I had wanted to start something like this last week, but just ran out of time, what with school starting up next week and all. The point of Hot Topic Tuesday is that most (hopefully) Tuesdays, I'll post my thoughts on a topic I've been thinking about - more than likely usually dealing with religion or politics or something else of that nature - and allow you to post your thoughts, should you feel so led.
This topic came from a conversation we had in the junior and senior Sunday School class at church on Sunday and I've had it in the back of my mind since. I call it:
Deus Ex Machina Politica
...which, translated from Latin, means "God from the Political Machine". The question I'm basically addressing here is, "How should Christians be involved in the political spectrum?" This, of course, opens up a variety of other questions: How should Christians vote? Should Chrisitians vote? Which issues are more important when choosing a political leader - moral or societal?
A number of years ago (I think it was during the last presidential election, actually), I posted a rant on Xanga called "God is not a Republican or a Democrat." I firmly hold that to be true. Whereas a few of my friends (perhaps one or two more than others) may find God to be incredibly Republican, I honestly don't think so...
One of the things that I find frustrating about the way Christians vote, by and large, is that there are really only one or two issues that concern them as a whole - abortion and gay marriage. If a candidate is not against both of these things, then he is either (a.) not a Christian, (b.) not getting their vote, or (c.) both. Christians tend to be pretty judgmental a lot of the time - particularly regarding these topics. I was once a part of a conversation where the other party said (and I'm paraphrasing here, since I don't remember it word for word), "If a candidate isn't about the rights of the unborn, then I don't want to listen to anything else they have to say."
I was a bit flabbergasted when I heard this to say the least. Mainly because I believe that abortion is not the only issue that Christians should be concerned with! There are the number of other issues: the environment, the death penalty, the War on Terror, social justice - both at home and abroad, foreign policy, the economy, education... the list goes on and on. And while a Christian may care about a number of these issues, it seems fair to say that most if not all of them take a back seat to the Big Two - abortion and gay marriage.
The thing is, both of these issues are moral issues rather than societal issues. In my mind, a candidate's morality shouldn't play as big a role as it has in the last few elections. After the outrage of the Lewinski scandal, it appears that many Christian Americans would rather have a president that is morally upstanding than a president who would make a strong leader. I'm not sure that the two are mutually exclusive, myself.
The junior/senior Sunday School teacher made a great point Sunday morning. He said that societal issues are more about how the country is being run now. Getting us out of present crises like the current economic crunch or the War on Terror. Moral issues are about the countries future and how the 'moral barometer' of the nation will tilt. Moral issues didn't really concern the Founding Fathers... mainly because they were on the same page about a lot of things. It was assumed that everyone believed in God and, for the most part, would behave a certain way.
Over time, that's changed. For good or ill? I'll leave that up to you.
I think both moral and societal issues are important. That may not have come across in this 'rant,' but it is true. I think that Christians, however, should have a consistent ethic. They should be of a like mind of Christ. That might mean going back and reading through the gospels and then asking some hard questions: How can killing prisoners or soldiers be okay and killing babies be wrong? Is it okay to be the wealthiest nation on earth while people in other countries are dying of disease and starvation? Are religion and science mutually exclusive?
These are tough questions, to be sure, but - I feel - definitely worth thinking about and, should the inclination strike you, answering.
Thoughts? Comments? Counter-rants?
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