The Distraction of Political Entanglement: Part III
Welcome to the third and final part to the series on political entanglement. If you haven’t read Part I or Part II, I would kindly recommend you read those first.
In the last post, I discussed how someone’s faith can become entangled with their politics. I talked about how both conservatism and progressivism will each claim to be more Christ-like than the other in terms of their message and mains. But in the end, our ultimate loyalty must remain exclusively with Christ. We must accept all of who He is while rejecting all that He isn’t.
In this post, I want to add a few words about historical and contemporary issues related to entanglement. We’ll also address common objections to stripping our politics from our faith. Lastly, we’ll talk about ways we might safely engage in the political process.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’re aware that the biggest challenge facing believers throughout history hasn’t been things like persecution, communism, moral decline, or even bad theology.
It’s always been distraction.
By distraction, I specifically mean those things which seek to draw us away from Christ. These can include anything from an unhealthy preoccupation with our personal finances, to the excessive time we waste on movies and entertainment, to the pursuit of theology itself. While these things might seem harmless enough, they have the potential to waste the limited time we have on the planet and distract us from our vital apprehension of the Lord.
In Western Christianity, political entanglement is a huge distraction. It draws us away from our mission and dilutes the power and authority given to us in Christ. It’s been said that mixing politics and Christianity is a bit like mixing poop with ice cream. The ice cream does nothing for the poop. But the poop makes the ice cream unpalatable. When mixed together, politics obscures the richness of Christ’s true flavor and makes Him a stench to the world.
A History of Political Entanglement
Rather than advance the Kingdom, intermingling it with politics as done more to weaken its effectiveness than it’s ever helped it. The history of the church has taught us what happens when God’s people chose to “love the things of the world” by co-mingling the mission of Christ with man’s political practices. Whenever we have, it’s been an unmitigated disaster for not only God’s people, but for the surrounding culture as well.
For starters, when Israel rejected God for a human king to be like the other nations, Israel followed their lead of a fallible king. During Israel’s history, some kings were better than others. But the result was that Israel became like the other nations, relying on their own political, military, and cultural strength. Because of their allegiance to human leadership, Israel’s history would become one of oscillating allegiance to the Lord. They would become far less than what the Lord had planned for them as His people.
When Jesus Christ, the True Messiah, arrived on the scene, He became a stumbling block to the Jews. Why? Because they had become so accustomed to viewing their lives through a political lens that they would expect nothing other than a political savior. As a result, they largely rejected their Messiah. Many reject him today for the same reason.
By the 3rd century, much of the church deviated from its original design and began borrowing from the world to incorporate political systems of doctrine and hierarchical leadership to maintain control. The church began to centralize power and authority out of expediency. The words of the Counselor were suppressed. In time, the church forgot how to listen. Consequently, the bulk of what we would call “church” would be dominated by empty ritual and calcified traditions. The authentic life of the Lord amid his people would become muted.
In the early 4th century, the church accepted asylum under the Roman Emperor Constantine after a long period of persecution. When this happened, millions began to pour into the church. However, because this influx was motivated by political protection and social advantage rather than love of Christ, it damaged the church by diluting the purity of its mission and morality of its people. Government protection of the church also came at a price. With Constantine having fused the church with the state, its mission would shift from proclaiming, demonstrating, and embodying the Kingdom to becoming a political instrument of the Empire and a means of social stability and control. The result would be centuries of church history riddled with distraction, accommodation, and compromise.
In the middle ages, long after the Roman Empire had ended, the church would become drunk on its own power while fully embracing its role as political, social, and military superpower. This would inevitably lead to unhealthy alliances, corruption, manipulation, and violence–even against other believers.
Manipulating the Electorate
While history demonstrates the church’s capacity for self-deception and entanglement, American Christians today are not immune to being politically manipulated. This happens on many fronts.
First, if you haven’t noticed, the media we consume is largely partisan. If you watch closely, both left and right-leaning outlets manipulate their consumers a couple of different ways. One way is to frame every social problem as political problem requiring government intervention. (What does the ‘American people’ think? What does the Senate think? What is the President going to do? What do other countries want?) This ensures politics remains front and center of our lives and keeps us beholden to the political process to fix every ill.
