The Awkward Dance (Part 1)
We are all thankful the election is now finally finished in the US and that we can go back to our regular programming in life not being bombarded by messages on the airwaves of change and mudslinging. The election is passe and perhaps my write up below; however, I find a troubling movement in the US where religion and politics mingle like awkward dance partners.
Before I dive into the topic at hand, I must explain why I find this election so important. As a Canadian nearly 90% of our trade is conducted with the US and they have tremendous sway over our policies on the home front. They are also the world's leading economy with the world's largest and most advanced military. They hold great power over the nation's and their sovereignty. As a citizen of Canada and the world I am concerned about the power they wield and how it will affect governments and communities in impoverished areas around the world.
I begin with a photo I took in Wyoming, USA during a roadtrip this summer.
This bumper sticker Jesus sign has given me much to think about. I will leave it up to you to decide whether you find it offensive, a clever mix of religion and patriotism, or simply irrelevant. I have thought about this bumper sticker often and what role the evangelical church is playing during this election year. Even though the election is passed, this critique is still quite relevant as it outlines the thinking of several leaders of mainstream evangelism.
Billy Graham, in his website has stated that this is “our last call.” ( http://www.billygraham.org/
We need to question our assumptions of what it means to be followers of Jesus in a secular nation. When we look back at the historical periods when Christianity was married to political power, we see a landscape filled persecution, destruction and brokenness.
Now is the time for soul work to be done, when presidents have been elected and political campaigns have ceased. Let us realize that Christ never came to overtake political power, but to love and serve the broken within our society.
Before I dive into the topic at hand, I must explain why I find this election so important. As a Canadian nearly 90% of our trade is conducted with the US and they have tremendous sway over our policies on the home front. They are also the world's leading economy with the world's largest and most advanced military. They hold great power over the nation's and their sovereignty. As a citizen of Canada and the world I am concerned about the power they wield and how it will affect governments and communities in impoverished areas around the world.
I begin with a photo I took in Wyoming, USA during a roadtrip this summer.
This bumper sticker Jesus sign has given me much to think about. I will leave it up to you to decide whether you find it offensive, a clever mix of religion and patriotism, or simply irrelevant. I have thought about this bumper sticker often and what role the evangelical church is playing during this election year. Even though the election is passed, this critique is still quite relevant as it outlines the thinking of several leaders of mainstream evangelism.
Billy Graham, in his website has stated that this is “our last call.” ( http://www.billygraham.org/
We are at a profound crossroads. Our secularized society has shaken its fist in God’s face and rejected His very name.There is this underlying notion that Evangelical leaders are putting forward, namely that we were once a Christian nation and we need to return to this. For a provocative response to this issue, Greg Boyd outlines the fallacy in this assumption in an interview for the documentary God's Warriors.
In recent days, President Clinton said that President Obama “has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up.” But God-fearing Americans have no desire to see America rebuilt—but rather restored. To “rebuild it” would be to create a new nation without God or perhaps under many gods. This was never the intent of those who shed their blood for the freedom to worship as “one nation under God.”
We need to question our assumptions of what it means to be followers of Jesus in a secular nation. When we look back at the historical periods when Christianity was married to political power, we see a landscape filled persecution, destruction and brokenness.
Now is the time for soul work to be done, when presidents have been elected and political campaigns have ceased. Let us realize that Christ never came to overtake political power, but to love and serve the broken within our society.
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