Thank you for even this small snippet of what promises to be an interesting read from Greg Boyd, and thank you, Greg, for giving voice to the concerns of many Christians in America, Canada, and abroad who question single-issue voting or "Christian values" political action. It's a difficult stance in our societies, but one, if we are to be faithful to the Christian story, which needs to be taken.
Thanks again.
mike

Read "The Search for Christian America" by Mark Noll, Nathan Hatch, and George Marsden. Same general topic, with the traditional evangelical viewpoint being absolutely dismantled. Wonderful, eye-opening piece of work. God save us all from dominion theology.

Wow, a thousand people leave a church because the pastor refuses to identify being a Christian with being a Republican?! Sad, but unfortunately not surprising.

I suppose it's just more evidence that many evangelicals these days care more about their politics than about their faith. You can question all kinds of theological opinions these days as a pastor, and no one will bat an eye, but question the centrality of abortion and homosexuality in a Christian's approach to politics and one is likely to be branded a heretic and forced out of one's job.

AMEN!

I am a Christian and a conservative Republican, but I agree with your opinion wholeheartedly, as do some former members of the "Christian Right," such as Cal Thomas.

This is all very interesting because where I go to church, if all the Republicans left--all three of us--nobody would notice. I'm a conservative in a liberal church because I think the music in Evangelical Churches is saying the same thing as liberal side of the culture war. Postmodern ideology is pervasive in the church, either as accommodation to trends among the intelligentsia, as in the ordination of a gay bishops, or music that embodies the culture and metaphysical premises of a rock concert. Given the choice, I've opted for music and liturgy that speaks of historic Christianity rather than nihilistic pop culture. I have to listen to a lot of Bush jokes, but I'm not going deaf from the music.

When I was a teacher, it was easy to get caught up in political debates in the workroom. (We never called it a lounge.) In those lunch discussions it was easy to lose focus. For me, politics are a kind of abstraction. For me, they easily become a distraction.

Of course, politics is not a distraction for politicians and others called to serve in that arena.

But as a teacher, I had to constantly remember my role. I had no control over the educational trends in our country—I still don't. But I did have some control over the education received by 150 students who came to my class everyday.

I enjoy a healthy political debate as much as the next person, but I have to wonder. When my righteous indignation flares up over some political change I desire, am I trusting the human institution of democracy more than God's power to change the world through His Holy Spirit?

I'll be sure to pick this book up.

Abortion and homosexuality are big issues and need to be addressed - biblically. Jesus was not a republican or democrat or Nader, um, independent. Jesus was about the new party - the Kingdom of God.

Good stuff.

Wow! I'm excited about this book. Sounds to me that we finally have an "evangelical" theologian/pastor who is getting at the same thing that "mainliners" Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon have been getting at for over 15 years now (cf. Resident Aliens)!

God brings God's Kingdom, it is not made by human hands, it is not built by human effort, it is being formed by God who sent us his Son who was crucified. This Son invited his followers to join him on the path of "death that leads to life". They joined. They too were killed. But in all this they obeyed their high calling. That is to form disciples (followers) who will also follow this death that leads to resurrected life. The followers of this Jesus are called to be a "contrast-community" akin to the way Israel was to be "holy" because their God was Holy.

It's all too easy for us to assume that American politics is where God's Kingdom is breaking into God's world. I would proffer that in Jesus who was born in the margins of Bethlehem into a nomadic marginal family we see the inbreaking of God's Kingdom. Perhaps it is in the 2/3rd's of God's world where people are without; food, clothes, suffer from treatable diseases, and face political, economic and milistaristic persecution and violence...perhaps that is where God is once again breaking into his world?

Those of us who are called to be his people, his church, in his world are to be a "prolepsis" of the coming of the resurrected Jesus and the final consumation of "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is where God dwells."

Amen.

I wrote an essay concerning 'Civil Religion', which is the frightening situation that has clearly taken root in American Christianity. The role of the church is confused and the nation, or government, and not the church, becomes the means to serve God and His kingdom.

