Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Which Party Represents God?

In the past few Presidential elections, voting patterns indicate that white Evangelical Christians vote Republican, Black Protestants vote Democratic, Jews vote Democratic and Catholics vote Democratic but are shifting more to Republican.  So, which party represents God?  I recognize this is a pejorative question, but religious groups increasingly involve themselves in political action, often openly advocating one candidate over another.

While America becomes increasingly secularized, she still remains the most religious of the developed nations in the world.  High percentages of Americans go to synagogue or church regularly, and the vast majority of Americans believe in a personal God.  Yet, many Americans become squeamish when politics and religion are mixed.  It’s one thing to argue for certain policies based on merit; it’s another to suggest that God has political preferences.  History’s experience with religious politics is fraught with disaster, including the modern religious wars being fought by Islamic fundamentalists. 

On the other hand, to suggest religion have no bearing on politics is both unreasonable, and, I believe, unbiblical.  Probably the best model for religious political activity is that of the biblical prophets.  They called governmental leaders to account for corruption, injustice and idolatry, yet generally remained outside the political system.  Probably the two most successful modern examples of such activity is the Civil Rights and the anti-abortion movements.  Both movements were instigated and fueled by religious leaders.  In the case of Civil Rights, African-American churches became the gathering places for the demand for equality.  Civil Rights leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King, often quoted from the Bible to make their case.  With respect to abortion, the Catholic church began the anti-abortion movement.  Raising the specter of killing the unborn gradually weighed upon the American conscience as increasingly sophisticated technology depicted early fetuses as clearly formed children.  As a result, restrictions on abortion are commonplace. 

Sadly, in my view, both causes were co-opted by political parties.  The Democratic Party became the home for Civil Rights leaders and most African-American voters.  The anti-abortion movement spread rapidly into white Evangelical Protestant churches, who openly supported the Republican Party through some of their primary spokespersons.  Today, most of the African-American community scorns one of their own who is involved in the Republican Party, and it’s almost impossible to be active in the Democratic party and be anti-abortion.  Hence, issues of justice and morality become captive to political parties and their agendas. 

The Bible highlights numerous issues that should affect public policy today, even in our religiously pluralistic and democratic society.  For example, “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.” (Deut. 24:17) In other words, the Bible demands fairness and opportunity for the marginalized, whether immigrant, poor, disabled or divorced.  Another scripture says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Gen. 2:15)  The prophets foresaw the Garden being extended to the whole earth.  Shouldn’t we then support protections to the earth’s environment?  “I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel…”  (Malachi 2:16).  We should support policies that protect the integrity of marriage and family. 

Despite the above, I believe religious leaders make serious mistakes when they become closely aligned with political parties.  A religious leader’s primary job is to represent God to his community.  When religious leaders ally themselves with one politician over another or one party over another, they compromise the prophetic role they can play by calling them to account.  Successful politics involves the bestowal of favors.  “You support me, and I’ll support you.”  When a religious group is beholden to someone other than God, it has compromised its mission.  Which party represents God?  Neither one.  Nevertheless, we as believers should be God’s mouthpiece to the political world and call for justice, ethics, morality, peace and a better world.