The thing I appreciate most about Phil Johnson’s post on that subject over at Pyromaniacs is that he keeps the lines clear:
My main point is about how the church corporately should be spending her time and resources, not about what an individual who is vocationally (or avocationally) involved in politics should do.
That’s a critically important distinction; losing it renders the whole conversation unintelligible. There is no question that Christians should be politically aware and engaged; the question is what the mission of the church should be. I do believe, obviously, that Christian theology applies to politics, and so I don’t think political quietism is a wise or appropriate Christian stance; that said, as Johnson argues at some length, the preaching of the gospel and the teaching of Scripture must lie at the center of our ministry and must be the core of our testimony at every point. We should apply that to politics as to every other part of life, but our politics—like our behavior in every other part of life—should always flow out of our faith, rather than the other way around. If it’s the other way around, we have a problem. The job of the leaders of the church, in this respect, is to make sure that it isn’t and we don’t.
HT: Bob
“but our politics—like our behavior in every other part of life—should always flow out of our faith, rather than the other way around”
Truer words were never spoken, yet this is exactly the sentiment that is confused with the welfare system, which is why, sadly, that so many Catholics in my faith vote Democrat.
We use to have welfare reform here in MN that gave those in the system a leg up and a way out of poverty while eliminating those that perpetually “gamed” the system. When the Democrats swept back into power in the House, they immediately removed those reforms, and now we are seeing the fruit of that in the form of increased violent crime, corruption in the welfare system, and welfare recipient’s slaves to the government handout with now incentive to better their position in life.
Most people don’t deal with “politics” at all until it’s time to vote. Then they vote with there feelings based on the disinformation from many media sources who no longer report the facts rather then their opinions.
-dbrletich
Didn’t know that about Minnesota; but then, I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion that Minnesota politics only make sense to Minnesotans.
And though McCain lost the Catholic vote, iirc, W. pulled solid majorities of Catholics both times, despite the fact that ingrained habits die hard.
Agreed, certainly, about the uninformed disinterest of many, many voters. I suspect that was part of the reason for Obama’s win–he was able to project a persona that punched through that, and thus to attach voters who normally would have fit your description.
BTW, when you post a comment, if you select “Name/URL” (instead of “Anonymous”) under “Choose an identity,” it works a little better.