One of my online discussions for seminary was a question of whether we ought to discuss politics in church. Almost everyone who responded to the question wholeheartedly endorsed the position that people should say nothing – nothing – at church in regard to politics. The most political statement that any person should make is that you should vote.
I think I was one of the very few people who pointed out that it’s one thing to pray for your political leaders and always honor and respect political authority. It’s another thing to deliberately censor yourself from political activity in a system that requires precisely that activity. Might as well have asked Constantine, upon conversion, not to pass any Christian laws so that he could properly “render unto Caesar.” In a democratic system, we **are** Caesar.
Granted, Christianity is not something that can be enforced by the political arm. Whenever we’ve tried that, we’ve ended up with an overflow of fake Christians and religious atrophy. BUT. True Christianity can only flourish in an environment where the truth is cherished. So, while Christians shouldn’t attempt to enforce some kind of Christian orthodoxy on the whole world, we should always do whatever we can to ensure that truth is valued and basic righteousness is pursued. If these two standards are not upheld in a community, they won’t be able to even perceive a need for Jesus
Therefore, Christians need to be involved in politics. Not just voting (as if voting were the only part of politics). More importantly, talking. Not just about Jesus, but about righteousness, holiness, and honor. We need to be defining these things on the marketplace of ideas. If they are devalued, the cross of Christ is devalued, and our hope (at least in the eyes of men) is useless. This talking needs to be done on weblogs, on public forums, in evangelistic “crusades,” in political rallies and grassroots movements.
Part of this is because we are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” If we don’t get about the business of educating the world about what goodness looks like, they will rot in darkness, because this understanding can’t come to them any other way. But part of this is because the darkness likes darkness. Corrupt and evil organizations – political, social, economic – raise real barriers to the advance of the gospel. Proclaiming the gospel to a corrupt bureaucracy is every bit as hard as proclaiming it in a Muslim nation.
Everyone is aware of the potential for the gospel in newly democratic nations like Iraq and Afghanistan. Liberals warn the evangelicals not to invade them with our colonizing gospel, and evangelicals prepare their missionaries with quiet confidence. No one doubts that, at least with these kinds of radical changes, a move toward a more open government is a move in favor of the gospel of peace. But somehow we tend to fail to recognize that this same openness needs to be guarded at home – by the same political means.
Perhaps, more commonly, people recognize that we need more Christians involved in politics, but they fail to see that the only way to achieve that is to talk politics. I don’t mean to say that we need to pause in the middle of an exposition of the Gospel to announce that “this sermon was brought to you in part by a grant from the Christian party.” Politics isn’t part of the Gospel, but the Gospel touches people’s lives, and people’s lives are filled with politics. Part of our job as Christians is to determine how exactly the Gospel needs to play out in the execution of good government. Children have been banned from praying in school (without adult leadership, mind you), in violation of their constitutional rights, and no one has done anything about it, because it wasn’t mentioned at church. Political events have been separated from religious events, and so no one made the connection that it might take a Christian to stand up for the rights of Christians.
neumatikos 
YES! excellent article — the idea that politics should be kept out of Christian arenas was instigated, I believe, in the 60’s as a left-wing gag order. And if you notice it’s the liberals who use the churches as their bully-pulpits while carefully monitoring all conservatives. There’s an excellent article on the subject here: http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/plecnik010405.htm It’s time to return freedom of speech to the Christian people.
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I agree. I’ve written in the past on this that in a democracy, in order to “render unto Caesar”, we must render our participation in the process.
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