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It is Tuesday, November 7, 2006, as I write this note. It is Election Day. Obviously, I am not writing to suggest to you how you ought to vote, nor am I writing to predict the outcome or the impact of this election. There are, however, some observations that I would like to share about how I see the electoral process impacting the church and people of faith.
Observation #1: Politics is a mean-spirited business and it seems to get a little meaner with each election. This is not earth shattering to you. I am sure you have made this observation yourself.
I am by no means suggesting that you have to be mean to be a politician, but it does seem that a lot of those who pursue that path end up saying or doing something that comes across as mean or perhaps even un-Christian.
Therein lies the question — how far can we go in the world of politics before one is called upon to compromise the basic ideas of Christian kindness? If the choice is between Christian kindness and doing what is necessary to win the race, what should a Christian politician do?
Another question arises when one considers those who support the politician. Is the politician any less guilty of being mean when a group of his supporters does something mean, thus enabling him to say that he did not do it?
There is a tension between what a Christian ought and ought not to do, and what a politician sometimes feels like he has to do, in order to get elected. That tension has a way of changing how we define and use words. Perhaps during the political season there is a special kind of mean that really is not as un-Christian as it appears to be. Maybe it is all right for a Christian to be a little bit mean in order to gain the opportunity to do great good. Of course, the elasticity with which we define words is even greater depending upon whether or not we are talking about our candidate or someone else’s.
Observation #2: Over the last 20 or so years, Christians have made their way into the political arena in order to make our nation more clearly reflect and practice Christian values. While the intentions may have been honorable, I believe the political arena has had as much, if not more, of an impact on the church than the church has had on the political arena. For the most part, this is a clear-cut case of what always happens when you decide to wrestle with pigs — you get dirty and it is hard to tell who won.
Two high profile examples have recently come to light. Congressman Mark Foley resigned his office after sexually explicit messages from him to underage congressional pages were made public. Evangelical Christians in Florida trusted this man to uphold their values in Washington. Needless to say, they were let down.
The second example comes from Colorado. Pastor Ted Haggard, former President of the National Association of Evangelicals, as well as former pastor of New Life Church, resigned both positions after knowledge of his drug use and homosexual activity were made public. Haggard, some say, consulted with the top leaders of our nation on a weekly basis and led his church to actively oppose gay marriage in Colorado. Now he is a man with a family and church that is hurting deeply.
A lot of people expected much from both of these men. Perhaps the lesson here for us is that we ought to be careful not to expect too much from either our preachers or our politicians. Our leaders should govern us with the common good of all in mind, and those we trust to teach us about faith should help us to be the people God has called us to be.
Observation #3: The genius of our nation, the separation of church and state, has grown steadily weaker in the last 20 years. It needs to be made strong again. This does not mean that people of faith should not exercise their right to be involved in the process. They should do exactly that, as it is the right and responsibility of every citizen to do so. Yet, if history teaches us anything, it teaches us that the church should not govern and that the government should not control the church. Much of the blood shed throughout history was shed because this simple principle was ignored.
Anyway, those are just some thoughts I have had as this election season has come to a close. We are but pilgrims here. Our home is not of this earth. Yet, we ought to do the best we can by it while we are here.
Joy and peace,
Ed
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