GOD IS NOT A REPUBLICAN...or a Democrat

For more on this issue and to read the piece that inspired this blog, please refer to my response to Jonathan in the “Comments” section of: “The President and the Vice President may well be the last two people….” It is an in-depth response to some of those who take odds with these blogs which I chose to post as a comment rather than a separate and independent blog since it addressed comments specific to responses to that piece.


Recently, when a church friend and I discussed the subject matter of the first presidential debate, she discovered, in the course of the conversation, that I was not pleased with our current president nor with the course in which he has taken our country. Without probing further to ascertain who I would be supporting come November 2nd or why, she looked me in the eye and said,

“If you vote for John Kerry, God will judge you. God will judge you, Brandon!”

Though she said it half-jokingly, I know she meant it with all of her heart. She is well-meaning and sincere, but her words gave me pause. Not because I believe her sanctified threats but because her opinion is indicative of so many within the evangelical church.

Taught in church that life is a struggle of polarities—Good (God) vs. Evil (Satan), Christians adopt that same mentality in their political lives. (Let me state here that I agree with this worldview—this world in indeed in the middle of a spiritual power struggle.) What they retain of this message is a misguided idea that all the world moves in the same polar oppositions—that there is a singular right way and a singular wrong way to approach anything, with no middle ground to be found in between. This is, I feel, more a product of our American political culture than even our American spiritual culture. We have lived so long with the Republican vs. Democrat model that we have deluded ourselves into believing that one is always (or nearly always) right and the other is always wrong. Evangelical Republicans melodramatically believe that if a Democrat gets into office, he brings the hounds of hell with him. They sincerely think that Democrats are unpatriotic, hate the American system, will do everything within their power to castrate the American dream and way of life, and run for office with the specific intension of obliterating everything Christian.

Is this really so? Cannot Christians be found in all strata of political thought? Cannot God be found in both the conservative morality of the Republican party and the social consciousness of the Democratic party? Are they not both aspects of God’s attributes? Is God so small that one political party can claim Him as their own? Is it not better to believe that God said both, “Thou shalt not commit murder” as well as, “Learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Exodus 20:13 and Isaiah 1:17)? Cannot sincere Christians vote for either Bush or Kerry for reasons deeply rooted in their faith and still be operating out of a Christian desire to see God’s mission furthered on Earth?

God is not a single issue god and therefore we, His people, cannot be single issue followers.

Abortion is a moral issue. So is social justice for the poor and downtrodden. Gay marriage is a moral issue. So is unjust war. Christians must remove the blinders of their political myopicy and champion all of God’s attributes, not just a select few.

Are our leaders combating poverty according to St. Matthew 25:35-40 where Christ reveals that in caring for the lowly we actually care for Him, or according to Isaiah 10:1-2 where God decrees woe over those whose policies oppress the poor? Are our leaders acting as proper caretakers of our planet as God instructed in Genesis 2:15 or Psalm 24:1? Are our leaders reticent of the fact that Christians are called to be peacemakers as Christ reveals in St. Matthew 5:9? Are our leaders lovers of Truth and are they relaying that Truth to those they rule over (St. John 8:32)? Are our leaders aware of Genesis 1:27’s revelation that all human beings are created in the image of God—even our enemies—and deserve the utmost respect? Do our leaders obey the biblical injunction in Deuteronomy 30:19 to choose life not only in the case of the unborn but also in the arenas of capital punishment, euthanasia, HIV/AIDS and global genocide? Are our leaders cognizant of the fact that humanity—all of humanity—is fallen and therefore evil lies in the heart of both our enemies and ourselves as is admonished in Proverbs 8:12-13?

To claim that one party has a monopoly on God is too ludicrous for a rational thinker to even consider.

The leaders of the religious right mistakenly believe that God has taken sides in this election. They preach that all good Christians must vote for George W. Bush. A self-proclaimed prophet on the Trinity Broadcast Network recently stated that it is God’s plan that Bush be reelected and that if that did not happen, humans will have circumvented God’s will. Excuse me?

Such assertions—that Bush’s role as President is by divine appointment and that “it doesn’t make any difference what he does, good or bad” the Lord is blessing him as Pat Robertson recently said on Fox News—is both dangerous religion and bad theology. Perilous things have happened in the past when humans assume God is on their side alone—whether it be politically or militarily.

“You have to vote for Bush,” several at my church have told me. “After all, he’s a Christian.” One can be a Christian and still be a dreadful leader. Christianity saves your soul and should, if one truly accepts its yoke, make you into a better, wiser, more loving human being but it is in no way a guarantee.

That said, we MUST remember one overriding principle found in St. Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…”

Christians are merely sojourners on this sphere. This life is but a blip in eternity. Our perspective must be eternal. Our focus must be heavenward, not earthbound.

The idea and ideals of America, while laudable and perhaps the best form of government this planet has ever seen, are not sacred. They are not to be held with the same reverence and veneration as Holy Scripture. America can never become a utopia on earth no matter how many Christians are in public office. This planet is fallen and we are not to put our faith in it or its governmental systems. America, a shining light to the world throughout its short history, is still a wretched cesspool of iniquity—it is still governed over by humans. This planet will never see perfected government until Christ rules. Christians must never forget that even as we use this world’s system of government, we are ambassadors of another land. What sense does it make for a foreign ambassador of the most opulent and enduring kingdom in the universe to ignore his riches and position in order to grovel in the sand and excrement of the kingdom he has been sent to, ignoring his orders, his sovereign, his heritage?

Christians are not on earth to legislate morality. They do not win the cause of Christ by their laws but by their lives.

Christ did not use the Great Commission to tell us to go into all the world and control and enforce its morality—He sent us to change their hearts toward him through salvation for all who call upon His name. The morality then takes care of itself. Modern Christianity has this completely backwards and we wonder why we are so ineffective at making a dent in our secular society.

A Godly utopia has never worked. It didn’t work in Eden. It didn’t work when God manifested Himself to the Israelites during the Exodus. It didn’t work when God personally established judges to rule over a nation which instead bartered for an earthly king. It didn’t work when Christ was crucified in part because He did not fulfill the expectations of Jews desperate for a physical kingdom to displace their Roman oppressors. It likewise will not work on the North American continent.

It is vital that Christians have a heavenly perspective.

Having recently married and moved into a new apartment, I had to contact my local voter administration to change my address. I took the opportunity to also correct something else I have been toying with for some time. My registration card now lists me as a registered independent. I no longer wish to affiliate myself with any particular party, but wish to draw from all pools to install a leader, regardless of party affiliation, who most closely resembles Christ.

This is true Christian citizenship.