Political involvement

Early this year I spent a bit of time thinking through the mission of the church. Today I turned to Christian involvement in politics, with much help from my fellow-blogger, Nathan (and not a little help from Mark too - see the gigantic comment section beneath this post). I've taken on (and will reproduce) some of what Nathan argues, but not all.


Christians in places like Australia or Chile should get involved in the issues of the day, firstly because we live in a democracy. Our minority status doesn't preclude us from having the right to have our say. And we shouldn't preempt the political process, standing back so that the majority view might come to pass. It's not our job, but the politicians' to represent fairly the views of the electorate. And perhaps the rightness and goodness of God's ways will shine through and be taken up, even though Christians are small in number. But if this doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. Now is not the age for a perfect society; that time is still to come - at the end of the world.

The second reason we should get our hands dirty is because following God's ways helps societies to flourish. I realise that in a country of people untouched by the Gospel, the Christian ideal will always be imperfectly legislated and lived out, but I still think that the little good that may result is nonetheless good and worth pursuing.


But we need to be very careful about how we come across. Because we love the people around us, we want to see them flourishing not only in this life but in the next as well, so we need to make sure that our political involvement doesn't obscure the path to salvation and true, abundant, eternal life. Our society already thinks that Christian = a good person (/hypocrite) who believes in God. We don't want our campaigning to imply that Christianity is a call for all people to be good, when it is rather the offer of forgiveness and goodness to people who, by themselves, cannot be good.

There are perhaps three ways to avoid this. Firstly, make decisions about right and wrong in accordance with your faith, but don't argue for it in these terms. Stick to humanism, experience, statistics, psychology... Arguing like this will keep you from confusing Christianity with morality. And, because the Christian way is the way of Truth and Goodness, there's every chance that some of this will have seeped through into these manmade disciplines.

Secondly, if your main gig is issues of the day, then be wary of branding yourself 'Christian' or even organising your lobbying in this way. Better for Christians to act as private citizens or to get involved in existing parties, than for the Gospel message to be muddled up with morality.

... Unless, thirdly, you take special care to link issues back to the Gospel. This way, even if you achieve nothing in the present political sphere, people will have heard about the coming of a perfect, heavenly society. And, who knows, because the Gospel speaks truely about and into the human condition, people may feel the weight of your argument even if they don't accept your religion. If a group of Christians were to consistently take this approach, then being branded 'Christian' would be a wonderful thing.

The other thing to keep a weather eye on in any political involvement is religious freedom - of any religion, not Christianity alone (and even sometimes of atheism too). This is why I viewed the introduction of humanist ethics classes in NSW schools as a good thing - so long as it was only one option on offer, along with classes from Christians, Muslims, Buddists and whoever. I don't think we should be fighting for unique Christian privileges in today's society, but rather for freedom of all religions - particularly in the face of supposed 'neutral' secularism. And, if we need to give ground on some moral issue for the sake of religious freedom, then this is what we must do.

This is all well and good - but what does it mean for me? Well it's going to mean different things for different people, depending on the gifts and opportunities that God has given us. Some people have a special interest in and facility for politics. Others will simply be called to vote thoughtfully and speak Christianly about the day's news in the work staffroom. But me? Well all this has made me see that it's good and right that I focus my energies on my Christian ministry, which is the more important thing. But, particularly given the intelligence God has given me, it would also be good for me to have some involvement in the political sphere - especially if I think an issue is unusually good for highlighting the Gospel (say, some issue of justice, vengeance, or grace); if I think the non-Christian path will be especially damaging for society; if there is injustice involved (eg corruption or active abuse of the vulnerable); or if it is a case of religious freedom. Which, in Australia at least, brings me back to abortion. Only this time round I know it's okay not to give it my all, and I have some clear strategies for action. I do need to get better at working out non-religious arguments and at linking social issues back to the Gospel. I need to be nutting these things out as issues crop up, in anticipation of conversations that might come my way. And, who knows, one day I may even do something crazy like write a Letter to the Editor, call talkback radio or visit my local politician.

Postscript: Actually, I just remembered that I can't be getting involved in politics here, precisely because that's not the main purpose for being here, and things can go badly for the missionary organisation if you do - not to mention that it can be quite rude to critique the politics of the country where you are a guest. But I still need to have my thinking clear on all this so I can provide godly counsel to the people I work with - and, in this internet age, there'll still be plenty of opportunity for me to play my part in Oz.

Postscript II: And prayer. That's one area of political involvement that is unambiguously commanded of us... and one that I mostly forget.