{"id":1478,"date":"2011-05-20T17:04:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T21:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2011-05-20T17:04:29","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T21:04:29","slug":"should-christians-be-political","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/should-christians-be-political.html","title":{"rendered":"Should Christians be political?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Sekulow<\/p>\n

\"\"Christians often struggle with Romans 13:1-5, which talks about a Christian\u2019s duties to the state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone must submit to the governing authorities,\u201d the passage reads, \u201cfor there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.\u201d After reading that passage, some ask \u201cwhy, then should we be involved in politics, support wars, or campaign for human rights?\u201c If we stop reading there, it is easy to conclude that not only is it unimportant but that it is actually wrong for Christians to be active in politics, whether through grassroots electoral efforts, lawsuits protecting religious freedom or questioning the government.<\/p>\n

Eric Metaxas, author of the celebrated, comprehensive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer shed some light on this tension on my radio show this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod forbid that the church would just hide in little religious issues and say, you know, \u2018That\u2019s not my business, I can\u2019t get involved in politics,\u2019 \u201d Metaxas said. \u201cNot getting involved in politics is just as bad, just as heretical, as making an idol of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do we get from Romans 13:1 to calling the church\u2019s political silence heretical?<\/p>\n

Bonhoeffer himself, as well as the verses that follow Romans 13:1, help us get there. Let\u2019s begin with the Scripture:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God\u2019s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. For government is God\u2019s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government in Romans 13 is a godly government. This does not mean that to meet this definition a government needs to be Christian, nor should it be a theocracy. A Romans 13 government promotes justice, provides security, and protects the freedom of its people, regardless of religious belief or background. In the United States, we shape the government with our votes. Thus, it is our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that our government lives up to these basic principles.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and outspoken opponent of the Third Reich. When the Nazis found out that he was assisting Jews, he was thrown in jail and later transferred to and executed in a concentration camp because of his role in a plot to kill Hitler.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, many of Bonhoeffer\u2019s speeches, personal notes, and letters are accessible to all of us thanks to Metaxas. As he worked to build church opposition to the Reich, Bonhoeffer offered \u201cthree possible ways in which the church can act towards the state.\u201d Metaxas explains:<\/p>\n

First: The church must, Bonhoeffer says, \u201ccontinually ask the state whether its action can be justified as legitimate action of the state, i.e., as action which leads to law and order, and not to lawlessness and disorder.\u201d In other words, it is the church\u2019s role to help the state be the state\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"If the state is creating \u201cexcessive law and order,\u201d then \u201cthe state develops its power to such an extent that it deprives Christian preaching and Christian faith . . . of their right . . . The state which endangers the Christian proclamation negates itself.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, the church must \u201caid the victims of state action.\u201d We have an \u201cunconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third, the church should not merely \u201cbandage the victims under the wheel, but \u2026 put a spoke in the wheel itself.\u201d As Metaxas explains,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sometimes not enough to help those crushed by the evil actions of a state; at some point the church must directly take action against the state to stop it from perpetrating evil. This, he [Bonhoeffer] said, is permitted only when the church sees its very existence threatened by the state, and when the state ceases to be the state as defined by God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"In America, individual Christians and the church have an \u201cunconditional obligation\u201d to be involved in politics. The government of the United States is a direct reflection of the people of the United States. We elect our leaders and are to a great extent responsible for their conduct.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Continue Reading . . . <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jordan Sekulow Christians often struggle with Romans 13:1-5, which talks about a Christian\u2019s duties to the state. \u201cEveryone must submit to the governing authorities,\u201d the passage reads, \u201cfor there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.\u201d After reading that passage, some ask \u201cwhy, then should we be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[252,450,108,429],"tags":[619,623,622,211,626,139,620,621,625,9323,444,617,618,624],"class_list":["post-1478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-politics","category-religion","category-society","tag-active-in-politics","tag-authority","tag-bonhoeffer","tag-church","tag-elect-leaders","tag-god","tag-grassroots","tag-question-government","tag-reflection-of-the-people","tag-religion","tag-responsibility","tag-romans-131-5","tag-support-war","tag-unconditional-obligation"],"yoast_head":"\nShould Christians be political? - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/should-christians-be-political.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should Christians be political? - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordan Sekulow Christians often struggle with Romans 13:1-5, which talks about a Christian\u2019s duties to the state. \u201cEveryone must submit to the governing authorities,\u201d the passage reads, \u201cfor there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.\u201d After reading that passage, some ask \u201cwhy, then should we be…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/should-christians-be-political.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-20T21:04:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos2.fotosearch.com\/bthumb\/UNZ\/UNZ381\/u15488946.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Calvin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should Christians be political? 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