Given the increased polarization of American politics and public life, the question is frequently raised as to whether Christians should identify themselves with either major political party or—by association—the political ideologies undergirding them. I answer that it is permissible and often wise to participate in party politics, but we must be circumspect in doing so, making clear that our allegiance to political parties is tentative in light of our allegiance to Christ. We should never allow our witness to be undermined by inordinate allegiance to a political party or inappropriate forms of activism on behalf of that party’s agenda.
In order to make the case for this view, we must discuss the proper relationship between both religion and politics and church and state, before going on to discuss the legitimacy of affiliating with America’s major political parties and ideologies.
To read the rest of the article, published at 9Marks Journal, click here.
Subscribe
Never miss a post! Have all new posts delivered straight to your inbox.
I am wondering how this essay will look to people who might be viewing it ten years from now. Will the Democratic and Republican parties still be in existence, under their present names? Will they have had to re-invent themselves, reform themselves, rebrand themselves? Will there still be “not a dime’s worth of difference between them,” as the late George Wallace used to say? Or will the people of this country have consigned both groups to the ash heap of history and come up with something new?I’m hoping that that is exactly what will happen over those ten years, but it could get messy. Let’s hope we can keep everything nonviolent and embrace our fellow citizens of all races, religions and political stripes while consigning our faithless and felonious “leaders” to the oblivion they deserve.
I read somewhere once that when a saved servant of an evil king was attacked for working for such an evil person, the servant replied something along the lines of “Just think about how evil he would be if he had no Godly influence in his life at all”
.
We can’t always get a perfect candidate, a saintly candidate- but we can always always always be a Godly influence in any candidate’s presidency should they win the election, and we should always vote the lesser of two evils so that we start with the best possible premise from which to begin with-
.
While certain candidates aren’t exactly bastions of purity, other certain candidates are so corrupt, so anti-Constitutional, anti-God etc that the only clear choice is to vote the candidate that will at the very least uphold our values and constitution as much as possible- This shouldn’t be a dilemma in the Christian life- In order to preserve as much morality as we can, to preserve as much of our constitution as we can, to preserve as much nationalism as we can, we need to start with the one candidate among the only two viable candidates running for president, that will represent the best possible chance to preserve these things we cherish so much. In order to prevent the most Evil, We need to elect the least Evil when there is only two choices in order that our godly influence (Through petitions and appeals to the president) can have as restraining an effect as possible- (ok, maybe they aren’t outright evil incarnate, so let’s say ‘less godly’ and ‘more godly’ or ‘more or less inclined toward morality’ would be more appropriate i think instead)
Thank you, Bob.