Another way is that they choose their stories and craft their rhetoric as to incite anger and outrage toward the opposition. They do this because they recognize that it pleases the flesh to belittle and dehumanize others. By keeping us outraged, they know that we’ll keep coming back for more.
Sometimes while I’m driving, I’ll listen to a popular radio talk show hosted by someone who claims to be a believer. While they have great things to say about America, the military, and first responders, they can be incredibly malicious toward those they disagree with. While I believe in passion and spirited disagreement, such things need to be conducted respectfully. Calling someone a “moron” just doesn’t sit well. Given the reach of this person’s audience, I wonder how many just assume this is acceptable behavior by someone representing Christ?
Politicians have been manipulating Christians for several decades. They’ll align themselves with religious causes, sometimes merely in the hope of securing political support. By advocating laws that protect religious freedom or promote ‘Christian values’, Christians will pledge their support to these candidates (often without regard of what other policies the candidate may be supporting). Under this arrangement, the politician is happy to remain their political messiah so long as the Christian vote provides them a polling advantage.
To be fair, there are many politicians who sincerely want to represent Christ resolutely in the political sphere. Unfortunately, many are lost in the swell of politics and political compromise. Why? Because if being elected is your goal, you have to demonstrate that you are the person that your constituency wants (which is rarely the type of person the constituency needs). Unfortunately, “being tough” amid your primary election opponents can bring out the worst in people. Manipulative rhetoric, empty promises, and defamation of one’s opponents is all too common in political debate–even among those who claim Christ’s name.
Then there’s patriotism.
As I’ve said in a previous post, I love the idea of America as a place where a moral society could thrive under guaranteed liberties and unlimited opportunity. Of course, America is far from perfect. But I still believe it to be the best of what’s out there. So while some level of national pride isn’t necessarily a bad thing, for followers of Christ, love of country needs to be thoughtfully weighted against our higher allegiance.
To me, patriotism is America’s unofficial state religion. Think about it…
Patriotism seeks to place the nation in an esteemed place of relevance. In patriotism, we worship the Republic as if it can do no wrong. The Founders are its prophets. The founding documents are its sacred texts. Our representatives are its priests. Independence Day is our holy day of reverence. Patriotism demands that we pledge our allegiance to the nation. To sacrifice oneself for one’s country is among the highest social honors.
But as a religion, patriotism will compete with our allegiance to Christ. Because serious believers will recognize the conflict, our national institutions must continuously preserve the unified construct of democracy, freedom, and faith. (Adding faith to this construct reassures the Christian population that worshiping the Republic is still okay since religion has been added to the mix.)
Outsourcing Our Mission
“Mike, I understand what you’re saying about the history of distraction and entanglement. But can’t politics be redeemed and used for good? As Christians, shouldn’t we exert our political influence to direct the resources of our government to help others?”
I often hear this argument a lot. By “help” they often seek to promote things like programs to aid to the poor, socialized medicine, and the like. They reason that Jesus wants us to love others by providing them with the things they’re without and the government appears to have lots of available resources to spare.
On the surface, this might make sense. But it’s important to understand the pitfalls, second-order effects, and problems we create when we attempt to force the work of the Kingdom through human government.
Why would Christians want to funnel their ‘good’ through government? I think there are two reasons.
First, government is something that we can influence. We figure that if we garner enough support to move it in a certain direction, we can. Second, there are much more resources available from the government through tax revenue than there are in the church budget or in your personal savings account. So, in the mind of many Christians, it’s merely a matter of manipulating the levers of politics to bring about the good that God wants in the world.
Seems legit. How could this hurt?
First, because this plan relies almost entirely on political influence, we will be tempted to align support behind political causes and candidates whose worldview and objectives may only slightly overlap those of mature believers. Politics is rife with conciliation, compromise, and corruption. Because selfishness is the engine that drives politics, rarely will we get exactly what we want without getting other stuff attached to it—even things that might run counter to the greater Kingdom cause. Political solutions will have political strings attached. We also underestimate the inefficiency, ineptness, and poor accountability of the typical government program. It’s not that some good things don’t eventually bubble their way to the surface. But conciliation ensures that any ‘good’ that actually gets achieved is a compromised and vastly diluted and maligned version of what was really needed. In fact, we may never really never know how effective it was because its effects are rarely measured.
