{"id":42348,"date":"2025-10-21T16:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T23:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=42348"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T23:23:12","slug":"the-unlikely-marriage-between-the-church-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-unlikely-marriage-between-the-church-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The unlikely marriage between the Church and politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having read books, the Bible, and other sources of media, I have seen that religious beliefs have influenced the politics of nations and empires for centuries, for example, the laws of Israel\u00a0 and during exile we read how King Darius was encouraged to pass a law preventing anyone from petitioning any man or god except King Darious\u00a0 for the next thirty days or be thrown into a lion\u2019s den.[1]<\/a> If as Matthew Petrusek suggests the base of our conceptual map making rests on our theology, it is difficult to not have our politics shaped by our beliefs.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 However, it seems that political beliefs have also influenced religious ideas, for example I believe the papal bulls issued to allow the enslavement and killings of non-Christians was ultimately influenced by the politics of that time and not just religious ideology. I personally believe that historically, the church has sought to please the government to avoid being persecuted. Today, it seems that political leaders, to get elected or re-elected, furnish a message that garners Christian support. Christians in turn support these candidates in hopes that legislation will get passed that allows Christians to live a persecution free lifestyle. This quid pro quo for years has honestly left a bitter taste in my mouth for both the church and politics.<\/p>\n

In America, most church goers spend on average one to two hours a week in the church.[3]<\/a> In contrast, the average American is engaged with media around 87.5 hours a week that includes listening to\/watching\/reading\/ other voices that may not necessarily mirror that of their pastor and\/or church. Some of these voices promote the idea of Christian nationalism. Russell Moore defines Christian nationalism as \u201cthe use of Christian words, symbols, or rituals as a means to the end of shoring up an ethnic or national identity.\u201d[4]<\/a> When I read this definition, I have the image of the legend of the Catholic church baptizing the knights for the Crusades with their sword hand sticking out of the water. Go save this nation from the left<\/em> and do whatever you have to for Jesus because the end justifies the means.<\/p>\n

I think that politicians and religious leaders are using scripture to generate emotional responses to politically divisive issues, such as immigration, abortion and LGBTQ rights. Often catastrophic images are being painted of what will happen if the other side<\/em> wins, they dehumanize and at times demonize the other political party and any who supports them.[5]<\/a> Because we care about concepts such as life, freedom, and safety of our family and ourselves, our reptilian brain can take over and we end up aligning ourselves with these leaders.<\/p>\n

At the same time, there are those that seem to speak about other things that matter to Christians maybe even quoting from Isaiah 58:6-7<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t this the fast I choose:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

To break the chains of wickedness,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

to untie the ropes of the yoke,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

to set the oppressed free,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

and to tear off every yoke?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

to bring the poor and homeless into your house,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

to clothe the naked when you see him,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?[6]<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Their idea and passions seem to be appropriate, and we want to align ourselves with them, yet Jesus and his other teachings such as those found in the Sermon on the Mount are absent from their ideas.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

N. T. Wright and Michael Bird suggest that the church cannot divorce itself from politics.[8]<\/a> Therefore Christian leaders are responsible for ensuring that their followers know how to effectively engage. A great starting point, as Shirley Hoogstra suggested is to know your values.[9]<\/a> I suggest that leaders start by using Petrusek\u2019s conceptual map and disciple their followers on how to effectively evaluate their map starting with theology, ensuring that it is the base, and working up to applied morality\/ politics. Once we know our values, we have a starting point to discern where our maps differ from the other voices we hear. Are the ideas a form of utopistic thinking that cannot occur without the redemption of humanity\u2019s fallen nature through Christ? Or maybe the theology seems to be present, but it appears to be disordered, and morality and politics serve as the foundation of the map. We do this so that we don\u2019t mislabel someone as a nationalist who speaks of loving their country and Jesus or label someone a Christian who speaks of Christian principles yet does not love and know Jesus. We also do this to help prevent us from being inadvertently drawn into tribalistic polarized thinking. Because once we are focused on tribalistic thinking we can lose sight of the dangers within our own tribe because we are too focused on the dangers of the other tribe.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I once commented to my brother-in-law that Jesus was nonpartisan.\u00a0 He corrected me by saying that Jesus was very partisan, but the party he promoted was the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the party that we need to promote and the only party whose victory matters and is ultimately secured.\u00a0 Engaging with these texts and questions I see how easy it is to want to secure and hold onto power to secure a comfortable lifestyle, to develop a kingdom of the world. I saw how easy it is to engage in tribalistic thinking where we lose sight of what spiritual warfare really is and who our real enemy is. I need to be reminded of the only party that matters as I lead and teach. I must help others know how to effectively love God and neighbor and how to live out the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Daniel 6.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Matthew Petrusek,<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> ChatGPT5, \u201cHow many hours does the average Christian spend in church versus how much time the engage with media such as news, podcasts, social media?\u201d October 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Russell Moore, Losing our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, <\/em>(New York: Sentinel. 2023), 114.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Moore,<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Isaiah 58:6-7 (CSB).<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5 \u2013 7. The Bible Project did a podcast series on the Sermon on the Mount which I recommend, Sermon on the Mount<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Wright, N. T. & Michael Bird.\u00a0 Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies<\/em>.\u00a0 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2024), 94.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Shirley Hoogstra, \u201cUntitled Talk,\u201d (lecture, Portland Seminary, Washington DC, September 30, 2024)<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Shelly P. Johnson, \u201cWhen Does the Right Become Dangerous? It May Surprise You,\u201d Resilient and More, April 3, 2025,\u00a0 https:\/\/www.shellypjohnson.com\/22076-2\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNelFBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuPdMmhymJIiUlocJ9DG7jE4p33Evjnx4LLHTsZ2yLQT2xdms8q0cO2_7FH__aem_o86m9ES_lOf26PmdsYUqYA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having read books, the Bible, and other sources of media, I have seen that religious beliefs have influenced the politics of nations and empires for centuries, for example, the laws of Israel\u00a0 and during exile we read how King Darius was encouraged to pass a law preventing anyone from petitioning any man or god except […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3210,2967,1817],"class_list":["post-42348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-wright","tag-dlgp03","tag-moore","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42349,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42348\/revisions\/42349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}