I’m not in the habit of aligning myself with political candidates from the pulpit, in Sunday School classes, or anywhere else for that matter. Professionally, it’s bad form and it creates more problems for the church than it solves for anyone.
democrats and republicans
What I do try to accomplish is very simple to describe, but difficult to accomplish. I encourage people to think about political situations spiritually. I also try to discourage people from thinking about spiritual situations politically.
What does that mean? Among many other things, it means that we should treat the poor the way Jesus taught us to treat them: With love and compassion. That means that we can’t ignore them or blame them. And it means that we can’t continue practices of enabling and creating unnecessary dependencies.
It means that we provide accountability for our nation economically and morally.
One of the most important things to remember in this election year is that the church and the state are seperate entities. No American government can establish a specific, favored religion. And it also means that the Church cannot manipulate the controls of Government.
But it doesn’t mean that we are to keep silence. The Church has a place in the conversation. Every religious group does. And to ask me to divorce my spiritual beliefs from my political decisions is like asking the an economist not to have a financial opinion on the budget.
All I’m asking you to keep in mind is this: Bring your beliefs to the Conventions. And be careful which ones you take home from Denver or Minneapolis.
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