God & Politics

While you may not be able to talk about them in restaurants and cubicles, these topics are the subject of much thought, and the combination of the two is all the more puzzling.  

Below are excerpts from an interesting article I read this fall about the (then) upcoming election in a liberal-leaning Christian magazine.  Just food for thought.

"One of the things that's so troubling when Christianity and America become fused together is that what becomes at stake when things like Iraq happen is not just the reputation of America, but the reputation of what it means to be Christian, because it's been totally baptized in Christian language and the blessing of God.  I certainly learned that when I was in Iraq.  One woman said, 'Your government is creating tremendous bloodshed and asking God's blessing.  It's the same thing my government is doing.  But what kind of God would bless this?  What happened to the God of love and Prince of Peace?' 

"On many issues, there is no partisan answer.  Christians should seek an entirely different path on issues like abortion and the war in Iraq.  'The Republicans want to overthrow Roe v. Wade, and the pro-life side would cheer that.  The other side of the story is this: 70% of the abortions in this country are presently driven by economic forces.  You have an 18-year-old woman who works at Wal-Mart at minimum wage- she has no hospitalization, she has no opportunity for maternity leave, she has no access to daycare when the baby is born, she's in dire straits.  If you are going to be pro-life, you cannot only be concerned about the unborn; you have to be concerned about after they're born.  Are we going to have universal health care so she doesn't have to worry about paying her hospital bill?  Are we going to raise the minimum wage, because presently that woman cannot pay for her rent, let alone take care of herself and a child?  Are we going to provide daycare for her, so she can continue to be employed?  Are you willing to give her a maternity leave so that she doesn't have to either lose her job or have an abortion?'

"You can work for the Kingdom of God and align yourself with whatever seems to move us closer to that.  It's possible to interrupt with grace and humility whatever seems to be standing in the way of the reign of God.  One way of looking at voting is that it's damage control, voting against whatever is going to do the most damage.

"What is more important than how we vote on Nov. 4 is how we live on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5.  We must realize that we are already voting through the way we choose to live.  'We vote every day with our feet, our hands, our lips and our wallets.  We vote for the poor.  We vote for the peacemakers.  We vote for the marginalized, the oppressed, the most vulnerable of our society.  Ultimate change does not just happen one day every four years.' "