What it has done, however, is leave a disconnect between believers and the world around them. There is little relation between what the “church” is supposed to believe, and how people vote and act. I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard someone speak adamantly about abortion, and that’s an issue the church is supposed to be immersed in, right? More often than not, people vote looking out for their own interests as opposed to the interest of the country. If that isn’t an indication that the church hasn’t been involved enough, I don’t know what is.
Hey Kerry,
Perhaps your thirty-year experience is a function of geography and denomination? At any rate, we’re saturated with it down south, and it seems to me whenever I turn on the TV, there’s a preacher on involved in politics. A lot more to come from me on this, but I welcome your perspective, as I know from past discussions this is a topic you have passion for. It seems to me that A Star Curiously Singing focused on a particularly disturbing result of religion and politics. Great book, BTW…
“If that isn’t an indication that the church hasn’t been involved enough, I don’t know what is.”
I quite agree with this statement, though the locus of the involvement might be a different thing altogether…
“Because of this, our church has an expressed and advertised policy of being non-political as a church body. Our elders and other leaders avoid political issues within the church and do not endorse candidates or parties. This does not mean we cannot address moral issues but actually frees leaderships to speak God’s truths without worry of those issues being overshadowed by political agendas.”
Hey Tim,
Could you give me some background info on your church: denomination, demographics, location, and how this has worked out in actual practice for you guys, etc? Send it to me via email if privacy is a concern. Thanks…
Hey, Marc,
I was just over at Tim’s today to read his thoughts on the Lifeway/movie censoring thing that went down lately, and he has some demographic overview as a background to his perspective:
http://www.tegeorge.com/Fiction/?p=1156
“Ever thought, as I do, that the church is much too involved in politics?”
Of late, it seems that the church is much too involved because its members’ pocketbooks have been hit. Many people that are vocal today did not speak out until the downward swing in the economy disrupted their insular lives…