A friend at work sent me an article today that touches on many of the major themes of my faith practice and my work life. The author, a professor of history, basically argues that Jesus was not political – he was about matters of the heart, about pointing toward another time when God’s justice and love would reign, about a set of ethics that are much bigger and messier and harder to follow then anything that our governments or humanitarian efforts can attempt to embody. He argues that neither Republican nor Democrat pleas for Jesus as a campaign aide for their issues is acceptable. He explicitly shoots down churches who do ‘humanitarian’ work or try to approximate justice and compassion, or taming the gospels in order to use them to prop up ministries of peace, justice, or love; he implicitly shoots down faith-based community development efforts, institutional ministries or the common reality in general, and thinking that Jesus/God should ever be invoked in American politics (it seems he is saying that disipleship is only personal? that Christians ought not to be involved in the political process? that I’m not sure.)
This article made me think, and has some of of the usual suspects when it comes to separation of church and state arguments, but goes beyond those and tries to dig deeper. While the style lacks a more broad description of his argument – proof-texting and personal statements viewed as fact are his basis – and while I disagree with portions of it, I think that its an important voice to hear in the conversation.
Here is the op ed article itself; what do you think?
It is definitely an interesting piece.
I would agree with him that Jesus did not concern himself with changing the political system and I wholeheartedly agree that neither the Republican or Democratic party could ever be considered the “party of the true Jesus.” But I believe that Jesus’ commands to feed the hungry and bring justice to the poor were not meant to be only a personal struggle, but also our collective struggle. In our modern society, collective action that is needed to affect these very important issues is answered through our political system. So I choose, as one of the many ways that I follow His commands, to participate in this system by supporting and voting for those candidates that I believe will make these issues a priority.
I wonder if Mr. Wills would agree…