I have been disturbed by something lately. I must confess, I am a little bit of a news junkie. I like to watch the various twenty-four hour news networks and stay on top of the latest happenings in the world. Politics is always at the top of the news. I have noticed something very disturbing about our political discourse.
It seems religion has become one of the primary issues in our elections. During the 2008 presidential campaign, one of the issues Barack Obama was attacked on was whether or not he was a Muslim. The Christian right was in an uproar over the notion that a non-Christian might be elected to the presidency. It was unthinkable that someone outside the Christian community would have that much power.
Nevermind Barack Obama was and is a practicing Christian. Even the rumor that he was a Muslim was enough to throw many Christians into an uproar.
Candidates run on platforms of Christian values. They adeptly figure out what it is Christians want to hear. They will cry out against abortion, homosexuality, and other religions. They create conflicts and persecutions that simply aren’t there. It is good politics to figure out what your base is and give them something to fight about. History makes something shockingly clear. When Christians start to fight, it gets really ugly really fast.
I grew up in Greeley, Colorado. Like most small towns in the middle of America, social and fiscal conservatism is the overwhelming norm. Good Christians vote for Republicans. Good Christians always vote to define life at conception. Good Christians always vote against marriage equality. I was told time and again that I needed to sign on to the right wing agenda to really be a part of the church.
I have never been a conservative. I have never been a Republican. I have always had a hard time with both fiscal and social conservatism. I have been told time and again that I don’t understand Christianity. I have been told I am obviously not reading the same Bible as everyone else. Many people would consider me an incomplete Christian because of my political leanings.
I do not write this as a complaint. I do not seek sympathy. This is not a gripe session to vent pent up anger and frustration about a childhood in cnservative America. This is a window into the reality of the political church. This is not a problem limited ti conservative. Liberals who have spiritualized their politics are just as judgemental and just as exclusive.
The real danger of spiritualized politics is how much it limits our ability to connect with people. If I cling to the belief that the only good Christians are Liberal Christians, I cannot reach a Conservative person. How can I be so foolish as to use one side of my mouth to tell someone God loves them and the other to tell them they have to conform to my political views to really experience that love?
We cannot spread the message and be divisive at the same time. When we hold the belief that spirituality is indelibly grafted to a specific social or political structure, we create an impossible situation for people of differing ideals to come to faith.
The crux of the matter is this: Only about half of all Americans hold Conservative viewpoints. Only about half are ideological liberals. Are we willing to limit the Gospel to half of our fellow Americans? Can we live with that?
growntolove 