Political Musings
Let me make something clear before I continue. This doesn't mean I (and other young evangelicals) are automatically becoming Democrats (I don't think we should). It does mean that my thinking regarding politics, the political process, and the things that I care about are broader and deeper than most pundits care to consider, and are no longer attached to a single partisan ideology.
My politics seem to be coming out differently, but (I repeat) it's not that I reject everything my parents believe. Rather, I (and many of my friends) take seriously the stuff beneath all the rhetoric (If only we could bomb all the news talk programming). I am pro-life, but realize this doesn't end with the womb. The U.S. "war on terror," the death penalty, genocide in Darfur, the AIDS crisis, and global warming also violate the sanctity of human life. I am pro-family, but realize that gays and lesbians are not the reason for the decline in our family unit (but are being used as a scapegoat by the Right). The commodification of sex, housing and healthcare costs, mass imprisonment, and raids on immigrant communities are all forces tearing families apart.
For example, when CNN covered the Jesus for President tour, the reporter tried to draw the conclusion that this young, Christian crowd blessed Barack Obama. But Shane (Claiborne, a favorite contemporary of mine) & Co. preached and sang to a different tune, proclaiming, "No more donkeys. Long live the lamb." Claiborne notes, "This is not about going left or right, this is about going deeper and trying to understand together. Rather than endorse candidates, we ask them to endorse what is at the heart of Jesus, and that is the poor or the peacemakers. When we see that, then we'll get behind them."
Considering the numerous examples where both Democrats and Republicans (Hey Moral Majority, I'm looking at you) used Jesus as a political pawn to advance their own agendas, it's important to remember that we are electing politicos, not prophets. My observations in 27 years of life have clearly led me to this conclusion: Whenever religious leaders choose to walk into any party's campaign headquarters, they risk (actually, they GUARANTEE) ending up walking out bowlegged, having straddled the elephant (or donkey) bareback for too long (sorry Mom).
I feel fairly clear about this: the temptation I pray my generation will avoid is hopping in bed with the Democrats like previous generations did with the Republicans. It is my hope, that instead of becoming more "liberal", we would become more biblical. We need to be more realistic about partisan politics, both its capacity to exploit and use the church and in its limits in creating large-scale social change.
In Matthew's Gospel, when the mother of James and John asked for positions of power for her sons in what she thought would be Jesus' revolutionary government, he replied: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant..." Essentially, Jesus was saying the practice of government is domineering and self-serving; disciples are to understand and exercise power in a different way.
We should not place our hopes solely on our representatives, senators, or presidents to enact our values for us (that is in effect apathy, allowing another to do what we are called to). Rather, we should learn how personal the political truly is, by living out the changes we want to see take place in the wider world. Then, the political choices we make will flow naturally out of the work we're already doing as part of being the Church. If we are living out the calling we have, (feeding the hungry, providing shelter for those who have none, caring for single mothers, working for peace, and so forth), then our political stance will be formed by the company we keep. Casting a ballot should simply be an extension of that prior service...not an excuse for noninvolvement with the marginalized. It is simply a chance to further the work we should already be involved in.
So come November 4th, I'll be casting a ballot. And I hope you will too. And I'm sure between now and then both sides will be hurling obscenties at each other, making accusations, spreading lies, and exploiting the very people they hold up as most needy of their policies. But I think the real indicator of my (all) political motivations won't be who I vote for on the 4th. I think it's indicated by how I live on November 3rd (and November 5th, and 6th, and 7th...)
Peace.
July 25, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Well said. "No, thanks" to being a party-man, my allegiance is already spoken for. top