Whoever is voted into the presidency will NOT change one thing: Jesus is King, and you don't vote for King.

I have to totally disagree with this thesis. You need to live in a country like mine to appreciate how failure to engage actively in politics and government negatively affects evangelism, church growth, tolerance, creating a situation where justice and righteousness in political life dominate. My country is mired in corruption, injustice, a horribly growing wealth gap. You need political activity. You need churches taking and promoting ‘right’ positions. The church cannot be 'neutral' - another word for inactive or lazy - and expect improvement in society. The church must remember it is the gates of hell that shall not prevail against the church. The opposite is to sit behind our gates and wonder if our gates shall prevail against hell. How can one be concerned about society and 1. not take a position 2. actively promote that position? A lot of pussyfooting sitting-behind-the-gates had done very little good – if any at all – in my country and I suspect in any at all.

As one who left the Conservative Church because I felt it was becoming more 'political', then 'spritual', I find this book to be a relief. Christians should not be forced to vote for one canidate because he or she claims to be a 'Christian'. Too many in the Conservative Church believe that politics, and not Christ, will save.

Even the headline assumes a conclusion. "The Quest for Political Power". There is no quest for political power. Those Christians who embrace the conservative movement do so from a standpoint of self-defense, nothing more. It is called citizenship.

Should we not vote our conscience on partial birth abortion and euthanasia? Is there not at right position on those things as opposed to a wrong one? Do we really think that government can function in a moral vacuum?

There a plenty of folks on the right side of the political spectrum I don't particularly care for. There is no one in the leadership of the Democratic party that I could ever vote for on a myriad of issues. If there were, I would. That doesn't qualify as a quest of power. It is just a matter of sound judgment.

This was a very thought provoking post. I must say that I agree with the underlying articles' thesis as stated

"..a significant segment of American evangelism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry".

It all boils down to pride because everyone wants to be right. I am a conservative republican, for the record, but I can't say that the entire Christian community should solely identify with one particular party. Any time that we attempt to identify with a large group of people in a general sense, we are in danger of being misrepresented by the "black sheep", if you will of that particular group. Like the weed in a garden looking out of place in the garden, it might not look out of place somewhere else. In a nutshell, we must be careful of stereotypes.

The main thing we must consider is not whether a particular candidate is Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Independent, but whether or not their beliefs coincide with biblical truths. When there are conflicting beliefs within the same candidate, we must choose the candidate that can bring the most good to the table. This is an extreme example, but consider the following. For example, given the choice between a pro-life homosexual candidate and a pro-choice straight candidate, who do you choose? The one who will bring the greater good, I would hope.
I guess my point here is that we can’t rely solely on political parties for our choices.

In conclusion, I do agree that our soapboxes can become idols. We need to focus on loving God, then loving each other, one person at a time into a knowledge of God. Only by changing the hearts of men – which cannot be accomplished by endless preaching on the soapbox of “taking America back for God” – with our personal relationships can we truly make a difference.

Great post! One that I agree wholeheartedly with and will look forward to getting the book. Being a pastor in the southern states has presented an interesting challenge along these lines. A couple of years ago, I preached a sermon about taking the American flag out of the sanctuary and placing it somewhere else on campus. Could we not have a space totally and utterly devoted to the Lord without any nationalistic symbols, I argued. It provoked a wonderful debate that, thankfully, was free of acrimony or anger. People honestly probed the issue, many told me they simply had never thought about it before.

I do believe Christians should take stands for the betterment of society, its just that we are typically more "informed" by our political affiliations rather than our affiliation with Jesus. For instance, my denomination produces election material during every national election and it lines up lock, stock, and barrel with the Democratic Party line. On the other side, there is a strong strain of evangelicalism that is more Republican than Christian. Both are absolutely wrong! Christians should take stands on abortion and homosexuality. And we should also take stands on fair taxation, violence, and capital punishment.

Interestingly enough, I had a WWII vet stop me after church to let me know in no uncertain terms how offended she was by my argument to take the flag out of the sanctuary. "I had friends who died so that you could preach the Gospel."

