The Politics of Justice
“Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice? They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.”
Psalms 94:20-21 NLT
“For I believe the crisis in the U.S. church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic U.S. identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence.”
— Walter Brueggeman in A Way Other Than Our Own
The last year has revealed some very interesting things about the institutional church and the theological tribe within Christianity known as evangelicals. Evangelicalism, which was known as a theological distinction within Protestantism, now is known more for the political ideologies in which it has become associated with over the past 30 years. So, those outside of Evangelicalism, understand its affiliation with "conservative" causes such as anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, pro-business, racial isolation, and sexism, than its adherrance to the possibility of a relationship with God, the infallibility of Scripture, or the need to share the good news of Jesus to the world.
There is a saying that says "I can not hear what you saying because your actions are so loud". The Evangelical institution churches have acted upon, affiliated with, and promoted causes, candidates, and campaigns that elevates a political agenda over their theological affirmations. I recognize that I am painting with a very broad brush and their are many Evangelical churches who have refused to be co-opted by a political agenda, however, the vast majority allowed their light for Jesus to be dimmed by the dirt of political agendas.
This past week, President Trump signed an executive order allowing tax-exempt religious organizations such as a church to be able to endorse, contribute, and receive contributions from political candidates. If you follow history, this should alarm you. During the rise of totalitarianism in Nazi Germany, the first voice that was silenced was the church of Germany. It allowed the open support of the church for Nazism in return for its protected existence. Churches in Nazi Germany that were prophetic in its challenge of the political powers of the day, where not given formal status and persecuted. When Churches become tax exempt conduits of political agendas, the co-opt has become complete. We are seeing this happening before our eyes.
The agenda of Jesus is cosmological in scope. The charge that Jesus gives his Church begins with statement "All authority in heaven and Earth has been given to me". In other words, we have the ability to influence all manner of things because we are extensions of the source of authority. Political activity is necessary and not evil in itself. In America, many of the reformations, revolutions, and reforms were movements that stemmed from the authentic church of Jesus Christ. It's time that the church understood that politics are a tool but not a master. We side with Jesus, in his compassion for the sick, the marginalized, and the outsider. We dare not attempt to "conserve" the existing order of injustice, oppression, exploitation, or objectification wherever it exists. We speak truth, in love, seeking to promote the flourishing of all made in the image of God.
I believe that God is calling his Church to arise and be the prophetic voice in which we were created to be. I believe that too many churches have no idea of what the gospel is because they have allowed political agendas to be infused with their understanding of authentic faith. We can either rise to our true calling, or continue to become a tool of political ideologies that weaken and pervert our witness.
“We cannot let narrow religious forces highjack our moral vocabulary, forces who speak loudly about things God says little about while saying so little about issues that are at the heart of all our religious traditions: truth, justice, love, and mercy. The movement we have witnessed—the movement we most need—is a moral movement.”
— The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in The Third Reconstruction
May God bless you
Pastor Michael Traylor
Psalms 94:20-21 NLT
“For I believe the crisis in the U.S. church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic U.S. identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence.”
— Walter Brueggeman in A Way Other Than Our Own
The last year has revealed some very interesting things about the institutional church and the theological tribe within Christianity known as evangelicals. Evangelicalism, which was known as a theological distinction within Protestantism, now is known more for the political ideologies in which it has become associated with over the past 30 years. So, those outside of Evangelicalism, understand its affiliation with "conservative" causes such as anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, pro-business, racial isolation, and sexism, than its adherrance to the possibility of a relationship with God, the infallibility of Scripture, or the need to share the good news of Jesus to the world.
There is a saying that says "I can not hear what you saying because your actions are so loud". The Evangelical institution churches have acted upon, affiliated with, and promoted causes, candidates, and campaigns that elevates a political agenda over their theological affirmations. I recognize that I am painting with a very broad brush and their are many Evangelical churches who have refused to be co-opted by a political agenda, however, the vast majority allowed their light for Jesus to be dimmed by the dirt of political agendas.
This past week, President Trump signed an executive order allowing tax-exempt religious organizations such as a church to be able to endorse, contribute, and receive contributions from political candidates. If you follow history, this should alarm you. During the rise of totalitarianism in Nazi Germany, the first voice that was silenced was the church of Germany. It allowed the open support of the church for Nazism in return for its protected existence. Churches in Nazi Germany that were prophetic in its challenge of the political powers of the day, where not given formal status and persecuted. When Churches become tax exempt conduits of political agendas, the co-opt has become complete. We are seeing this happening before our eyes.
The agenda of Jesus is cosmological in scope. The charge that Jesus gives his Church begins with statement "All authority in heaven and Earth has been given to me". In other words, we have the ability to influence all manner of things because we are extensions of the source of authority. Political activity is necessary and not evil in itself. In America, many of the reformations, revolutions, and reforms were movements that stemmed from the authentic church of Jesus Christ. It's time that the church understood that politics are a tool but not a master. We side with Jesus, in his compassion for the sick, the marginalized, and the outsider. We dare not attempt to "conserve" the existing order of injustice, oppression, exploitation, or objectification wherever it exists. We speak truth, in love, seeking to promote the flourishing of all made in the image of God.
I believe that God is calling his Church to arise and be the prophetic voice in which we were created to be. I believe that too many churches have no idea of what the gospel is because they have allowed political agendas to be infused with their understanding of authentic faith. We can either rise to our true calling, or continue to become a tool of political ideologies that weaken and pervert our witness.
“We cannot let narrow religious forces highjack our moral vocabulary, forces who speak loudly about things God says little about while saying so little about issues that are at the heart of all our religious traditions: truth, justice, love, and mercy. The movement we have witnessed—the movement we most need—is a moral movement.”
— The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in The Third Reconstruction
May God bless you
Pastor Michael Traylor
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