More and more it seems that the Christian point of view is becoming muddled and more difficult to acknowledge in today’s world. Often, when we use the terminology of Christian we automatically assume conservative and believe that these two words are mostly interchangeable. While it is true that a Christian is considered conservative by todays standard, Christ was a radical and viewed as a liberal of his time. Measured by our standards today, Christ would be way conservative. This does not imply that a person who is classified as a conservative is a Christian. In looking at our politics, government, our nation, and our world today, having or using the term Christian in association with oneself is seen to be unacceptable. It is better to be viewed as a conservative rather than a Christian first. Now there are many reasons for this, but for the sake of this article I will not delve into this. In strict sense let’s look at how we must elevate the Christian Perspective in America’s leadership and in the world today.
Why is it important that we elevate the Christian Perspective?
First, simply put, it is the Christian perspective that this nation is founded upon. A primary reason for our founding forefathers in establishing this nation was that we be able to have and practice a freedom of religion. It is this liberty that is found in Christianity that motivated our forefathers to do the things that they did. Yes, it is true that many of our forefathers where not Christians, but most were. Regardless, all believed in the freedom of choice that came with Christianity and in the moral code at which is encapsulated in the Old and New testaments of the Holy Bible. Now, we know God sent Christ and Christianity is the only answer and way to salvation, but our founding fathers understood that even God allowed for choice. The point is, we must work to make our Christian Perspective heard because it was the right choice of the founding principles of this nation and is what has made this nation great. The principles of service, compassion, integrity, truthfulness, patience and more taught in the word of God have been largely forgotten in our governmental politics today.
Second, it is our right! America was founded with a liberty and freedom of voice. It was founded that it be a government, “of the people and for the people”. This means that our government should listen to the hearts and cries of its constituency and should understand that it is not the boss of the people but that the people are the boss of it. If this, were the case and the Christian Perspective were in the majority then our government should be forced to hear and obey the wishes of its people. It is the Christian’s responsibility and right to train people of integrity and vote them into office.
Third, it is promoting our Christian Perspective that people will see our respect and love for the world around us through our government as a true representation of its people. It is also through this perspective that other religions are tolerated and not persecuted and this means our own. Currently, it seems our nation will tolerate and even lift up any religion with exception to Christianity. I submit that it is time; we of the Christian Perspective gracefully coordinate our agendas in the best interest of our nation to begin redirecting the interest of our politics back to the original documents of our founding fathers with a few exceptions. For example, our forefathers failed in their own politics when they did not abolish slavery. This was a travesty and a great blight upon our nation!
So, how do we re-ignite and promote our Christian Perspective?
First, we understand the terminology of “separation of church and state”, promote, and teach its true meaning and intent. These words are nothing more than a commonly misstated metaphor. It is commonly used to lead one to believe that it means that the church should stay out of the state’s business and the state should stay out of the churches business. In fact, it’s used so often that many believe that it is in the constitution. The truth is that it is not in the constitution at all! The phrase “wall of separation of church and state” was in fact written by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist. His letter was meant only to provide them with the assurance that the state would not meddle in their affairs. The grand purpose being to provide them with comfort that the state should not be in the Church’s business and not that the Church should not be in the states business.
Point of fact our constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This statement only reflects that congress shall make no laws restricting or interfering with religions or denominations. No separation of church and state exist except to say that congress cannot establish a “State” religion. Unfortunately, the true intent of this clause has been misused and mishandled by the promotion that it means the Church is not to be involved in the business of the state. We know this cannot be true when the overwhelming majority of our founding fathers where Christian and were practiced men of faith. Even to those who did not accept Christ they accepted the concept of God and the biblical concept of morality. However much of our government, judiciary, ACLU, and various other liberal and media groups would not have you believe the truth. This is a trend that began long before our current administration, but this writer believes it is being made most evident in our current state of affairs and is gaining great momentum.
Second, we must understand the urgency of our plight and promote it accordingly. Christ instructed in Matthew 22:21 “….render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars…” Caesar is representative of our government. This verse does not mean that our contribution is limited to taxes. Rather our contribution should include many things such as prayer for our leaders, taxes, tribute, honor, obedience, personal action, accountability, and leadership. Caesars government was one of emporial rule. We have a government designed as a government run by the people. This places more responsibility upon our shoulders than those of which Christ was speaking to. Our “things” as Christ put it, give cause to personal accountability to our current state. It is we the people who allow ourselves to be herded and instructed like cattle in blind obedience to wrongful doing that which is diabolically opposed to the teachings of our God. Certainly, this could imply as to our personal accountability to our God when given opportunity to do what is right in His eyes, concerning the things concerning our State.
