Where Liberty Truly Lies: Not in Democrats or Republicans
This week the story of Liberty’s
denial of certain rights to the college’s Young Democrats group spread across
the blogosphere after a Terry McAuliffe, a Virignia Democrat running for
governor of that state, entered the foray. Many other politicians, pundits, and
bloggers jumped at the divisive issue as well.
Liberty’s
response and actions were bad news. The
school has a Young Republicans group after all, and stifling political
conversation at a place of learning goes against the ethos of an education in
the first place (though their action is not illegal or unconstitutional, as
this is a private school). If Liberty is willing
admitting here that their purpose is not to mold and shape young men and women
of Christ who can think, live, and act for themselves the school is
useless. It is a big deal that they have
treated a school club in this matter by blatantly refusing to have any type of
debate at the school by showing privilege to the Republican group (the former
chairman of Liberty’s Republican group was interviewed by one source and
basically said: "Letting
a club like that exist goes against what the school is founded on").
While Liberty’s
formal response to the Democratic group was wrong, they have been wrong in the
first place: they had a Republican group on campus. As a private Christian school the celebration
of party politics on campus goes against the heart of the kingdom message: we
are the kingdom
of God, a nation without
borders, a peculiar people.
We are citizens of another world. We can be interested in American politics,
debate it even, but the Christian is called to pragmatism in these issues and
should definitely never declare allegiance to a party. You already pledge allegiance, and you have
pledged it (hopefully) to God and certainly not to country or flag. We need to take a long loving look at the God
that is "above politics."
In our baptism we pledge allegiance to the lamb of God, the
one who sits at the right hand of God and is the king of the coming kingdom,
active and present today—more active and more present tomorrow. We should be political, fighting for justice,
standing up for what the Church believes in, but we should not do it through
political parties. The government of
this country is God-ordained, no matter which party is in office. The sword is wielded by our nation, for good
or for ill, and those who live by the sword must die by the sword. Our kingdom, the one us baptized citizens are
now a part of, does not live by the sword.
Instead we serve a King who:
plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
We live as the kingdom of Creation, not the kingdom of the
Fall. Every war is a branch from the
seed of Cain. We are children of the new
Adam, first fruits of peace, justice, and the New Earth and heavens.
Liberty
is just one example out of thousands in this country. I don’t blame them really. The precedent was set long before they chose
to become linked to worldly politics and neglect their calling as citizens of
the kingdom. But this precedent must
cease. We must eradicate it. We must tell our fellow kingdom men and women
to rise up and pledge allegiance not to Republicans, Democrats, or the Flag but
instead to the King of Kings.—–
Additional Liberty articles:
Info on Liberty’s Democratic club inaccurate
College Democrats Weigh Liberty Offer
For more intrigue into the conflation of politics into Christianity see Greg Boyd’s review of The American Patriot’s Bible (part 1 and part 2) along with the publisher’s response.
2 Comments
Submit a Comment
SUBSCRIBE:
I Support
The idea that Christians should avoid political parties has some validity but must not sway people into believing that Christians should not have a voice in government. Our obligation to be salt and light in this world compels us to share our ideas and thoughts with those who govern us, including those Christians called to serve in government. If we are silent we will be ignored.
Tim,
I wholeheartedly agree. I am not advocating an Amish stance by withdrawing and becoming a completely separate society. We should have a voice toward government. I am personally conflicted concerning Christians serving in government. Certainly being a teacher, accountant, police officer, or some other position that is paid by the government is acceptable, in my opinion. But what concerns me is when you work in a governmental role that places you into a system of politics that often runs counter to Christian ideals. I think that this mostly happens on a national level. I think there is just too much capitulating that occurs on a national level that you cannot be compromised in some way as a Christian. In short, I think being a Christian and a mayor of a small town is very different than becoming a US senator. I think being small, local, and uncompromised is the key.