Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, May 12, 2008 12:51:02 PM
This appears to be yet another attempt to keep people like me from sticking up for ourselves. Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times staff writer, reports.
In an often strongly worded statement released this week, more than 70 pastors, scholars and business leaders said faith and politics have become too closely intertwined and that evangelicals err when they use their religious beliefs for political purposes.
But aren’t these people doing exactly that?
If you take your religion seriously, and your religion makes claims about reality, and you are consistent in your worldview, how would be possible to avoid using your religious beliefs for political purposes?
I believe people are sinners, no matter how educated. That’s how I know we’ll always need the military, law enforcement, and prisons no matter how much money we spend on education.
I believe people are created in the image of God, and so each person has inherent worth and inalienable rights, and thus do not believe the government is justified in trampling on those rights and is supposed to protect those rights.
But Christians from both ends of the political spectrum have made the mistake of politicizing their faith, the group declares in the document, called “An Evangelical Manifesto.”
Is this the one that doesn’t even mention the resurrection of Christ? That’s like having a U.S. history textbook that doesn’t even mention the American Revolution, or the Constitution.
Huffman and other organizers said the document's release was not timed to the U.S. presidential contest. But he said he hoped one result would be to persuade some of the more outspoken evangelical voices to tone down their political rhetoric.
Why? We live in a participatory society, where people have their right to speak out protected. We have a democratic representative republic. It behooves us to speak out and stand up for our convictions, or risk being ruled only by those who do not share our convictions and will even try to infringe on our religious practice. The previous generation was asleep at the wheel, and we got Roe v. Wade and other disasters.
Now, I get that the GOP is not a Christian organization. It is a political party that exists to get associated individuals elected and to keep them in political office. I get that, as a follower of Christ, my focus needs to be first and foremost on my relationship with Him. But that doesn’t preclude me from applying my convictions, informed by my faith, to my political involvements, the same as I apply it to my personal relationships, finances, and so forth.
We should be trying to get more evangelicals more involved in politics. Instead of apologizing for the perceptions others have of us, whe should be helping our fellow followers of Christ become more media savvy and better and getting our messages across to other people.