No Politics in Religion???

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the Living God, have mercy upon me ... and upon my friends ... and those who slug it out in the trenches of faith and politics ... who know that every statement of faith is chock full of politics, for how we think about God, or try to live with and for God, is nothing but a riff on how we think about this earth, and our neighbor, and the children at the Border.

And that every political claim, made by a fool or a foe, or a friend and a fellow traveler, is a confession of faith, some kind of a "higher" purpose ... wherein gold is god, and power is truth ... or love demands a hearing. Where victory is kindness, and kindness is justice, and justice is the voice of God, noting the blood of the dead crying out from the very earth from which we are all construed.

Someone said to me in a post: let there be no politics in religion.

I thought: What a curious thing to say - and what a deeply political sentiment to express ... I think the writer was saying:

Leave me a lone in my tiny little briar patch of roses and lilies.

I have my thoughts, and that's good enough.

I have my faith, and it's all I want.

Don't trouble me with the Jerusalem way.

The way of Christ who takes upon himself the sins of the world.

The sins of the world, you say?

Well, if you're gonna talk sin, just be sure it's not political.

Keep it general, and I'll confess my sin morning, noon, and night.

I love to confess my sin.

As long as I don't have to specify in detail.

So, preacher, forget the politics.

Just preach faith.

My faith.

My little briar patch, with its roses and lilies.

Where I'm comfortable.

Even as I quietly bleed.

Shall I Tell You How to Vote?

How would you feel if I told you how to vote?

Because “the Bible says so.”

This is exactly what’s happening in 35 churches across the country this coming Sunday. They will be told how to vote in a Sunday event labeled, "Pulpit Freedom Sunday."

Freedom?

Interesting concept, isn't it? "Freedom" to restrict thought, control behavior, dictate policy, quench diversity, all in the name of god. Sounds frightening, doesn't it?

They are a group of highly conservative churches working with the Alliance Defense Fund. They hope to challenge the IRS ruling that prohibits congregations from endorsing candidates and force a court case.

A pastor claims to have the Constitutional right to tell the congregation his views. Indeed, that's a right guaranteed to all of us, but to tell others how to vote and to claim the authority of the Bible is another matter.

The separation of church and state if vital to both.

Check out the article in the Christian Science Monitor.

Catholic Bishops

Catholic bishops wade into campaign politics by barring Joe Biden from communion for his stand on abortion.

So what’s a Christian to do?

What’s a Roman Catholic to do?

The Roman Church is a powerful political force in this nation and around the world. One of the last things Pope Benedict said to his American audience upon departure: “Obeying the teachings of the church is part of your Catholic faith.”

Well, that says it all, doesn’t it?

I don’t like to engage in intra-church criticism – after all, we’re all in this together, but I’m a Protestant, and I affirm the Protestant heritage – a heritage that worked hard to liberate the believer from the control of the church, so that the believer could relate to God unhindered by the trappings of the church.

Presbyterians have never engaged in telling folks what to do.

Or have they?

There was a time when Presbyterians were told, generally, that drinking, dancing, card-playing and theater attendance were of the Devil. And there was time, as well, when Presbyterians were inclined to slam shut the communion door to one another, depending upon who the elders were at the time.

Early on, when Constantine embraced Christianity – more a political move than a spiritual one – the church became a vast institution with landholdings and powerful clerics.

The stability of Europe often relied more upon the crosier than the crown. Whenever I hear of a bishop telling folks how to think and behave, I’m reminded of the Middle Ages when people feared the church because it had the power of excommunication – that is, to bar one from communion and damn their soul to ever-lasting fire.

When we study the New Testament and the life of Jesus, we see God eschewing all forms of power and control. Having learned some hard lessons along the way, God realized that violence against the human spirit only begets dysfunction and more violence. So when God comes to us in Bethlehem’s cradle and finally becomes, not cross with us, but Cross for us, we see another way, the way of love. Longer, slower, more uncertain, but in the end, the darkness cannot overcome this kind of light.

I guess bishops will do what bishops do, but it’s a far cry from what Jesus envisioned when he gave the Spirit to the disciples and bid them go to the world, to love as he loved, not with might, but with mercy; not with control, but with compassion.