I posted a couple of days ago from David Kuo’s book, and I had a little more to follow up.
After discussing the “marginal political success” of conservatives that Christians have help vote into office, he mentions that this causes at least a couple of reactions. Some (James Dobson being his example) would suggest that the failures to affect much change indicates that Christians should be even more involved, and work harder in the political process. Others (such as John MacArthur) consider it wise to forget the politics and instead focus on sharing Jesus with the world, which is far more important.
He tells the story of his encounter with a senator’s wife:
Not too long ago I talked to the wife of a very prominent Republican senator who shares my Christian faith and has benefited from Christian votes. I asked her if, perhaps, we Christians had gone a bit too far in mixing our politics with our faith. “You are absolutely right!” she exclaimed. “We’ve gone so far afield I wonder if we can find our way back.”
He also questions the priorities of some Christian political groups:
What are our priorities? Earlier this year the Family Research Council, a Christian organization, released a “2006 Conservative State of the Union.” It listed the organization’s priorities:
1. Marriage Protection Amendment
2. Advance Religious Liberties : Defund the ACLU
3. Defund Planned Parenthood
4. Enforce Broadcast Decency
5. Child Custody Protection Act
6. Cloning Prohibition Act
7. Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act
8. Make Family-Friendly Tax Cuts Permanent
9. Protect Private Property Rights
10. End Gambling Expansion
11. Confirm Strict-Constructionist Judges
Are these really the top priorities? What about tackling poverty? What about drugs for HIV/AIDS in Africa? If we are at the point of believing these would be Jesus’ political priorities, it is pretty clear we need more time with God and less time with politicians.
And later, he returns to C.S. Lewis’ Wormwood, which he’d mentioned early in the book:
It is worth revisiting C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. “Let him begin by treating patriotism…as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of parisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him o to the stage at which the religion becomes merely a part of the ’cause,’ in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce…. [O]nce he’s made the world an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of wordly end he is pursuing.”
Today, there is no doubt that many Christians have been seduced in exactly that fashion. Patriotism - a good thing - has become part of our religion. So has partisanship. We have been quietly and gradually nursed to the point where our faith and God himself are merely part of a political cause. Invoking God’s name is just a rhetorical device.
That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news. We have not been “won” by the world or the enemy. Most of us still understand that Christ alone is the answer and our desire.
In the end, Kuo suggests something of a compromise, I suppose, between the views of Dobson and MacArthur - a fast. A fast from politics for a period of time. He points out that Jesus didn’t say “if you fast,” but rather “when you fast,” and that fasting does not have to be limited to food. Fasting from other things is beneficial as well in developing our spiritual lives. He says:
We need to eschew politics to focus more on practicing compassion. We need to spend more time studying Jesus and less time trying to get people elected. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year in support of conservative Christian advocacy groups such as the Family Reseach Council, Eagle Forum, and the panoply of similar groups, let’s give that money to charities and groups that are arguably closer to Jesus’ heart. And we Christians should spend less time arguing with those on the other side and more time communing with them.
Some will undoubtedly read this and think it is a partisan ploy - that I somehow hope “liberal” Christians will become more powerful and liberals will be swept into power. No. I hope progressive Christians will join in the fast, leaving the Democratic party to re-examine its own priorities.
He goes on to talk about how politicians will be out to get the votes, money, etc. of Christians over the next two years. He uses a line I thought was perfect: “And like a teenage boy on a date with a beautiful girl, they will say anything and everything to get what they want.”
So, Kuo’s suggestion is a fast for the next two years, to redirect our resources elsewhere, such as prayer, service to a fallen world, and many other things. What he does not do is suggest we do not vote. He says that’s the one thing we should do during that time (which, I would assume, also includes some educating of ourselves regarding the candidates.) But, everything else, the money and energy spent to get folks elected, he suggest we put to use in some other way.
Regardless of what one thinks about Kuo’s idea, I found the entire book pretty fascinating. His inside view of Washington and the White House, and how people of faith really affect it (or don’t affect it, as the case may be) is worth reading. He sheds a little light onto things we would not normally see, and things that certainly should make us pause and consider our own priorities when it comes to the political process.
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Last month when the #1 Duke team came to Knoxville to play Summitt’s Lady Vols, men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl showed up in the student section, shirtless and painted orange. He had a large “V” painted on his chest, and, along with several of his own players, spelled out “Go Vols.” Summitt appreciated Pearl’s show of support for the women’s team and stated that she would return the favor at a men’s game.
