Christianity and Politics: A Complex Relationship - Essay Sample

Introduction

Historically, the relationship between Christianity and politics has been a complex subject and has often been a source of disagreement. Some scholars argue that Christianity supports a specific policy or political ideology directly. This view has led to the development of various factions such as Christian communism, Christian libertarianism, Christian anarchism, and Christian democracy. However, there is a school of thought that believes Christians should not have any interest or involvement in politics. Owing to these disagreements, the church has played a mixed role in politics. Looking at the state of modern politics, it is clear that morals are lacking. This begs the question of whether religious morality can help address the issue. Christian conceptions of truth and virtue can undoubtedly play a significant role in making modern politics more moral and truthful. This paper seeks to discuss how the religious morality seen in Christianity can help address the vices that are associated with modern-day politics.

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History of Christianity and Politics

The earliest involvement of religion in politics can be traced to as far as the Old Testament. The lives and conquest of various kings of Israel are chronicled in the Bible. In the New Testament, Jesus was not intimately involved in politics. He remained at the periphery of power and political life throughout his mission. His approach to politics must have influenced the early Christians since it is documented that they refused to join military service or take up any responsibility in public office. In this period, the Christians believed that praying for the prosperity and safety of the empire was their only duty (McDonald, 2016). Submission to the authorities was also religiously observed by the early Christians.

As Christians got more involved in politics and governance, the right and left wings emerged. Though the two hold different political views, they are anchored in Christianity. The political views in the right-wing on various social issues such as homosexuality and abortion are based on Biblical passages. The left-wing, on the other hand, is anchored on the principle of communal ownership of goods. Therefore, it calls for a form of communism or socialism. Through these factions, Christians have been involved in various social and political causes such as the civil rights movement (Wilcox, 2018). As such, religion is considered to be a strong political institution that significantly contributes to the maintenance of a democratic country.

Reasons Why Christians Lost Interest in Politics

Over time, Christians, especially the young, have gradually lost interest in politics. This shift has been informed by various factors. First, politics has increasingly become a dirty game, and hence Christians opt to avoid it. Today, politicians are largely painted as dishonest and power-hungry individuals. Moreover, the scandalous events they indulge in get onto the headlines more than the good they do for the people (Flannagan, 2019). While this does not represent all politicians, it is enough to keep off Christians from politics.

Secondly, party policies have evolved, and Christians might not agree with everything that the party stands for. For instance, some parties may support homosexuality, an issue that Christians may be opposed to. This, therefore, may discourage them from being members of the party, and playing a bigger role politically. Moreover, politics has often been associated with negative things over the years. Resultantly, politics has come to be seen as defiled and unfit for serious Christians. However, this is not a position that the Bible-believing and gospel-loving Christians should adopt. Moreover, the limited involvement of Christians in politics has enabled the enactment of various secularist policies and laws.

Reasons Why Christians Should be Involved in Politics More

Some Christians consider anything besides explicit preaching of the gospel to be a distraction from their mission. However, such a view shows a limited understanding of the scripture. As mentioned in the previous discussion, involvement in civil matters is widely mentioned and encouraged in the Bible. For instance, Daniel and Joseph served in civil governments without laying their faith down or jeopardizing their missions. The New Testament also calls upon Christians to engage in good works. The good works should permeate all the spheres of life including politics. Therefore, Christians should not take involvement in politics as a distraction from their mission (Haapalainen, Opas, & Rasanen, 2019). Besides, though Christianity should not be transformed into a political program, it should transform the Christians' way of thinking regarding the state and politics.

As stated in the above discussion, most Christians keep off politics since they are considered dirty and immoral. However, this should be the main reason why Christians should join politics. Christianity is based on various virtues and morals that should be spread to all people in the world. Therefore, Christians have an opportunity to sanitize modern-politics by spreading these virtues and truths. In the gospels, Christians are called forth to be the light and salt of the world. By saying this, Jesus was encouraging his followers to be an influence in their cultures instead of isolating themselves. As such, the notion by Christians to keep-off anything that goes beyond evangelism is wrong. Therefore, Christians should push for a government that is anchored on philosophical and theological ideas (Molloy, 2019). This can help counter the secular ideas that have been getting rooted in the government over the years.