Partisan politics ensures solutions are limited to what a party will support. Neither party will support a solution that doesn’t rely on legislation (since no credit could otherwise be taken). But as is often the case, the best solution to a social problem isn’t a government solution at all.
Second, because of the pressure to signal the appearance of solving a problem, government social programs do little more than throw money at a problem. Little thought is given to second-order effects and negative consequences. Merely handing over money to others without measurable outcomes or accountability creates a people forever in need of government support. It hurts them by robbing them of human dignity. It sets up a cycle of codependency where politicians are more than happy keep the flow of government benefits going so long as it ensures a steady stream of political support from the masses.
No government can truly love others as Christ does. It’s easy to be generous with other people’s money. Voting for more government support for the amorphous ‘poor’ may alleviate our guilt (since voting is easy and makes us feel like we’ve done something without getting too involved). But the Kingdom calls us to personal interaction and sacrifice. Government programs are neither sacrificial nor transformative. In many cases they’re exploitative—keeping the poor beholden to the ruling class for solutions which rarely satisfy the root problem.
Outsourcing Our Identity
“Mike, America was founded as a Christian nation and is a light to the world. Shouldn’t we still work to ensure that our nation stays that way by electing leaders who will enact laws based on Christian principles?”
I often hear this argument also. Because America is a powerful nation with a majority Christian population, many believe that it occupies a unique and influential place in the world stage. They believe America has a special responsibility to honor God in the way in its operation and conduct. Ideas like these fall broadly under what some call Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalists seek to sustain and cultivate Christian principles in American government through political engagement. Some view passages like 2 Cor. 10:5 (on ‘taking every thought captive’) and Matt. 28:16-20 (the Great Commission) as biblical mandates to Christianize government in the same way that Catholicism claims to have conquered the Roman Empire back in the 4th century. Some also believe that by ensuring America “turns back to God” we will receive the Lord’s blessing and avoid judgment (based on a misapplication of 2 Chronicles 7:14).
But Christianizing government puts us at risk of outsourcing our identity in Christ. Only the church has been exclusively commissioned to bear the Lord’s image on earth and contain His life. When we try to sanctify government through sanctified legislation, we’re trying to breathe divine life into a hopelessly inadequate form. When we try to force the Spirit of Christ into human government, we’re trying to jam the eternal into a something that was never designed to contain it. It’s like trying to force the entire ocean into a bottle. To the degree we’re successful, we’re only capturing an infinitesimal portion of the genuine article.
Of course, many Americans simply desire a more moral, honest, and trustworthy society. If that’s the goal, then sustaining a moral culture by promoting moral values may be a great way forward. But the Lord isn’t interested in a people who are only good outwardly (and neither should we). Let’s leave that work to the secular moralist. Authentic followers of Christ do not live by Christian principles, but rather by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ. Such change is only possible by the Spirit. Trying to do it any other way is misguided and ineffective. It may also cause harm to the legitimate work of the Kingdom.
Why is that?
For starters, the goals of a nation and those of the Kingdom are often incompatible and contradictory. The focus of successful national governments should be to do things like sustain a strong economy, maintain order, ensure the well-being of its citizens, and preserve a military to deter foreign threats. However, the focus of the Kingdom is to love others (including our enemies), glorify the Lord, and to speak against the elements of our culture that don’t align with Christ. Note there is very little alignment between these two sets of goals. A government saddled with both national and Kingdom responsibilities will do neither job well. Besides, the Lord will not abide His glory being a unique possession of human government. He cannot be contained. Rather, than America being a “Christian nation”, His people are called to be a “city on a hill”—separate and distinct from any national identity, race, or cultural group, yet inclusive of all human identity.
But a greater concern of trying to nationalize Christianity by promoting moral values is that it will only encourage cultural Christianity. Cultural Christians are those who claim Christianity merely due to upbringing, church attendance, local culture, or nationality but often lack a genuine dependence on the work of Christ. Many are kind and considerate. But often, their outward behavior is nearly indistinguishable from the rest of American culture. Where cultural Christians make up a significant portion of the population, it harms the authentic witness of Christ since society can’t distinguish the real thing from the background noise of empty religion.
The reason that Jesus was so attractive and popular when he walked the earth was the contrast He presented against the cultural religiosity of his time. This is why losing the culture war doesn’t bother me. The greater the contrast we can present against the backdrop of cultural Christianity, the more the world will take notice of the true Christ.
