The Necessity of Faithful Politics

To say that we live in a time of intense partisanship would be a definite understatement. The truth is that, despite a constant barrage of calls for unity from our political and religious leaders, we are currently slipping into an ever more partisan environment. The ironic part is that most of the individuals calling for unity (whether they are elected officials or politico-religious leaders) are actually leading the charge for partisanship as a means to hold onto their individual power. Unity is an idea that we all like, but the power that we would have to cede in order to achieve it is an opportunity cost that no one is willing to pay.

There should be an important difference, though, between the secular political environment, and that where Christians are involved, especially when Believers are interacting with fellow Christians. Jesus’ prayer for unity the night He was betrayed should be enough impetus for us all to work towards unity. But instead we fall into the cultural trap of partisanship and power brokering. It is true that for most individuals the core of their partisanship is rooted in convictions that are honorable and should not be compromised. The problem with Christians, however, is that we mix these core convictions with other political ideologically driven garbage that we should never be associated with.

On one side of the Christo-political spectrum is the Religious Right. Strongly aligned with the Republican party, these conservatives rightly emphasize the importance of life and traditional family values. On the other side, the Christian Left is just as entrenched with the Democratic party, and rightly emphasizes the importance of justice. Both of these core convictions are worthy of Christian engagement, but the problem is that both sides have sold out to the party that they are naturally inclined toward, and by so doing, adopt a partisan framework that, in many cases, is directly contradictory to what Scripture teaches.

What, you might ask, is the solution then? In a perfect world: a third party. In our current climate: a working knowledge of our biases and a commitment to think biblically and act faithfully with our politics. Ideally, this will lead us to a place where we are no longer slaves to a particular party or our political ideology, but rather we are upholding our call as Christians to be salt and light and spread the Gospel. A failure in this regard will leave us, well, right where we currently find ourselves. Driven by our political backgrounds, fighting those across the aisle in politics and in church, and failing to show the love and unity that Christ requires of us.