Over the past few weeks, a national polling firm for LifeWay Research and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission conducted a survey asking Americans to respond to this statement: \u201cI am concerned that at times Christians are too involved in politics.\u201d
\nThe results were quite informative. The majority of Americans (52%) either \u201cstrongly disagree\u201d (32%) or \u201csomewhat disagree\u201d (20%) with the statement. Even larger majorities of faith-affiliated Americans disagreed with the statement. When researchers asked Americans who attended religious services of any faith at least once a week, disagreement with the statement was even higher, with 65% indicating they were comfortable with Christians being involved in politics, and only 21% expressing varying discomfort with Christians\u2019 political activity.
\nThose who self-identify themselves as \u201cborn-again,\u201d \u201cevangelical,\u201d or \u201cfundamentalist\u201d expressed the highest level of disagreement (72%) with the assertion that \u201cat times Christians are too involved in politics\u201d with only 27% telling pollsters they agreed (\u201cstrongly\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d) with the statement.
\nThese results do not surprise me at all. They underscore and reinforce the feedback I receive on a consistent basis from grassroots Christians of all perspectives, particularly conservative Christians \u2013 Catholic and Protestant.
\nThe survey\u2019s findings are particularly dramatic given the fact that LifeWay Research and the ERLC worded the poll\u2019s question in a way that would elicit the most negative response possible, by using the word \u201cpolitics\u201d as opposed to \u201csocial issues\u201d or \u201cpublic policy.\u201d \u201cPolitics\u201d has a negative connotation and is often perceived as partisan, rancorous, and something that many Christians feel is too \u201cworldly.\u201d
\nIf we had posed the question, \u201cI\u2019m concerned that at times Christians are too involved in social issues or public policy,\u201d I am quite confident the level of disagreement with the statement would have been even higher.
\nThese polling results suggest that those pundits, analysts, and religious leaders that tell us that people of faith are disillusioned with politics and public policy need to get out more and talk with the people who actually go to churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. If they did, they would find that the people who most often attended religious services disagree with their assessment by an almost two to one margin, 65 percent to 31 percent. On a more personal note, among Southern Baptist pastors who were asked the question of whether \u201cat times, Christians are too involved in politics\u201d, two thirds of them either \u201cstrongly disagreed\u201d (41%) or \u201csomewhat disagreed\u201d (26%).
\nWhen people of faith enter the political process they should always understand that their ultimate allegiance is to the Almighty, not any ideology or party. People of faith have an obligation to be involved as \u201csalt\u201d and \u201clight\u201d in the world, and that includes \u201cpolitics.\u201d They should be voting their values, beliefs, and convictions, based on their understanding of the imperatives of their faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past few weeks, a national polling firm for LifeWay Research and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission conducted a survey asking Americans to respond to this statement: \u201cI am concerned that at times Christians are too involved in politics.\u201d The results were quite informative. The majority of Americans (52%) either \u201cstrongly disagree\u201d (32%)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n