As gently as I could, I responded, "Carol, actually it was Jesus who died so I could preach the Gospel. I appreciate your friends' sacrifice, but I hope I would have the courage to preach regardless." She thought for a moment and said, "You know, you are right. I had never thought about it that way before." May the Lord continue to open our eyes like he did Carol's that day to see the ways in which we have confused the Kingdom of God with the kingdoms of this world.

I guess I don't understand why it has to be one way or the other. We have addressed this issue by standing firm and teaching God's Word, exatly as it is written, on every issue such as abortion, homosexuality and any other tough issues. All while staying politically neutral. It's not that the Pastors on this staff don't have strong politcal views it's just that we care more about a lost person finding God than we do about making a political stand.

I would never want a lost person to not come and find Jesus because we only represent one political party. Jesus left us with the Great Commision and that should be our firt priority as the Body of Christ, not political activism. Nothing wrong with strong political views, I have them, but they can't come before reaching this lost and broken wold for Christ.

God is not a democrat or republican. Why?

Republicans: seem to think life is sacred at its beginning and end, but do little to help in the middle

Democrats: seem to think life is disposable at its beginning and end, but do much to help in the middle

Each is just a slice of how God would have us act.

As kingdom people, our desire to see justice done in our country and to fight for morality shouldn't look like a poltical power struggle. Jesus demonstrated an ability for us to change our culture and our world without using the powers of this world to do so. We should unquestionably participate in our government and seek justice where ever we can. But when our churches mirror political parties more than the kingdom we have missed the point entirely. I look forward to reading the book.

I am a strong political conservative with strong mostly conservative views on most of the issues. Most of the people who get to know me find out fairly quickly that I love this country and that I am fairly strongly opinionated. They also know that I lean to the right politically and I have even made stands for certain politicians at times if I have agreed strongly with them or disagreed strongly with them. I see no inconsistency in the idea of being a good American citizen and a good citizen of Heaven as long as my priorities are straight. I even believe that the latter has a lot to offer the prior.

Having said all that let me also say that when I step into the pulpit I also realize that my calling is not to preach political views or partisan politics but to preach the Gospel. Those who think the two cannot be separated have probably gotten their priorities out of wack. It takes a tremendous amount of wisdom to be able to rightly divide between the two and know how far to go or not to go, but it is a part of being a pastor. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God and yet we also live in this world and if we are who we claim to be we will in different ways influence our culture. It is the Gospel message that gave a sinful world the meaning of liberty and many of the other concepts that our political system was founded upon. Yet, our liberty must be regulated by our love for a holy God and as we explore the boundaries of our personal liberties we should also influence the world around us. This includes the political realm and the nation. Pastor's play a part in this, but we can never lose sight of the fact that we can allow nothing to hinder our ability to preach the truth of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus.

My biggest question with all the political dialogue here in these postings is would there be many who would be much more politically motivated as Christians if Evangelical Christianity seemed to be leaning a little more favorably in their philosophical/political direction? Maybe. Of course, that would probably also cause many others to begin to tout the praises of the separation of religion and politics.
As Christians we cannot love the world, but we also cannot stand idly by and watch it self-destruct either. The Church is not supposed to be a political institution but neither should believers (including Pastors) be "a-political".

Let us realize that this is not an untraveled road. Our nice neighbors in Canada faced this very problem. They chose to do nothing about it. Their live and let live attitude is why they suffer so much today. They are mired so deeply in problems that they now must hope for a miracle.
The gay groups in Canada took them to court and charged that marriage between a man and a woman was a form of bigotry. they sued the government and won. It is now on the books in Canada that natural marriage is a form of bigotry, a hate crime.
Bigotry must be abolished by the government. Now all schools must change their text books to read that gay marriage is a normal activity. They must also remove any remarks about natural marriage (it is now a form of bigotry and cannot be taught).
There are currently 9 law suits in the United States calling natural marriage a form of bigotry. They hope we will be as lazy as our northern neighbors.
Remember the easy way out usually costs more and ends up being more difficult.