Entanglement versus Influence
“But what about William Wilberforce? Didn’t he engage in the political process to free slaves? Can you argue that things would have been different had he not did what he did?”
For those who don’t know, William Wilberforce was a British politician in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. He converted to Christianity in 1785 which greatly influenced his views on slavery. Because of his convictions, Wilberforce and like-minded abolitionists (represented largely by an ecumenical partnership of Anglicans and Quakers) began to speak directly to Parliament in a series of appeals demanding that the slave trade be abolished. After several years, their efforts resulted in the Slave Trade Act 1807, which ended the transport of slaves on British ships. He remained a staunch abolitionist for the remainder of his career. Mere days before his death, he saw the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act of 1833 which all but eliminated slavery in the British Empire. Wilberforce is often used as an example of when Christian worldview was combined with political engagement to accomplish something positive.
But does this prove entanglement as good and helpful?
First, as believers, we’re to love others. This means that we try might be called to end the injustices that they suffer under. This might include speaking and working against evil, injustice, and exploitation wherever it’s found. This activity is part of God’s restorative work on earth. Since government “repentance” is an inherently political process involving amendments, rescinded rulings, and new legislation, political engagement is part of the process.
It’s one thing to apply pressure and influence against centers of power when they’re complicit in injustice and evil to stop the atrocities they commit. But it’s an entirely different thing to use politics to try to force the infinite righteousness of Christ into human government. As already explained, this will only create problems.
Such was Constantine’s folly. Let’s not let it be ours.
Second, while it might stem evil and suffering, it’s not enough to make such activities as slavery illegal. Today, those who wish to continue hurting and exploiting others simply find a way around laws (or take the activity to a place where the law doesn’t apply). Case in point: Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade, there were more abortions performed during 12 months after the ruling than the previous 12 months.
Despite this, lives were undoubtedly saved with this ruling. (Saving life is good.) But a political solution will never fix the root problem. Rather, a deeper work is required. Hearts must be changed and made new. This requires God’s people to become personally vested into the whole problem. It requires us to clothe ourselves in Christ and demonstrate His love and acceptance face-to-face among those facing such a decision.
Christ draws others to Himself by reveling Himself through His people. Once Christ is truly seen, He can’t be unseen.
Stewards of the Mission
“Mike, this country is falling apart. You seem to be suggesting we just give up and let evil take over the country without a fight. Don’t you know that all that’s required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing?”
I never suggested we should do nothing. The Lord has always had a plan to redeem the world. In fact, He’s never deviated from it.
The plan involved His coming to earth in human form to demonstrate, embody, and proclaim the Kingdom. He didn’t just talk about it. He demonstrated it by loving the unloved, healing the sick, and suffering on the cross. He embodied it among His disciples as they followed and learned from Him. He proclaimed freedom from all forms of repression wherever He went. Through parables, He explained to everyone the inconceivable richness of the Kingdom. After Christ’s death and burial, His resurrection paved the way for His people to be cleansed of their sin. But His ultimate intention wasn’t merely their forgiveness. Rather, it was so that He might continue to live in them–to empower them, direct them, and continue His Kingdom work through them to the ends of the earth.
So we can continue to try to mend the world through broken human systems. Some good might get done. But politics will always be too fickle, conciliatory, and paranoid to achieve the good it seeks. It’s unfit for the task. When we attempt to force government to do the Lord’s work, it betrays the fact that we (the Body of Christ) have been designed to not only contain life, but to personally dispense that life as healing to the world. Unlike the government and its political handlers, we’re free to operate from pure motives and the infinite resources of Christ–without compromise and with no strings attached. Whether its helping the poor, healing the hurting, or proclaiming eternal freedom to a lost world, we are the stewards of Christ’s mission of making all things new.
But given this truth, why isn’t more being done?
Don’t get me wrong. I think a lot of Kingdom work is being done. But it just seems like with 2.38 Billion Christians in the word, the Kingdom would be a little more, well… noticeable. I think there are a couple reasons for this.
First is a lack of awareness of the Kingdom cause. The unfortunate reality of a lot of churches today is that their members see no mission beyond keeping their theology pure and chugging through a liturgical calendar. We sense the need for mission, but falsely assume it to be engaging politics and waging culture war.
