What role, if any, do you think Christians should play in politics?
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE: Clint Cline is the President and Creative Director of Design4.
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“should” =P
Clint Cline says “should” a lot. I wonder what he means by it?
I do believe christians need to be involved in politics. In all areas of politics, and we must never stop being involved. The enemy wins when we quit. Until the passage of Roe-V-Wade I believe the church was asleep at the wheel. It got passed simply because no one believed that it would pass so little was done. Now we have spent millions of dollars, and millions more hours trying to get it overturned when if we had been on the ball it probably never would have passed. The beauty about the nation in which we live is that we have the right to be heard. We can vote our views, if we dont use the most basic of rights guaranteed by the constitution of the U.S. than we are just as bad as those pushing the ideas we see as wrong.
I have a problem with the Christians behind the scenes who manipulate politics behind the scenes. They create storylines about people, people groups and issues and duct them together with fear then feed them to the willing and waiting Christians in the pews. I recently spoke to a friend who is writing a book on exactly this issue. He was one of the top fund raisers for mega churches and Christian organizations -Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, American Family Research. They spun the stories to get the greatest income of the bucks. Based in fear, fueled by money.
Christians need to get beyond this as their sole input of who to vote for, what to vote for , who to fight against. Christian don’t think enough. Cross party lines! My goodness, there are actually God lead Democrats and non-believers. John ensign in my own state of Nevada- great man of God in bed with then paying off his office staffer.
I cannot stand those Voter Guides at the backs of churches!! We actually had one and it shocked me. Voting the God -line that someone else determines is the God-line, ugh!
I involve myself in politics by advocating for rights of people that I believe Jesus would stand with. This is politics indeed since the above mentioned organizations manipulate the other side. Clint himself must have been involved in some of these PR meetings to spin the story to maximize the return. Jesus would not do that; some of those organizations find a devil, target it and off to the voting boths.
So yes, Christians should care but thes high level organizations theat tell us who we should vote for, what we should be afraid of, who will destroy the godly values have waaaaay overstepped the Jesus way of operating.
Nope. I hate it that Christians claim to be citizens to a higher Kingdom and say that their allegiance is to God but that this becomes swept aside into “being an engaged citizen”. Pugwash.
Our empire is evil, by participating in it we perpetuate many other evils.
Joe,
Can you elaborate? Do you mean to say, for instance, that Christians should attempt to refrain from paying taxes (which is of course, at a very practical level, impossible)? Or what do you mean by ‘participate’?
I only wish all Christians’ moral compasses “point true north”… haha. Well, that’s certainly a nice ideal, but doesn’t seem to happen much as of late. My hopes were dashed when people began to be abused and wrongly accused in war camps, my rights strppied away, etc… Nope, I’m afraid Jesus might be turning some tables, and in fact, he has done so here lately.
Of course Christians should be involved in the political process. Everyone should be regardless of religion. There is a problem when a church gets involved however. Because churches are tax exempt they have no place in influencing politics.
I find it humorous how Clint rails against accepting gay people, but then talks of civil liberties. Is this guy for real?
Its our god given right to participate in this goverment to have our voice heard. Every 4 years we can vote. Be educated, dont just vote for a man because he claims to be christian. Read what he says about the issues, study his character, look at his voting record. Do his words line up with his actions. Get involved if god leads you to do so. When you feel strongly about something call your senator or congressman. Let them know where you stand. The people we elect need to know we are watching them, and that they are accountable to us alone, not to the lobbyist and campaign contributor. I believe in the last election the theme was that A Change Is Gonna Come. Truthfully I Believe That A Change Did Come, Only Its Not The Change Anyone Expected. We Have Returned Back To The Old Ways. We Need To Make Government Responsible And Accountable To The Public Whom They Serve. To Say That The Church Should Stay Silent Because They Are Tax Exempt Is So Wrong. How Can The Church Or For That Matter Any Good Patriotic American, Christian Or Not, Stay Silent While The Country He Loves Is Going Down The Tubes. The United States Of America Is My Home. I LOve Her Dearly, And Shes Been Good To Me, And If I Were Called Upon To Fight For Her Today Id Go, And While Shes Got A Lot Of Problems. Shes Still Got A Lot Of Good In Her. This May Sound Old And Over used But Its Still True. This Is A Nation Of The People, For The People, And By The People, And We The People Need To Remind Some People That We Are The Ones They Work For, And Are Accountable to.
Peter,
why do you capitalize nearly every word?
I can see your point of view, but if you have a right to participate, I have a right not to participate. Indeed, given that I believe the whole structure is essentially evil, I’d be in a contradictory position if I did participate.
Benjamin, I don’t object to the notion of tax or of the need for some social services to be administered collectively. I accept that there are some things which cannot effectively be done by individuals without the weakest in society totally losing out. On the other hand, I object strongly to many of the ways that my government spends taxation – particularly the military.
I also have respect for the notion of law, even though I object to a lot of laws, so would not break the law for selfish and self-serving reasons (eg attempting to pay less tax). So, for me, the best solution is to reduce my tax payment (especially attempting to reduce my personal contribution to military budgets) by anylegal way possible. This depends on your jurisdiction, but in mine it is possible to give to charity and have the donations count against the tax bill of the charity. I hope at some point to get to the point where I have given so much to charity that have paid no tax whatsoever. That’ll show ‘em.
Because I believe very strongly in what im trying to say. We need to take a stand for what we believe in.
Peter,
I love that–capitalizing because you believe strongly in what you are saying. Rock on! =)
I think that Christians should be involved in politics as a participating voice in the discussion. I don’t think that Christians should come to the table with a trump card saying that “American is a Christian nation” (translated “piss on you if you aren’t a white middle class man”).
I hear the Christian Nation bull quite often from evangelicals…and I wonder…do they are longing to be Anglican? In one breath they’d call Anglican/Episcopals heretics (or at best “nominal, dead Christians” and in the next, they are wanting the Christianity that existed around the founding of the US (which was basically bastard Anglicanism) Of course…I support a church that’d ordain female and gay priests…so maybe I want that ole’ time religion after all…
Derrick,
thankyou–perfect!
“Running to the public debate…”–I would ask then, “With what on our lips?” Perhaps yes we should run to this debate, in as much as we represent Christ and his Kingdom’s interests. But the Kingdom of God is not built on politics. If it were, then Jesus would have said a lot more to Pilate.
Kingdom’s interests in my opinion would be the “least”–not just about morality.
I take exception to his interpretation of “render under Caesar…”. I’ve heard that a lot as justification of political activity and I think it’s an errant reading. IMO, it was more of a commentary to the Jewish leaders at the time questioning: are we going to sit here and argue over how much of this idolatrous metal we keep–rather, let Caesar keep his metal, be more concerned about giving to God what is God’s–i.e. us–that which made in God’s image. Giving your heart, mind, body and soul. (Those of you who know Greg Boyd’s books/sermons, that comes from him and I think it’s an excellent point).
Another point Boyd makes that I find compelling is that the disciples came from a broad array of political interests. From a tax collector to zealots. You just simply cannot get more apart than those two. Yet curiously, the Gospels don’t mention one word about the conflicts that arose from having such warring groups together in one group. Why and what does it tell us?
Finally, I think where we spend our energy is telling about where we place our hope. I think the Christian has to hold in tension the amount of hope he/she places in politics with the hope he/she places into the sovereign work of God. It is for that reason that while I will do my civic duty and vote, I certainly will not despair if the political winds are not blowing “my way”.