Christians and Politics

Conservative Christian columnist Cal Thomas has an excellent column entitled “Where do we go from here?” It addresses some of the problems that have occurred as some conservative Christians have become married to the Republican party, which is an argument articulated well in the book Blinded by Might that Thomas co-authored with Ed Dobson. Here are a couple of highlights from his column:

If God is on the side of conservative Christians and conservative Christians are on the side of the Republican Party, shouldn't Republicans have done better in the recent election?

... Politics often dulls the senses to morality and “values.” That’s because of an unholy alliance between people of faith and politicians that often ends in compromise on the part of the faithful and the cynical harvesting of their votes with little offered in return. So, when someone like Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., is exposed for cheating on his wife and allegedly abusing his mistress, Cynthia Ore, he still gets an 85 percent approval rating from the Focus on the Family Action organization.

...What is God’s way? Isn’t it helping the poor through transformation and assisting them to do for themselves? Would such behavior, rather than partisan politics, recommend their faith more highly to those who do not currently share it, or who do share it, but apply it differently?

With a change in focus, more people might want to hear why conservative Christians are faithful and, having heard, perhaps embrace that faithfulness. The culture might then reflect real “family values” from the bottom up, possibly even touching politicians in Washington.

Some really important ideas here for Christians—especially conservative ones—to think about. Hopefully, we will start focusing more on sharing the love of Jesus than attempting to codify our beliefs.