Note: I began writing the bulk of this post on a whim at around 12:30 am last night, and ended up going to bed just before 3 am. To quote the Sports Guy, the lesson, as always: I'm an idiot.

Religion and politics - warning: quite long! Read at your own risk ;-)

The recent presidential election gave me the chance to do some thinking on government and leadership. For perhaps the first time in history, matters of faith - in this case, a blatantly evangelical one - became a significant issue in the national dialogue. Exit polls showed "moral values" as being a primary factor in many people's votes, and numerous news shows led off with segments on how the evangelical church was turning out in record droves to the polls. As a Christian, I saw and experienced both subtle and unsubtle pressures and expectations to vote conservative, vote Republican, and vote Bush, because that would be the moral and "right" thing to do. However, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 rang in my mind: "Test everything. Hold onto the good," and thus, I tried my best to look beyond the surface of what I was hearing from all camps to hopefully understand today's political climate from a larger perspective. There was also some excellent, thought-provoking discussion and ideas in this thread from a Christian message board I frequent, as well as posts by Jeff and Hideyo (Nov. 3 entry), plus IM conversations with Danny every so often. In this post, I'm going to attempt to summarize some of the ideas and conclusions I've come to so far, but bear in mind that my attitudes are still a work-in-progress - as I hope everyone's is. I'm not wedded to these ideas by any means, and I'm willing to learn more from any viewpoint.

What is a leader supposed to do? In the church, there are clear Biblical guidelines - be a servant of all, lead one's family with integrity, oversee ministries, etc. In almost all cases, the state of the heart is more important than the ability of the leader. It doesn't matter if someone is a silver-tongued speaker or wizard guitar player or brilliant teacher or miracle-working counselor, if the person's heart is not right with God and he isn't leading a faithful life. Competence in a particular skill is weighted less than spirituality. This is sensible because the church answers to the authority of God Himself, and He sets the standards for His servants - often throughout history, God has made use of seemingly "unqualified" leaders such as Moses to illustrate Hs power and sovereignty to work even through weak vessels. This is not so the case outside the church. If I'm interviewing someone for a position at my company, I cannot in good conscience recommend one candidate over a more-qualified candidate simply because the former happens to share the same faith that I have. I may like the first candidate better from a personal standpoint, I may agree with all of his values and viewpoints, but if he can't do the job that he was hired to do well, then he shouldn't have the job.

This was my general impression of the Bush Administration. I don't believe they did a very good job, particularly the past two years with regard to foreign policy, and some of the decisions that have been made, as well as the seemingly narrowminded processes by which they arrived at them, are troubling to me. If we were ever to hang out, I suspect Bush and I would get along fine... we could shoot the breeze, talk about baseball, eat some Texas barbeque... but based on what we've seen so far, I wonder if he has a genuine understanding of the fact that a wise, just and moral leader would know to learn from mistakes so as to not repeat them (those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it). Over and over in the debates, he preached a policy of "stay the course" and declined to acknowledge any misjudgments. This troubles me greatly.

To what level, if any, should a government be involved in legislating morality? To be sure, there are numerous hot-button issues in America today that I take a stand on. I believe abortion is the murder of an innocent. I don't condone the homosexual lifestyle. I have a lot of research to do yet on stem-cell research, so I'm still somewhat ambivalent. In past years, I would have probably thrown my support whole-heartedly behind political initiatives to get rid of anything that the conservative right-wing deemed "immoral." However, the more that I think about it, the less convinced I am that legislation is the route to take to make an impact on morality. As I've begun working and built relationships with more people outside the church from all walks of life, I see that people can honorably hold differing beliefs than mine. Doesn't mean that I agree with or condone those beliefs, but I respect their right to choose to see things that way. I also believe that only God can change attitudes - and despite what some would say, the United States is not a God country. It is the role of the Church to preach the Gospel and be the vessels for the Holy Spirit to change people's lives - to educate on the preciousness of life, to teach on God's view of marriage, and to introduce people to Jesus' revolutionary lessons on holiness and grace. As Danny mentioned, the legislation of morality can appear to be a cop-out by God's people to get out of having to do the legwork themselves. If we don't explain why God's standards and values are the way they are in the context of the Gospel, how can morality ever actually be achieved? Certainly not through an arbitrary law.

Incidentally, the Church itself has a lot of work to do within itself to be the royal priesthood God calls us to be. So-called Christians may stage protests and rallies outside abortion clinics and houses of law, but are we caring for the baby that is not aborted but instead abandoned by a mother who cannot afford to raise it? Are we honoring our own marriages (sure doesn't seem like it, with a 50% divorce rate)? Are we reaching out without prejudice to gays and members of other religions?

Finally, I found this quote from Hideyo to be particularly telling: "My biggest tiff with Bush is that he was a roadblock to my sharing my faith. Because he's so publicly Christian, many people around the world equate what he says and does as Christian. Many countries naturally assumed that already with America's policies pre-Bush, but with Bush announcing his faith in very direct manner, more people are taking note. By observing Bush's policies, many I came across came to the conclusion that to be Christian meant that 1) you don't care about the underprivileged, 2) you support the concept of war, 3) you don't care about the environment, 4) you want to be the king of the hill, 5) you stick to your guns even if you're wrong (overly simplistic, I know). Is this integrity?"

If I were not a Christian, Bush's example as President would not make Christ look attractive to me. I found this quote online, in a slightly different context:

“Better to be known first as a good artist than as a ‘Christian’ artist, as your good art can lend credibility to your witness while explicit art done poorly is more likely to disparage your witness.”
- Thomas Merton ("New Seeds of Contemplation")

In the same way, better to be known first as a good world leader than as a "Christian leader," as explicit leadership done poorly is more likely to disparage your witness.

I'm reminded of the historical example of 1700 years ago, in the 4th century. The Roman Emperor Constantine conquered the western half of his empire and legalized Christianity as a state religion, merging the power of the empire with the ideology of the cross, and thus doing more damage to the cause of Christ than the preceding 300 years of persecution could ever have done. Under the supposed name of Christ (a "divine mandate," if you will), countless millions were murdered, lands conquered, and the Church dug itself a huge hole that we're still trying to get out of in terms of being able to share the Gospel without a disgusting history trailing along behind it. You'd think that a Christian regime would be a good one... but history shows that it was not. Does this honor God?

To be sure, I've read stories about Bush and his faith, little ways that he's helped touch people's lives, and I applaud him for that. I hope that he learns from his mistakes during this next part of his administration, and I'll be praying that he and his staff grow in wisdom to govern justly. But most of all, I pray that the Church would step up and be faithful in what God has called us to do. Let the government take care of the government, and let the Church give to God what is God's - the poor, the sick, the outcast, the broken people, those enslaved to money, and so on. Let's give people Christ.

Again, this post is primarily to summarize some of the thoughts that have been percolating in my mind the past few months or so, and I'm always seeking to learn. Feel free to share any differing viewpoints, correct any misconceptions I might have, etc. I'm still working things out. Teach me.