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| Photo by Leland Francisco |
"There are two great lies that I've heard: 'The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will surely not die,' and that Jesus was a white, middle-class republican, and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like him." - A King and a Kingdom by Derek Webb.
The marriage of the political right in the US with Christianity frightens me to no end. This scary and unholy union has brought, in my opinion, a lot of misunderstanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
As we read the history of Christianity, we see how this little movement of Christians started by being at odds with the political system of the world. Jesus suffered persecution from the authorities of His day. The early Christians were heavily persecuted as well, and their faith, in many aspects, was a counter-cultural one.
Jesus Himself, as we see in the Gospel reading above, clearly declares that His kingdom does not originate from this world.
It is important to note how He contrasts the way the world would deal with His particular situation with the way He is choosing to deal with it: "If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews." Of course He doesn't call his disciples to resolve His situation as the world would because His kingdom "is not from the world."
As we see from the Scriptures then, the culture of the kingdom of God is in some ways in contrast to the kingdoms of the world. The way the world resolves issues (fighting, ruling it over others etc.) is not the way the kingdom of God resolves issues.
This contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world must be acknowledged. Although we can and should be trying to conform our worldly political systems to reflect the kingdom of Heaven, whenever a union of these two forces is attempted (as we see countless times in the history of Christianity), we instead see a heavy and unholy distortion of the message of Jesus.
The Marriage Between the Political Right & Christianity
I've spoken extensively of how liberal Christians try to marry cultural liberal values with Christianity, and how it distorts the faith. Now I want to turn my attention to how conservative Christians do the same.
It was an interesting experience to see my twitter feed explode with pro-life articles on the anniversary of Roe vs Wade. No other day exemplifies this unholy union as this day.
Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not pro-choice. I believe all life is sacred, and I agree with Pope Francis when he says in the Joy of the Gospel that "It is not progressive to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life."
But I have no desire to join the pro-life movement as it currently is. On the anniversary of Roe vs Wade, my twitter feed was crowded with articles about this or that (mostly Republican) politician being pro-life and how they deserve our support.
On this and many other issues (like gay marriage, prayer in schools etc.) the underlying message is this: if you wish to become a faithful Christian, you must be a Republican. While it is true that many Christian will not say this directly (some will!), you still get the sense that to be a Christian is to vote Republican.
Is the Kingdom of God Republican?
When a marriage of a political ideology with the kingdom of God is attempted, many aspects of that particular political ideology, which at its source is not Christian, starts to slowly seep into Christian theology and practice to the point that it is normalized. To be Christian then becomes tantamount to being part of a particular political system.
This confusion of kingdoms gives birth to many blind spots in our culture, to the point that we need an outsider's voice, or a certain distance from our cultural perspective, to really see them.
Lack of Integrity in Pro-Life Politicians
To use the pro-life movement as a case in point: many, if not most, of those Republicans who are pro-life are also pro-guns. Guns are a weapon of violence and death. Guns are a weapon for fighting. Can we claim with integrity that weapons are pro-life?
Many of these Republicans are also against many welfare programs that help the poor in our nation, including the recently born. This creates a sense of social Darwinism (social survival of the fittest) and meritocracy, where the poor are seen as unworthy of that help (it is their fault that they are poor) and that it is not fair to give something to someone who hasn't earned it.
First, isn't it ironic that the most fervent opponents of evolution also push the ideology of social Darwinism?
Secondly, the ideology of meritocracy goes against our concept of Grace. Who is good enough to receive the gifts of God? Who is good enough to earn His grace? It is true that love seeks to improve the character of individuals, but it is also the nature of love to give to those whom we deem as unworthy.
Both are not mutually exclusive. Don't buy into this false dichotomy.
Also, many of these conservative politicians support big spending on the military. We spend over 60% of our national budget on the military. Only 6% of our budget goes to education.
These politicians seem bent on presenting the US as a strong nation that will not be messed with by showing our military might to the world. They are also more likely to present the "other" as the enemy. Ted Cruz, for example, recently mentioned the need to "carpet bomb" ISIS.
If Jesus was president, would He carpet bomb His enemies? Love of one's enemy takes second place (or less) and becomes a romantic and naive idea to our real need for security. Notice how the world solves problems by fighting, and how these politicians push the US to deal with these issues by fighting.
Many of these "pro-life" politicians also refuse to let any Syrian Muslim refugees into this country, for fear that they will turn out to be terrorists. Again, our need for personal security takes priority over our call to love our "enemies."
And don't get me started on immigration. In these and in many issues, Scripture's call to treat the foreigner as our own and to show hospitality to strangers is drowned out by the world's call to protect ourselves and our way of living.
These illegals broke the law, they say, and for that reason alone they are not worthy of our welcome. It is true that many committed a civil offense when they crossed the border illegally, but I am thankful that Jesus doesn't use the same rigid prerequisites to welcome us into the Father's home as the world would! Forgiveness and other forms of retribution to repay this civil offense (outside of deportation to violent and unstable birth countries) seem oddly out of the question for many of these politicians.
The Way of the Kingdom of God: The Cross
You see, the way of the kingdom of God is risky. It is not safe. It makes no sense for politicians to adopt the way of Jesus which ultimately leads to the cross. But thank God! We are called to follow the way of the cross, and not the way of self protection! We are called to leave behind the world's call to security and to follow the call of Jesus to the cross. We are called to lose our lives in order to gain them!
No politician can preach the extremely risky way of the cross and still win votes. And this is why the union between our politics with our faith will always lead to a false Jesus: a Jesus who is of this world.
No political party will ever represent fully the kingdom of Heaven. If it did, then the kingdom of God would be of this world.
Who do you choose to follow? Who do you decide to pledge allegiance to? For me, I will pledge allegiance not to politics, but to a King and a Kingdom.
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