Christ instructed us in Matthew 5:13, 14 that we are the salt of the earth. As in His example, we appear to be a salt that has lost its flavor and are being tossed out! We must gain a great sense of urgency in our personal lives and in our churches to revitalize our flavor and scatter it abroad. Few other times in history have a people had greater opportunity to govern themselves and put Christ first in such a way as we have had. Yet, it seems we are willing to idly stand by and watch it happen. If the promotion of the gospel is first and foremost our purpose, then surely living and governing according to the principles we teach must be second. Similarly, this is what Christ is referring to in verse 14 concerning the fact that as the light of the world we cannot be hid.
Third, we must challenge ourselves, our families, and our churches to be a people of salt and light. If salt is of worth it must have flavor. If light is present there is no darkness. To accomplish this task means that we must be open in sharing our beliefs. This especially includes our political expectations and desires in government.
There was a time, when I would never speak about my personal political views from the pulpit. In fact I resented the many African-American Churches who seemed to exercise this freedom without reproach. I could not understand why our black America churches so freely spoke out concerning their political views. Then it came to me how wrong I was. This is a wonderful body of intelligent people who were persecuted by their government in a great and horrific way and which was totally opposed to their human rights, but even more so their “Christian Perspective.” As per our original declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Our African-American brothers and sisters were left with no choice spiritually, but to speak about their plight from the pulpits of America. Their situation was opposed to ethical Christian Perspective of the day as according to the rights given them as citizens of this great nation and their rights as free Christians. Had they not taken their plight to the streets by way of the pulpit and the church then their voices would have never been heard. It was through the preaching, teaching, and public expounding of men such as Dr. King who changed the course of this nation and brought the plight of a great people to forefront of this nation. It was the “Christian Perspective” that put these principles in place and opened the door to change because it was a Christian nation’s responsibility to hear.
Here is what I have learned: When in the course of our existence the Christian code of ethics and morality is not represented or is tread upon we (spiritual leaders) are left with no recourse but to take the truth to our people through the pulpits of our churches. This is not to say that we spend an entire sermon on political topics but that we do preach unapologetically about what is right for the course of our nation and government. Not to do so is offensive to Christ instruction. I understand, many will say, “Well if I voice the truth I may offend some in my congregation.” My reply, “Doesn’t the truth always offend some?” My advice would be to simply discuss those issues of which there is no debate. For example, we cannot idly set back and condone a government that upholds the rights of homosexuality equal to that of a marriage between a man and a woman. I’m not talking about a homosexuals rights as an individual, but we cannot condone a recognition of marriage nor a candidate who does. We must work to promote and create a better grade and class of government.
The bottom line is this; the extreme liberal part of society has spent years infiltrating our school systems with their teaching and theologies. This infiltration is culminating in and made most apparent in the millennial generation that is now coming to the forefront of society. It’s been reported that fully one in four do not accept the concept of a God and of the remaining 75% another 32% have a pluralistic view of God. This means that 57% of the next generation does not recognize the Judeo Christian ethics by which we live by and our country was founded upon. Of the remaining body of “religious” people they are not all Christian nor do they practice their faith, faithfully. The only hope that our nation has is through the shouts from the rooftops of our Churches.
I have come to the conclusion: We must raise up men and women of integrity who believe in the intent of the foundation of this nation, are tolerant of other religions and denominations, but who are believers and followers of Jesus Christ in order to get our nation back on track. To do this means we must focus on soul winning and education. Convert them to Christ, educate them in His teachings, encouraging them, and voting them into public service. We cannot continue to simply voice our opinions over coffee or at the water cooler. It is time that we take personal responsibility and action.
I challenge you today to get more involved in your local, state, and national government to insure that our Christian voice is heard and our influence is not lost. I fear if we allow things to continue as is, the Christians of this nation will be viewed strictly as a radical movement that must be stomped out. We can prevent this, but we must assume personal responsibility.
I look forward to hearing your comments and reviews on this blog.
