Mixing Religion and Politics

Did you watch the Republican presidential debate last week? Were you aware they were even having a debate? I didn’t watch it. I’m not even sure which night they debated.


I haven’t watched any of the several Democratic debates, either. I don’t want to get embroiled in presidential politics so early. But the media and the candidates certainly want me embroiled! It’s been non-stop Hillary v. Obama; Giuliani v. Romney. Is Fred Thompson in or not? Will Gore step in at the last minute and take it away?

I voted for President Bush both times; but he made a better governor of Texas than president of the United States (I used to live in Texas, so I had him as governor). I most often have voted Republican; but while we had years of Republican control of the White House and Congress, they did little of what I thought they had been elected to do. So I am ready to tune out politicians. Special interests and my interests are not resonating with one another.

One part of this campaign season has interested me. Religion has gone mainstream. Faith and politics had been like mixing oil and water – ever since John F. Kennedy silenced critics of his Catholicism in 1960. But after Bush’s re-election in 2004, faith and politics have become inseparable.

Mitt Romney is questioned about his Mormonism. Hillary Clinton and President Bush are both United Methodists. Barak Obama grew up in Muslim-dominated Indonesia, but is a member of the United Church of Christ. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister. John McCain seems to vacillate between his Episcopal origins and current participation in an Arizona Baptist church.

I cannot recall knowing so much about a candidate’s religious affiliation – especially at this stage of the election process. So how much good has come from this knowledge? I’m not sure. While I know more about their affiliations, I am less clear about how those affiliations affect their behaviors.

I believe that one’s religious faith is core to who that person is and how that person behaves – or at least is SHOULD be. Political candidates are not the only folk who can be questioned about their faith and practice. All of us can and should be questioned – even if we only ask the question internally.

Politics – in its most simple definition – is the intersection of philosophy and action in a public setting. We have politics no matter where we go. Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there also.” (Matt 18:20). That gathering of two or three (or more) is political. Jesus belongs in politics! Especially for those who claim to follow him!

When I finally decide to decide on a presidential candidate – how that person’s faith is lived through his or her politics will be crucial to my decision. But the presidential race is not the only race where religion and politics should mix. It should mix in the politics of my local church, in my local community, even in my local family! Who I am religiously should be reflected in who I am politically.

We make political decisions all them time – most often without realizing it. Did you ever drive through a stop sign? That was a political action. At that moment, you put your interests ahead of society’s interests. Society wants a safe driving experience for everyone. You wanted to get to your destination a little more quickly. You agreed to accept the risk of an accident (or traffic violation) in exchange for time.

Voting for political candidates involves the same principle. What do you put as priority – your interests or society’s interests? Where are they the same interests? Jesus tells us to always put others first – even at the risk of losing our lives as a result. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matt 16:25-6)

My friends, Jesus is mixing politics with religion. Shouldn’t you?