“God is a Republican….Jesus is a Democrat and The Holy Spirit is an Independent. So vote however you want.” Perhaps one of the most true and helpful things I’ve ever heard from a pastor. (We’ll be hearing more from him later).
With the recent rise of individuals such as Glen Beck and Sarah Palin who cite the Bible and the constitution, often interchangeably and in the same sentence, we as Christians wonder where we should stand on the issue of Church and State.
In general we tend to be a bit miffed when Christmas is changed to “Holidays”, we want a Christmas tree and Easter egg hunts on the White House lawn. We want “In God We Trust” on our money and “Under God” in our pledge. Yet when I think of this I am reminded of what a former pastor of mine said. Rev Rudy Pulido served for over 25 years as the Pastor of Southwest Baptist Church in St Louis, MO. During that time he most certainly ruffled some feathers, but to me he was a source of great insight into how Christians should interact with a sinful world. When the issue of removing the phrase “under God” from the pledge of allegiance was being debated around the nation, Pastor Pulido offered a Biblical insight to the issue. He compared it to Jesus’lesson on paying taxes to the Romans. Jesus asked whose image was on the coin, of course it was Caesar’s, so he famously said “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s”. Pastor Pulido said that similarly the American flag is just that, American not Christian. It is a representation of the state, not God so ‘render unto Caesar.’
I often cringe when I hear a pastor begin to trail off into a political topic from the pulpit. As I mentioned in the previous post a former pastor of mine let his political views get in the way of God’s message. If you mix the Church and State or religion and politics and God always gets squeezed out. We long ago grew tired of the blurry if not non-existent line between priest and politician. Politicians befriending clergy to gain the votes of their parishioners and priests shilling for the politicians in return for political favors undermines the authority of both.
Recently the Southern Baptist Convention (the denomination to which my church belongs) approved a resolution regarding immigration. Ultimately the stance of the resolution is insignificant, what is important is why this issue was addressed at all. I see no inherently spiritual concerns here; sadly it appears to only be an attempt by the SBC to align itself more closely to one side of the political spectrum. It is a move that could certainly win some votes, but will most likely cost some souls.
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