Political Christianity

Headline: Barak Obama Claims He is a Christian. This will come as a surprise to many who have assumed he is either a closet Muslim or a practical agnostic. Others will be surprised that he was willing to be identified with such a mistrusted, disenfranchised group of radicals. He made the surprising statement at the National Prayer breakfast. What is not surprising was the reason he chose to associate himself with Christianity. He says Jesus would be in favor of his tax proposals.

Ouch! Here we go again with another politician trying to baptize some program with the waters of religious propriety. In this case, Obama has done what so many liberal politicians have done in the past: equate government programs with the Biblical call to charity. That is not just bad politics in my opinion, it is also bad theology. The Bible never suggests that it is the role of government to spread the gospel or provide for the poor. The only function of government authorized by Scripture is that of maintaining civil order. Period.

Jesus did say that his followers should abide by the righteous requirements of human government: render unto Caesar. The Apostle Paul expanded by adding "taxes to whom taxes are due." The requirement to care for the underprivileged and infirm is placed squarely in the realm of the church, that is to say in the hands of individual Christians, not human government. Though he may have over-reached in his admonition, Senator Orin Hatch did well to remind President Obama that claiming Biblical endorsement of party politics is either supreme arrogance or pitiful ignorance.

The political right is not immune from similar flights of hubris. There have been statements which made me wince because of the implication that some aspect of the conservative agenda would garner Jesus' favor. There are issues which do have biblical support for one side or the other. The protection of the unborn is one clear example. First Amendment protection of religious expression is another. But clear-cut cases are limited in number. Once the politician veers into free trade regulations or actions of the military or interstate commerce or income tax rates, the Bible should be used as a secondary resource rather than policy validation manual.

The Crusades during the Middle Ages provide a perfect example of misapplication of Scripture to political affairs. The justification of slavery in the United States by misguided Bible interpreters is another. Prayers were lifted from both sides of the trenches in two world wars that God might look favorably on their military efforts. I know it was a thoroughly anti-capitalist, unchristian movie, but Avatar had a scene where help from the supreme being was requested, and the theological commentary was, "She doesn't take sides; she just maintains the balance." I cannot find a Scripture to support it, but that is how I imagine God must look at our political struggles. He is not on the right or the left politically; he is on the above -- it is an entirely different perspective.

I am not saying that Christianity has no role in the larger civil society. I am saying that the role is entirely personal. The outworking of that personal faith shapes how policy is formed. Communities will be influenced for good or ill by the faith commitments of members. If you have been reading here for very long, you know that I regularly agitate for Christian involvement in the political process. What I don't do is assert a one to one correlation between the Bible and the policies of any person or party. When the Bible speaks, we can speak; when the Bible is silent, we should exercise a bit more humility than our President did this morning.