Is it time to repeal the law forbidding churches engaged in partisan politics from the pulpit? My answer: The church is better served by the prohibition than without it. If churches can endorse candidates, they will become inundated with pressure from within and without to do so. Members will want their ministers to support those candidates they prefer. Memberships will become divided and distracted from their larger purpose. John Leland, one of the most important Baptists in colonial history, spoke for me in 1791: “Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men, than it has with the principles of mathematics. Let every man speak freely without fear, maintain the principles he believes, worship according to his own faith, either one God, three Gods, no God, or twenty Gods; and let government protect him in so doing.” Churches and state should be separate, neither seeking to control the other. While I am passionate about the separation of church and state, I am equally passionate about the engagement of faith and state. Churches should not engage in politics, but Christians should be extremely involved in public service. I am convinced that God is calling more Christians into politics than are answering the call. There is no more necessary service. C. S. Lewis believed the “true ground of democracy” to be that “fallen men [are] so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.” Martin Luther agreed: “It is necessary to have government because we are sinners.”
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 19:16:46 +0000
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