Church and State (pt 1)

As a minister by calling I find this topic especially interesting. In seminary I took a course by the title Theology and Politics… the beginning for me of years of thought, shift and change on the subject. In this course I was assigned Reinhold Niebuhr for my research project.

Niebuhr was a philosopher/Christian in the 1900′s who basically took the position (especially in his early years) that the church ought never be involved in political discourse. I remember that in his early writing he said, in effect, that the “pulpit” is weakened by the mention of the political. Odd that I read these words on the campus of Liberty University. I found myself, at that time, convinced and constrained to this principle. After all, if one just changes the heart, morals and a moral government are sure to follow.

Confession: in the past year or so I have come to challenge that position. Now, we must dissect the Christian as an individual and the church with the pulpit. These two things (individual and church message) are entirely different and I suspect that they address “church and state” questions in different ways. In our previous election season I did not speak of my position (though it had moral import) from the pulpit but did strongly as an individual. But, even this poses an obvious question: if it had moral import, is it not important for the pulpit? Tough question! But still, the challenge I have comes from the study of God’s word. Nary can you read a page from Holy Writ and not see godly men and women stand boldly against the governmental structures that be. The prophets of old (notably Daniel) rang clarion calls against oppressive government structures that hindered the free worship of Yahweh. New Testament examples are prevalent as models of confronting anti-Christ systems.

I understand those who argue that we are too worried about establishing morals, “prayer in school”… not so concerned about prayer in the closet… hypocritical, and (they argue) ultimately we use the moral platform to substitute for real life in Jesus. I know the argument. I also know that persecution is good for the church. Ok, I get it. But, as I have come to see it, if the church (me and you) don’t stand up for right and morality in this world we leave a vacuum  which gets filled by every wind of platitudinous political correctness and moral relativism. Like the prophet of old we must confront moral decline and oppose those who usher it in. What does that mean for you? I don’t presume to know.  I just know that we are headed entirely in the wrong direction in this culture… and a lack of righteous indignation seems to me to be a leading indicator of compromise (and lack of moral fortitude) in the church. Positions that says “we ought to just pray” or “we ought to be known for our love not our politics” fall terribly short. These people, I’m afraid,  may be betraying a lack of vision of the holiness of God, desire to please men not God and a cowardice in confronting the worst of what we have become as a nation. This sort of distortion is foreign to the pages of Scripture and far from the examples of our Christian heritage.

Rise up, people of God.

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