On Party Affiliation and Christianity

This is a link to an article by Timothy Byrnes, it is rather lengthly and while it focuses on the Roman church and politics, titled "Bishops, Parties and Competing Agendas",  it can be applied across the board to any Christian denomination.  In the article, Timothy Byrnes argues that neither political party embodies the teaching of the Christian Church, and that the church therefore, should not tie itself to any party because political parties are ephemeral institutions, and that no political party ever has been or will be a vehicle for advancing christian teaching.  Take the case of the Roman Catholic Church, Christian teaching on the sanctity of life crosses parties lines and including abortion, opposition to the death penalty, strong advocating for refugees and immigrants, social welfare programs for the poor, climate change and environmental stewardship and seeking peace over war.  All those issues cross party platforms.  For those that claim to be Christians, it is important for us to remember that we should ultimate seek to follow the teaching of the church and Christ, and when making those hard decisions in the voting both, respect members of other parties for this very reason. Any party affiliation we hold should never be more important than the call to the Gospel of Jesus Christ which goes far beyond any political party aspirations to make a nation "great again", and calls us rather to humility and self sacrifice. It is only in the light of the gospel that all human endeavors are exposed as dead end roads, and all human solutions are dissolved.  

The apostle Paul certainly understood this, every epistle had an ethical implication to the theology he so carefully lays out, and while he lived in an empire that not only did not recognize his religious faith, actively persecuted and forcefully attempted to destroy it,  When the principles of the Kingdom, (blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those that mourn, blessed are those that hunger and thirst for justice, blessed are those that are persecuted, blessed are the merciful) are lived out both in our homes, neighborhoods, communities, and political life, we begin to see a transformation of our hearts, minds and lives  We get to the nitty gritty issues that are less abstract and certainly more real to us.  That is where God's reign begins to work itself out.

We are political creatures and live in a representative republic where we can actively participate.  So we will have to wrestles with those decisions that are on our ballots.  We should be concerned with national and global issues that affect our neighbors, Paul's collection for the poor in Jerusalem during the famine that is scattered across several of his epistle clearly shows that his concern for the well being and "disaster relief" was essential to his understanding of his faith.  Paul instructs Christians to be good citizens, to obey the laws, and respect the government even a tyrannical one.  Yet, the message that Paul proclaims is also subversive, and it's a direct challenge to Imperial Rome.  If Jesus is Lord, than Caesar is not in the words of Biblical scholar NT Wright.  When Polycarp refused to take the Imperial oath, it was a theological statement as much as a political one.  

Today, Christians need to beware of the growing popular theology that is partisan and nationalistic, that continues to seek to wrap the United States into one particular political party or that seeks to make the United States an extension of the church.  Unlike in Paul's day, our situation may be more akin to Kierkegaard's attack on institutional Christianity, or Constantinism.  We may be making the same mistakes of generations before us that believed in a "Christian" state or a theocracy, is represented by one political party. Yet in going down this road, we are also seeing growing attacks on immigrants, the poor, science, and those that are members of other religions.  More and more countries are turning towards autocratic leaders and militarization as the answer to our problems, and segments of the church are beginning to march in step.  When we begin to think that any one political party is the answer to our societies problems, we need to be reminded again about what is at the core of the gospel message. 

N.T Wright has a fascinating take on the celebration of the Eucharist as a parody of the Roman pagan orgy feasts, a subversive if not direct challenge to the emperor cult with a new feast, the agape love feast, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, Barbarians and Greeks,  women and men, around a new Lord, Jesus the Christ of God.  The mental and behavioral transformation of Rom 12:1-2 is one that calls us to a new formation in the image of Christ.  The new creation of the body of Christ is one where there is no more Greek or Barbarian, Jew or Gentile, male or female, gay or straight,  but all are one in Christ.  The identity of nation and ethnicity give way to a new identity in Christ and a new family in God.  If we are allowing popular talk radio, current political thinking, United States nationalism, or any number of influences to be more pertinent to us than the gospel, then it is time to remind ourselves that the gospel will always challenge us right at the heart of our own selfishness and self interest, and most politics at the end of the day are driven by self interest. It is than once again time to turn to the cross at Golgotha, and the empty tomb, to the fires of Pentecost, and to the ascended Christ, and to the "new creation" in the body of Christ that is so central to the early church's proclamation.  

We should be politically active, and interpret as best we can which policies we believe will bring about the most common good in society.  However, as we see a new rise in Christian Nationalism, in the drum beat of those Christians that are attempting to tear down the separation of Church and State, and the new influx of Christian worldview thinking into public education, we are faced with threats from within the church that will be damaging to both church and society.  Most Christians seemed unaware that these ideologies are not only not Christian, not Biblical, but antithetical to Christianity.  In trying to bring about a new morality and 'godliness' to the United States, we will have inadvertently bring about a new kind of oppression, authoritarianism, and deterioration of the church's own values.  We would have completely missed the point of what church is suppose to be about.  

Link to OMG blog
"article: Bishops, Parties and Competing Agendas"
Bishops, Parties and Competing Agendas

NT Wright Paul and Caesar