Moreover, various values that Christianity stands for are of utmost importance in politics. For instance, the essence of justice, the role of family, the value of freedom, as well as a deep understanding of the human person, are some of the Christian values that can help transform modern politics. Thus, the church should seek to rightly inform and motivate Christians to bring about a change in the political sphere, and introduce the moral standards taught in Christianity into the civic realm. Some of these morals include forgiveness, compassion, charity, accountability, and justice. Were these values to be incorporated into politics, the arena would transform into a much cleaner and safer space.

Therefore, Christians have a role to play in sanitizing the modern-day politics. They can only achieve this by playing a bigger role in politics, particularly voting Christians into political offices. This move can also lead to other benefits for both the church and society. For instance, Christian leaders can champion the enactment of laws that seek to promote morals and the public good. Love, which is among the most important elements of Christianity, can help shape human relationships in the political scene (Tinder, 2013). In turn, this can help reduce the hostility and name-calling that characterize modern politics. Incorporating love in politics can also ensure that the laws passed are meant for the good of all people instead of serving the interests of a few.

Often, Christians separate spirituality from politics. Spirituality is seen as personal and private, while politics is seen as public. Such notions, which are not based on the scripture, also play a role in alienating Christians from politics, a factor that has contributed to the demoralization of modern politics (Tinder, 2013). However, it should be known that politics and spirituality cannot be separated. Therefore, Christians should be actively involved in politics not only because politics affect them but also because they have a role to defend the various values Christian stand for. For instance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor, opposed the Nazi regime since he was convinced that it was against everything that Christianity stands for (Tinder, 2013). Most importantly, spirituality gives Christians the courage to stand for the morals and values that Christianity advances. This way, Christians can help bring back morals and values in politics. For example, since accountability and integrity is among the values advanced in Christianity, spirituality can equip Christians with the courage to stand up against political leaders with questionable integrity.

Conclusion

Christianity has played mixed roles in politics throughout history. Today, Christians are mostly disinterested in politics. This factor has contributed to the demoralization of modern politics. In turn, Christians are increasingly turned off by the dirt and immorality they see in politics. Their behavior is informed by the fallacious belief that Christian mission does not go beyond evangelism. However, as this paper has shown, Christians have a huge role to play in bringing back morals into politics. Christianity advances various morals such as compassion, love, forgiveness, charity, accountability, among others. By getting more involved in politics, Christians can help promote these morals and values in the political arena. Their involvement can also lead to the enactment of more laws that support morality and the public good. Therefore, Christians should actively participate in politics.

References

Flannagan, A. (2019). The Big 5 Reasons Christians Don't Get Involved in Party Politics. Retrieved from Christian in Politics: http://www.christiansinpolitics.org.uk/latest/5-reasons-christians-dont-get-involved-in-politics/

Haapalainen, A., Opas, M., & Rasanen, M. (2019). Christianity and politics. Approaching Religion, 9(1-2), 4-7. Retrieved from https://journal.fi/ar/article/view/86785

McDonald, J. I. (2016). The crucible of Christian morality. Routledge. Retrieved from https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2004-0-20950-8&isbn=9781134949854&format=googlePreviewPdf

Molloy, S. (2019). Kant's International Relations: The Political Theology of Perpetual Peace. University of Michigan Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g82EDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=politics+based+on+theological+ideas&ots=13aJVWgh3U&sig=GN7XbdanmG9Tqv8gDvNy6nXuCwA

Tinder, G. (2013, October 7). Can We Be Good Without God? Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/5c2960be25208/1854030?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27Tinder%2520Atlantic%2520Monthly.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4

Wilcox, C. (2018). Onward Christian soldiers?: the religious right in American politics. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429494901