As a leader who serves in Mennonite circles, I find this book refreshing coming from the greater evangelical community. It is especially poignant at this time because Mennonites are losing their ability to hold politics at arm's length and seem to be increasingly attracted to liberal politics.

I have participated in politics and currently do not. I have found that a politician will always sell you down the river when it is convenient. By nature, politics is the art of give and take, short of war. There's not much about Jesus' agenda that one can negotiate, so by definition, it is not well-served by politics.

I would love to see half the energy and bile currently spilt in the political process, redirected to love for one's neighbbor. No question, many of us will be called to different levels of participation and advocacy. But there should be no doubt as to where our primary allegiance lies. Unfortunately, among Christians this is not always obvious

The Republican Party is not an entity 'out there' - it is made up of individuals, and politically active evangelicals find it most representative of what they stand for.

I think by engaging in 'right' political activity evangelicals are witnessing to others about not only their (evangelicals) stand-points, but also reminding politically inactive people that they should be engaged, and these are the positions they should be voting for.

Surely it is not enough to shout in the market place that homosexual marriage, or abortion etc. are evil and not promote a way of ensuring that they are not legal.

Finally one only needs to look at England to see what a politically inactive - read 'irrelevant' - that word cannot be emphasized enough - church ends up being - impotent and irrelevant.

"My thesis, which caused such an uproar, is this: I believe a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry."

Oh, I get it. You mean Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo.

No, I don't think God is a Republican. But sometimes, when I listen to those on the Left, I get the impression Satan is a Democrat.

Actually, the worst thing that could happen would be that we (politically active conservative evangelicals) would win the culture war and think we had accomplished our mission for the Lord. I have said it before on this site. No one changes from the outside in. The Holy Spirit changes one soul at a time. The character of a nation changes with each individual soul. Our mission is the Great Commission. Not poilitical campaigns or even issue-based campaigns.

That said, there is no reason to exclude Christ from our politics but then invite Him into every other area of our lives. And it is imperative that we do what we can to guide our nation and our government in fulfilling the description of its mission as described in Romans 13.

We must understand how uniquely blessed American Christians are in the history of the world. In other countries, we could not even have this conversation for we would be in hiding or in prison because of our faith.

I live in North Carolina, a semi conservative state, where, 50 years ago, being a Christian meant being a registered Democrat. Republicans were those Yankees like Rockefeller. Today, there are still more Democrats than Republicans in this state by a margin of 800,000 (state BOE website). But we have two Republican U.S. Senators and the last Democrat to win our electoral votes was Lyndon Johnson. Why?

Because of issues. Christians haven't taken over the Republican Party. Democrats have driven Christians away in the last thirty years with their positions on issues like abortion and homosexuality. Not to mention their outright hostility towards Believers.

As for the socalled myth, there is a difference between calling the U.S. a Christian nation and acknowledging the fact that a large percentage of the Founding Fathers were Believers. (I am not talking about Ben Franklin et. al. I'm talking about the dozens of less well known Founding Fathers who are not among the half-dozen always mentioned in text books)

No, we have never been a Christian Nation. But we are a country unique in the history of the world. A melting pot of more diverse cultures and religions than any other nation. But without the violence that rocks the Middle East or other places, like Northern Ireland. I can stand in line at the bank in front of a Buddhist and behind an Islamist and none of us really care.

And why is that? It's because tolerance is a particularly Christian concept. Think its not so? Go try being a Christian in an Arab nation. Anyone from another country who believes the REAL MYTH ABOUT AMERICA, that we are all intolerant, imperialist bigots, should live here awhile and see for themselves.

