Church & Politics
September 11, 2008
What role (if any) should the church play in politics and culture? This close to the election, it’s a question worth asking.Some would suggest that God’s people should stick to preaching the gospel, carrying for the poor, and personal morality.None of which are bad in and of themselves.Others would suggest that it is adulterous for Christians to put so much emphasis on the modern world especially the modern state while the actual injunction of scripture is to focus on the church and by doing so become a witness/model for the world. Certainly we should all benefit from an attentive focus on church life.Well friends, unfortunately by withdrawing from the public square we will not rid ourselves from the trappings of culture or politics. Instead the church would rob this nation and this culture of its moral witness.When we turn to matters of creation care this becomes especially germaine. For most creation care issues are society wide.An old historical hand Alexander DeTocqueville once noted that it was the witness of the religion that kept the mores of men in line within a pluralistic society. It is only when the church seeks to align itself with a political bloc that it loses its influence.
Alexei Laushkin, a graduate from Claremont McKenna College, works for the Evangelical Environmental Network. He and his wife live in Alexandria, VA.
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