Every morning I get up and read the feeds from HighCallingBlogs.com. This morning one caught my eye and I went over to the site to check it out. All I can say is I agree with this author and I wish more Christians would take a good, long look at how they are actually processing statements made by politicians.
Of course I'm not surprised by the dichotomy between the voice(s) of American politics and the voice of the church. What's scary about today's rhetoric is that people consistently (especially in evangelical Christianity) confuse patriotism with faithfulness such that statements like Palin's above actually take on (false) theological and faith-related meaning. To advocate the destruction of those who seek to do us harm is seen by many (at least in circules I run in) as an almost paramount Christian idea while the New Testament witness tells us to turn the other cheek, tells us not to repay evil with evil.
Read the whole post here.
For myself, when I heard Sarah Palin make the quip about Senator Obama worrying about whether someone would read terrorists their rights ... I couldn't help but shake my head. One of the great things about this country is that we believe that people have rights, rights granted to them by our Creator. Those rights don't disappear just because a person commits certain actions, no matter how heinous. We cannot become the barbarians to deal with the barbarians. It just makes us like them. And, if we truly are a "Christian" nation built on "Christian" ideals ... then we need to act like it. We can't pick and choose when we are supposed to be a follower of Christ. If we are, then we are all the time.
I agree. I couldn't agree more with the post to which you refer. It's constantly disheartening, if not sickening for me to suffer the comments of the mostly well meaning but misguided Christians who somehow equate right-wing politics or the Republic party in the U.S. with Christianity. Unfortunate as well are the antics of those of opposing views who demonize or mock all Republicans or all Evangelical Christians as fools. Your head must be free of your own posterior orifice in order to do the critical thinking necessary to judge whether or not someone else is a fool.
Politics in my opinion belong to Caesar (Mark 12:17) while religion I hope is an expression of one's spiritual convictions.
While I'd love to live in a world where all political leaders were purified priests of the one Almighty God and where no woman felt justified in choosing to kill her unborn child, that ain't gonna happen. Read Revelation and in a up-to-date English translation like the NLT and see. That is not to say we shouldn't work to encourage best behavior in ourselves and everyone on whom we have influence. Just don't expect politics to take us there.
When I go to my local voting station on Tuesday, November 4th and cast a vote for McCain or Obama, I am fully conscious that I'm not voting for a pope or even a bishop or pastor. I'll be voting for whichever of the two political leaders I believe can do the best job of getting our economy back on track and keeping our citizens safe. That's the job in question and there are countless facets to it. Choosing a candidate based on a single issue, especially one that the President can't decide, is short-sighted and irresponsible.
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. (Matthew 22:21b)
Diane L. Harris
http://www.steppingintothelight.net
Ain't that the truth?! I hear ya and agree with you. :)