The issue for most Christians is not whether to be Democratic or Republican. I think most believers could care less about the political parties. The real issue is whether the candidates are liberal or conservative. To be real honest there's probably not a nickels difference between the politicians in the different parties. The real differences come in how they view the issues. The stands they take and have taken. It would be foolish to vote for someone that we knew was not going to stand for our viewpoint on the issues or for someone who has traditionally in the past voted or stood for things that we disagree with. If we are wrong for wanting the politicians that stand for and hold our views to win elections then I guess we will be wrong. The truth is that many times this attitude, that I think is somewhat reflected in the article and in several of the comments, of --we shouldn't be doing what we're doing-- is a ploy to get the conservatives to back down from their political views. Those who hold liberal views could care less what anyone says about what's right or what's wrong because quite simply at the end of the day their viewpoint is the only one that matters to them. With many conservatives they will beat themselves to death trying to decide if they are truly dishonoring God or not. In the end many of them will back down because they will feel their is some kind of inconsistency in being involved in politics. Then the liberals win.
The reason the political parties are brought into it is to cloud the issue. Most conservatives will agree that we shouldn't blindly follow a particular political party, but you better believe that we should vote our conscience because those liberal minded people who are saying that conservative Christians shouldn't be involved in politics will turn right around and vote for the candidates that they want to win. Without a twinge of guilt. Because they don't believe in guilt.
The comment was made that Satan is probably a Democrat (tongue in cheek), I don't really know about that but I would say that many a liberal better becareful about the views that they hold because Satan was really the first to question the meaning of God's Word: "Did God really say...?" Sounds like a liberal mind at work to me.

josmith says "Our nice neighbors in Canada faced this very problem. They chose to do nothing about it. Their live and let live attitude is why they suffer so much today. They are mired so deeply in problems that they now must hope for a miracle."

I am Canadian. What on Earth are you talking about? What problems are Canadians facing as a result of gay marriage? Will you provide examples of such 'problems' and explain how they are the result of gay marriage. Heterosexuals have been doing a fine job of ruining the 'institution' of marriage for decades. Maybe we should consider banning all marriages, period?

‘Righteousness exalts a nation…’

I am afraid the pun is enjoyable – ‘Right’ – but the issue is important.

‘When the righteous prosper the city (nation) rejoices…’

I cannot see how we encourage Christians to prosper, and then ask them to prosper in every area of life other than politics!

How do we tell a Christian ‘be an excellent surgeon’ or professor or accountant, then tell him ‘don’t touch city management’ or the national budget or military preparedness. Is there a blind spot here?

Why is America a great nation? Is it because Christians left the management of public affairs to non-believers?

Politically we Canadians are not as vocal, or militant, as our brothers and sisters to the south. The fact is that biblically as Christians we are described as being 'not of this world'. We must always speak and act in a way that identifies us with the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom, or agenda propagated by any political organization. Americans must repent of their political idolatry as much as Canadians need to repent of their political apathy. The sin is that believers in both countries have become so very comfortable in their conformity to their respective worlds that they have become hardened to its vices. By doing such, in both countries, we are giving the populace a cause to blaspheme the name of Christ.

Well! Canadians not militant! I'm married to one! Here in Australia we're just starting to feel the re-flewxing of Christian political muscles after almost 30-40 years of having a secular parliament. Its scary to see Christians pushing a policy on the non-regenerate. Abortion, homosexual marriage, all hot topics, but legislation will just get Christians offside against the rest of society.

When Christians push a position, what they are saying is that 'God hates that. He hates it so much that we are willing to do something about it.'

Of course Christians could also say, 'God hates that. We will tell that to you if you come to our church or read our newsletter. However we will do nothing about it. If you don't come to us to hear what a grievous evil homosexuality is, please go ahead and stew in your own soup. And while you are at it please cook us in it too.'

Boyd is not advocating a "hands-off" political position for the individual. What he's saying is stop entangling the Gospel with the political, because it is adding a worldly element to the Gospel.

You want to be a citizen and vote your conscience? Go for it. As a fellow brother or sister in Christ, however, I suggest if there were as much fervor for continuing the ministry of Jesus as there was in electing a representative body, the impact would be much greater (to an infinite degree).

