Christian, Not Apolitical

At our church, we're trying to promote a message that being a person of faith doesn't provide a license to be politically unaware.  This is has been very difficult to put into practice, and I can even list out the understandable reasons why a church often tries to not even stick their toe in the water:

1. Churches often get too political, and essentially become political action committees with a cross in the front of the room.  This includes pastors which essentially say, "You better vote Democrat because God help you if you are complicit in bringing into power a bunch of evildoers who don't care about the poor," or on the other hand "You better vote Republican because God help you if you are complicit in bringing into power a bunch of abortionists that want to legitimize gay marriage."  So many churches have lost their way, so let's not talk about politics.
2. We're Christians, and our devotion to Christ and the gospel is what unites us and defines us, not whether we're Republican, Democrat or Libertarian. Politics can only divide, so let's not talk about it.
3. Given the divisive nature of politics, it would be counterproductive for a church to even discuss it. What if someone who visited a church came along and heard someone espousing a political opinion? Even if the point was couched as an opinion, the visitor might have an opposing view and take offense, damaging the relationship with that person and that church forever.

So the challenge remains, how do we communicate the very positive and real message that people can be united in the Kingdom and Christ yet have different political views?  What does it look like for a person of faith to wrestle over key issues and make an informed decision which resonates with their conscience?  The answer, at least to me, is not to bury our collective heads in the sand and not talk about it.  What we need to do is have some open dialogue about how faith can and should inform political thinking, and realize that people may end up on different sides.

This is one of the things that I love about my denomination.  The PCA has a conservative label, but it's also extremely careful about the concept of "binding one's conscience", that is, compelling someone to do (or not to do) something which is extra-biblical and not stated or reasonably surmised from Scripture.  I think there's sufficient latitude to agree to disagree in terms of one's desire to vote for either John McCain or Barack Obama.  What I'd challenge Christians to do is care a great deal more about the prayer and thought that goes into such a decision.  Faithfulness and consideration in one's internal political decision making is what we're looking for, and as long as people equate spiritual obedience into voting for one specific party over another, these discussions will turn into secular debates where people will feel the need to get in the last word.

We need to talk about politics in a way which generates a lot more light and a lot less heat.