Second is a lack of recognition between churches of differing tribes. Despite the breadth of our mission (and except in rare instances), Methodists don’t work with Pentecostals, Anglicans don’t work with Baptists, and Roman Catholics don’t work with Presbyterians. This disunity limits the scope of what we can demonstrate in the name of Christ and divides His work among a thousand denominational pseudonyms.
Just imagine what we could accomplish if we abandoned our political entanglements and put aside our theological differences for the sake of the Kingdom mission. It would easily dwarf the greatest endeavor by any earthly nation. Christ’s true glory would be recognized, and the world would be forced to take notice.
I think this is God’s dream. Let’s make it ours.
Bottom line: We don’t need politics to bring heaven to earth.
How We Might Engage Politics
As we close, let’s return to the original question.
In Part I, we learned that human government (under the Lord’s authority) actually has a purpose. If so, how might a believer engage the political process?
First, it’s important to understand that many believers don’t engage in politics at all. They don’t vote, and they don’t support political causes. Because they see themselves as citizens of heaven (Phil 3:2) rather than citizens of any earthly nation, they view their political involvement akin to influencing foreign affairs. They take literally Paul’s admonition in his second letter to Timothy:
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
2 Timothy 2:4 (ESV)
They instead focus their time and mental energy on the mission of Christ.
But remember, in Christ we are absolutely free. Unless politics becomes an idol or until it competes for our trust in Christ, we are free to vote, support candidates, support political causes, and even run for office. However, considering all that we’ve said about politics, there are a few things that I think would be healthy for us to keep in mind.
First, we need to recognize the purpose and limitations of politics. Of course, there is social benefit to laws that uphold morality. But political systems were made for secular society. As such, politics should focus on ensuring social order and resolving secular problems.
So, as a believer I tend to support proposed legislation that:
- solves a problem that only government can solve
- is enforceable
- is fiscally sustainable
- preserves order
- neither exploits nor harms others
- minimizes negative second-order effects
For me, the goal is to ensure we aren’t creating a cure that’s worse than the problem. Politicians are far too quick to propose a solution that fixes an immediate problem without much thought on how it will come back to bite all of us later.
But whether good or bad, legislation is ultimately a band aid that merely covers a symptom of a deeper problem. Let’s not make the mistake of believing such solutions will provide the deepest kind of change that Christ seeks for His creation. They’re two entirely different things.
Second, we should maintain a proper perspective of the world. Isaiah writes,
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
Isaiah 40:15 (ESV)
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
God is big. His purpose eclipses any nation, conflict, or struggle. With the threat of war, terror, and disorder constantly in the headlines, we can feel like things are out of control. We may feel powerless outside of politics to set things right. Yet, we have a Lord that holds all these things in His hand. He is not surprised by them. In fact, He warned us that problems are going to happen (John 16:33). But He is much, much greater than those problems; we can trust that He is in control. So, we shouldn’t engage in politics out of soulish anger or fear as if to catch the things we think God has dropped. But like anything else in life, we do so out of a place of severe, continuous dependence on Christ and an awareness of the infinite love He has for His creation.
Third, we need to offer love and respect to our political opponents. Last I checked, Matthew 5:44 is still in the Bible. Rather than curse our leaders, Paul reminds us to pray for them (regardless of their political persuasion):
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 (ESV)
Of course, we can get passionate about our political ideas. We can be frustrated when we can’t understand why people choose not to see things the way we do. But being passionate is no excuse for being a jerk. When we slander others, we need to be aware that we’re bending our knee to something far more sinister than our political opponents. As believers, we’re called to reflect Christ’s image. The world is watching how we treat others. We’re not like Jesus to judge the hearts of others. If we’re to speak against someone, we need to speak against their ideas and actions (and not make personal attacks).
We’ve made it to the end of this series. I hope it’s given us a lot to think about.
Entanglement is a distraction. When we try to graft our faith to our politics, it can create problems. It damages the purity of our identity. It conflates a fallen system with the power of Christ. It maligns our character.
While we should avoid entanglement, many believers around the world are free to engage their political systems. The key to being politically engaged as a believer is to recognize the limits of politics and to apply our authority responsibly.
One day, heaven and earth will be reunited. Our hope centers on the certainty of this future event. Until then, God grant us grace as we continue to sort out what it means to live as dual citizens of heaven and earth.