I always get nervous when election time comes because of how some Christians act. Many people believe that conservative Christians and evangelicals are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites and a right wing voting bloc for the Republican Party. On the other hand many believe that liberal churches and black churches are simply Democratic voting blocs. Unfortunately our actions often feed these stereotypes and I believe do great damage to the true cause of Christ and the gospel. I strongly believe that Christians should be involved in the political process and that we should be fully engaged in the culture bringing biblical principles such as justice and truth to the forefront. Jesus said we are to be the salt and light in the world, however, that is far different from trying to be manipulators of the political process and power brokers.
Recently 150 evangelical leaders met on a ranch in Texas to debate the current group of Republican candidates so they can throw their weight behind a chosen candidate. I think it is interesting that there has been great secrecy about who these 150 leaders are. I find that when a lot of decision making is going on behind closed doors and they don’t even want the public to know who is behind the closed doors we need to be wary. I’m sure these men are wonderful men who are well intentioned but I believe they are making a serious mistake for several reasons. First of all trying to play kingmaker and deliver a united evangelical does not work. The group anointed senator Rick Santorum as their choice and we see how well that worked in South Carolina.
But by far the greater problem is that by trying to manipulate the political process we feed the opinion of far too many that evangelicals are primarily a right wing political action group whose primary agenda is abortion and homosexuality. The majority of the nation knows more about what evangelicals are against than what we are for. Many people believe we hate sinners, which is exactly the opposite message of Christ who said he came for sinners. Sinners just like you and me.
Every time throughout history the church grabbed political power both the state and the church suffered. History has shown that political power corrupts many, including church leaders. Whenever we succumb to the siren song of political power we lose the focus we must have on the gospel. The radicals in Jesus’ day wanted him to lead a political movement against Rome, but he refused. We must resist that temptation as well because when we don’t we lose our reputation to present the gospel.
For example several years ago most of these same Christian leaders denounced in the strongest terms the infidelity and lack of moral character of Bill Clinton. They asserted in the strongest terms that character matters. Now, however, many of them are supporting Newt Gingrich who has had multiple affairs and asked his second wife for an open marriage so he could continue his affair with his now third wife. That sounds hypocritical to me, and I’m an evangelical. That makes it seem like we don’t really believe in our principles; we just want political power, which is disgusting.
These problems have caused some to swing the pendulum to the other side and decide that faith and values have no place in the public arena. Either extreme distorts where God has called us to live. Let’s be wise and not allow our churches or ourselves to be seen as primarily a voting bloc. Let’s be the prophetic voice God has called us to be and proclaim Christ.