We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

473047670_9128a398c9

God and Our Political Platforms

Rachel Held Evans posted a blog today on the stir created when Democrats booed the passing of “an amendment to the party platform reinstating language that identified Jerusalem as the rightful capital of Israel and that referred to people’s “God-given potential” in its preamble.” Of course this fed into the belief that if you’re a democrat, you must hate God. Hmmmmm. How far have we come when the validity of your faith is so closely tied to your political affiliation? Rachel hit the nail on the head when she said:

There seems to be a misconception among many American Christians that fighting the good fight of faith means keeping God’s name on our money, in our speeches, in our pledge, and on our bumper stickers. But this is the danger of civic religion: it convinces us that God’s name is the same as God’s presence; it convinces us that we’ve “won” when we hear the right words, regardless of whether we’ve seen the  right fruit. 

But God’s name is not enough, and America has a troubled history of slavery, ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of creation to show that invoking God’s name is not the same as earning God’s favor.  As Susan B. Anthony so wisely put it, “I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.”

Ironically, we render God’s name more meaningless each time we use it carelessly to advance our own agendas.

We hope you’ll read the entire article. And remember: Jesus is not affiliated with any political party. He transcends all of our categories and agendas. Let’s keep the Kingdom holy.

Image by takomabibelot. Used in accordance with Creative Commons. Sourced via Flickr.

Related Reading

Why Racial Reconciliation Matters

In Psalm 72, the author prays for a day when “all kings” would “bow down” to God’s anointed and when “all nations” would “serve him” (vs. 11). At this time, the Psalmist continues, God’s king will deliver “the needy who cry out” and save “the afflicted who have no one to help.” He will “take…

The Problem with Mixing Church & Government

Image by fusion-of-horizons via Flickr Some people insist that the only reason that neither Jesus nor anyone else in the first several centuries of the church tried to dominate the political system of their day was because they were a small minority of people living in a nondemocratic and hostile environment. By contrast, the argument goes,…

The Issue that Unites Us

While there is a great deal of disagreement on political issues and while we can debate (endlessly) on political solutions, there is one thing that should always unite us despite all of this: our ultimate allegiance is not to a politician or a country, but to Jesus alone. One way of demonstrating this unity is…

Warfare and Sickness

Is sickness something we should come against as spiritual warfare or is sickness just something that is part of our life until the Kingdom of God comes? Greg deals with the answer to this question.

Is the Separation of Church and State Satan’s Idea?

I encourage you to read this article. In it, Rick Perry claims that the idea of the separation of the church and state is from Satan, and he and others will next week embark on a 40 days to save America campaign, which (as far as I can tell) means “40 days to save America…

A Response to Tony Campolo on Taxes

In this and the next several blogs that I’ll be writing, I’d like to respond to views of Tony Campolo on several topics related to Christians and politics. I have had the privilege of dialoguing with Tony several times and even publicly debating him once on this top. And while I have the utmost respect…