Serving Christ by Serving You,
Bryan K. Taunton
Exec. Director FootWash Ministries
The phrase “separation of church and state” is but a metaphor to describe the underlying principle of the First Amendment and the no-religious-test clause of the Constitution. That the phrase does not appear in the text of the Constitution assumes much importance, it seems, only to those who may have once labored under the misimpression it was there and later learned they were mistaken. To those familiar with the Constitution, the absence of the metaphor commonly used to describe one of its principles is no more consequential than the absence of other phrases (e.g., Bill of Rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, fair trial, religious liberty) used to describe other undoubted Constitutional principles.
ReplyDeleteSome try to pass off the Supreme Court's decision in Everson v. Board of Education as simply a misreading of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists--as if that is the only basis of the Court's decision. Instructive as that letter is, it played but a small part in the Court's decision. Perhaps even more than Jefferson, James Madison influenced the Court's view. Madison, who had a central role in drafting the Constitution and the First Amendment, confirmed that he understood them to "[s]trongly guard[] . . . the separation between Religion and Government." Madison, Detached Memoranda (~1820). He made plain, too, that they guarded against more than just laws creating state sponsored churches or imposing a state religion. Mindful that even as new principles are proclaimed, old habits die hard and citizens and politicians could tend to entangle government and religion (e.g., "the appointment of chaplains to the two houses of Congress" and "for the army and navy" and "[r]eligious proclamations by the Executive recommending thanksgivings and fasts"), he considered the question whether these actions were "consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom" and responded: "In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the United States forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion."
While I agree with you that many of the foundersm were religious and Christian, care should be taken not to make too much of their individual religious beliefs. In assessing the nature of our government, the religiosity of the various founders, while informative, is largely beside the point. Whatever their religions, they drafted a Constitution that plainly establishes a secular government on the power of the people (not a deity) and says nothing substantive of god(s) or religion except in the First Amendment where the point is to confirm that each person enjoys religious liberty and that the government is not to take steps to establish religion and another provision precluding any religious test for public office. This is entirely consistent with the fact that some founders professed their religiosity and even their desire that Christianity remain the dominant religious influence in American society. Why? Because religious people who would like to see their religion flourish in society may well believe that separating religion and government will serve that end and, thus, in founding a government they may well intend to keep it separate from religion. It is entirely possible for thoroughly religious folk to found a secular government and keep it separate from religion. That, indeed, is just what the founders did.
Wake Forest University recently published a short, objective Q&A primer on the current law of separation of church and state. I commend it to you. http://www.adl.org/religious_freedom/WFU-Divinity-Joint-Statement.pdf
"To those familiar with the Constitution, the absence of the metaphor commonly used to describe one of its principles is no more consequential than the absence of other phrases (e.g., Bill of Rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, fair trial, religious liberty) used to describe other undoubted Constitutional principles."
ReplyDeleteI would submit that it is this misguided mindset which has allowed much of the corruption and destruction of our constitution and of our personal liberty.
In my article I at no point suggested that our government become more than secular. Rather, I suggest that if the "Christian Perspective" and it's conservative view was to regain it's influence in Government then we must begin by training, speaking, and taking personal initiative to do so. A Christian can work in a secular government while providing for a greater cause beyond government.
It is the Christian Perspective found in Christ, that is what is best for our nation. I know this, because I know Christ and His teachings. Because I know His teachings then I have no fear of governing by the principles I find in His word.
I re-submit my original point "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This statement only reflects that congress shall make no laws restricting or interfering with religions or denominations. No separation of church and state exist except to say that congress cannot establish a “State” religion."
Thank you for the article you submitted though it has no bearing on this discussion as even the authors of the study admit to their on disagreements. This article pertains to the strict interpretation of the policy today and not to what it was intended. The entire point of the matter is that we have strayed from the original intent. On that the authors of this study agree. pg 3 third paragraph.
While your point is well taken, it is wrong according to the original intent of the collective efforts of our forefathers. But, I would stress that perhaps you missed the main point of the article. It is intended to be more of an encouragement to the Christian to become personally accountable to our society. Rather than complaining we should take initiative to enter into government and govern by the voice of the people. Not simply our personal belief. I believe that from the Christian Perspective is to operate with honor and integrity. In public office one works for the people. Our influence with others comes from their trust in us, not from our position of power.
If we as Christians walked in such a way as to gain the trust of men and women then they would more easily follow and believe the truth of Christ. Even as employees of the people in government we can do this. Overwhelmingly the population of our nation is of the moderate to conservative frame of mind. Our Christian Perspective is the model our nation was built upon. Surely even in principle it is fine to govern by.