Israel had the one true God as their king, the all-knowing, all-seeing Jehovah. What happened when they asked for an earthly king?

This is the message I see in the Bible: As believers, we are first citizens of the Kingdom of God. Our citizen responsibilities to America come secondary because the Kingdom of God is the only true power, and any authority given to America is first imbued by God, the ruler of all nations. As long as we all have that perspective, the politics fall into place. God holds the power, not a voting bloc. God can renew and redeem, not our politicians our even our Constitution. If we are working to advance the Kingdom of God, we are serving the only real authority, and we shall not fear hell or its attempt to open the gates to the Kingdom we defend.

This is an interesting discussion. As an Australian looking at the American political scene and Christian involvement I can tell you I cringe. I'm afraid that I have to agree that the evangelical church has "sold its soul for a mess of potage."

Christians are not to try and establish God's kingdom on earth, however we need as a group of people with views as valid as anyone else to express those views. One only has to look at history to see what happens when the church becomes entangled with the power structures of the day. The church becomes the whore of the state and forgets what their original purpose was - to preach the gospel.

As an outsider looking in on the American scene it distresses me to see exactly that happening amongst the evangelical church in your country. You are known for what you are against, not what you are for. You seem to be fixated on a few moral issues and have forgotten about the gospel in its entirety. What about poverty, what about justice, what about a Christian response to war? What about rapacious capitalism, what about the vaunting of individual "rights" over everthing else! Not to mention the shaming statistic that morality amongst evangelicals is no better than non-christians.

Thankfully, we haven't gone down the political power road here, although some people would like to, we just have to look at America to see how not to do it. Sorry for the negativity but you need to know how you are seen from a different point of view.

I agree with Mr. Boyd's position that the church has a principle responsibility to spread the good news of God's Kingdom, and the gift of salvation. The next life is certainly the more important one to plan for.

That said, one can make an argument similar to the relationship of faith and works. (I believe the correct version to be that if your faith in the Lord is strong, the appropriate works will follow.) If one has moral values as a product of their christianity, they will wish to live by them. When it comes time to vote they will seek a representative that reflects their values. The political spectrum can be a double edged sword in this respect. We can insist that our values be enforced right up to the extremes of the dark ages, and start burning people at the stake for heresy. We can sit in our little hovels of apathy and watch the world go by (as it slides into ever greater depravity). Or, with the Holy Spirit leading us we can go out into our communities and persuade others that our lives whith Christ and our prospects for the future are in fact better than any others offered.

The purpose of the church is to gather God's people for mutual support, edification, and to spread the good news of salvation. To use it as a branch office for politics dilutes it's primary purpose, and invites the insidious possibility of it becoming oppressive to matters of personal conviction.

Is it truly that hard to understand what he is saying? If you have an opinion go vote that opinion and Say "Bob/Julie" voted for this item. Stop saying "God/Christianity" voted for this item. We are passing through, this is a preperation for what will come to pass, we are baptized and have since died to worldly things.

Who truly thinks that creating laws to govern will change anything? Do you believe that if crusifixion was against the law Christ would not have been crusified, I think not. Making laws about abortion and such may help to achieve a view that things look Christ-like but it doesn't truly change that folks deep in thier heart will still want that. Only by power under and Christ-like love will anyone turn away from worldly ways. If all Christians must go into hidding as a result of the Government and societys laws, views and beliefs does it make them less Christian?

They rose the Sword to defend Christ and he asked them to lay it down. Today nothing has changed lay down the sword. It is hard for the brain to grasp the idea as we have been taught by this world to fight for what is right, we need not fight we need to follow, Christianity does not need political leadership we have a leader, Christ.

To put it simply, making laws to force non-believers to act Christ-like does not make them Christian, stop adding extra criteria to Christ, it turns away people who are in need of him. The fight is on the spiritual level against powers and pricipalitys, not people. Vote if you must, but remember Prayer is the only true campaign we have with the Lord.

The world hated Him first, why would it look any differantly at us? Hmm let's go to the cross and ask.

Great Book