Politics in Church? or Pastors Walking a Tightrope

Politics in Church? or

Pastors Walking a Tightrope

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer – July 14, 2019

Matthew 14:1-12 GNT

“In the past two years, our congregation has lost at least one regular attendee because we’re too political.  At least one other left because we’re not political enough.  Some folks wish we were out in force, wearing our church T-shirts, at every protest.  Others wish I would tone it down from the pulpit and just preach about how to be a good person.”

Now, I didn’t write those words.  Lee Hull Moses, pastor of First Christian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, did.  They were published in an October (2018) issue of Christian Century magazine.  The editors of Christian Century had invited several pastors and theologians to respond to the question, “Do politics belong in church?”¹  So, as I said, I didn’t write my opening words; but I might have. 

Because I, too, have had a member or two become unhappy with me because on rare occasions my sermons have bordered on the political.  And by the same token, I have had a member or two become unhappy with me because my sermons and our church in general are not political and vocal enough on current issues.  So, although I did not write those opening words, I could have.

But the truth is, hundreds – probably thousands – of American pastors could have written those words as well.  When Lee Moses spoke, he spoke for many of us when it comes to walking the “tightrope” of mixing politics and religion, or mentioning politics in church.  In many ways, when it comes to politics and religion, pastors are condemned by some if we do and condemned by others if we don’t.  It is like walking a tightrope.

In the 1970’s, we witnessed a shift, I think, with the insurgence of conservative and fundamentalist Christianity through such famous personalities as Pat Robinson and Jerry Falwell.  Robinson and Falwell pushed their fundamentalist agenda into politics, and also brought their politics, colored by their conservative and fundamentalist beliefs, into the American Church.  About the same time, the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant body in America – also witnessed a fundamentalist takeover that has also impacted American politics and religion. 

Well, when I turned to the Bible for a passage having to do with the mixing of politics and religion, I found it is not as easy as one might initially think it would be; thus, the passage I read about the death of John the Baptist.  Now, the Baptist was pre-Christian Church, obviously.  John the Baptist was not really affiliated with any religious establishment that I am aware of.  But he did let his preaching and prophetic activities call the politicians to account.  He meddled in the lives of those in political power.  He publicly called them on the carpet for what he thought was their moral failings.  And for doing so, it cost him his life.  The Baptist didn’t walk the tightrope very successfully, it seems.

Jesus, it would appear, refused to “get political.”  Everyone is familiar with Jesus’ statement that is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to the effect, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25).  However, even though Jesus may have given the appearance of staying out of politics and setting a precedent for “separation of church and state,” he did call out injustice and oppression, sins of which both the political and religious establishments of his day were guilty.

But herein lies the problem of our day as I see it.  In today’s world, human rights issues (e.g., issues of injustice, inhumane treatment, and oppression) have become political issues.  This is true with so many of the troubling issues that are in the news daily.  To cite just one example, immigrant children on the Mexico-Texas border being separated from their parents and housed in cages and forced to sleep on a concrete floor like animals is a human rights issue as I see it.  Separating children – innocent little children who have no choice and not even an understanding of the matter – from their parents and housing them like animals is a direct violation of human rights, human decency, and Christian principles of mercy, compassion, and love.  When we consider what little children are being subjected to, if the reports we have heard from those who have visited the centers where immigrant children are being held are true (including the report of Vice-President Pence), we cannot help but be reminded of what the Nazis did to Jewish children during the Holocaust in separating them from their parents and housing them like animals.   What would Jesus have to say about such things?  “See that you don’t despise any of these little ones,” Jesus warned (Matthew 18:10).

Yet, the separation of immigrant children from their parents has become a political issue, pitting our two political parties against each other, and as such in most churches it probably is a hot-button issue.  But as responsible, thinking, faith-minded people, it seems to me that we need to be able to differentiate between political issues and human rights and moral issues that transcend politics.

As noted earlier, Christian Century magazine invited several pastors and theologians to respond to the question, “Do politics belong in church?”  I read all of the responses – seven full pages worth.  Presbyterian minister Scott Anderson states, “If we don’t talk about politics in the church setting, we are giving folks permission to compartmentalize their lives.  Jesus Christ is Lord of all life, including our political life. . .”  And Stanley Hauerwas contends, “To refuse to take a political stance is to take a political stance.”

And then Lee Hull Moses, whom I quoted in the opening, shares, “It’s complicated by the fact that ‘politics’ has now come to mean any contemporary issue on which people might disagree.  In times such as these, the preacher’s task is to remind the congregation that the basic tenets of our faith – grace and mercy, radical hospitality, love of neighbor – go beyond politics but have political implications.”

Now, I readily concede that emigration and illegal border crossings are complicated problems that dictate complicated, well-thought-out, sustainable solutions.  The whole issue of immigrants trying to get into America is a tangled ball of yarn that will require much sophisticated unraveling.  But in the process of trying to do so, America needs to rise to its better self, and be diligently to act humanely with those who are wanting to get across our border because they are desperately fleeing violence, extreme poverty and other unlivable conditions in their own countries.  Can we blame parents for trying to bring their children to America in search of a better life?  Isn’t that what immigrants to American have done for centuries?  And we certainly cannot blame the children who are completely innocent and had no say in the matter of being born or in being brought to our borders. 

And so, when all the dust settles, where I would like to be able to come down with it all when it comes to walking the tightrope between religion and the issues of our day is to have the freedom as your minister to remind us of and hold us true to the core principles of the Judeo-Christian faiths – justice, mercy, kindness, compassion, and love for both neighbor and the stranger – without condemning or denigrating any one political candidate or political party.  Such, I believe, is what Jesus did.  Jesus was a voice for the “little ones,” the weak, oppressed, ostracized, and victims of ill treatment and injustice.  Sometimes it is as it was with the Apostle Peter and his companions when they were arrested for acting in Jesus’ name when they said, “We must obey God, not men” (Acts 5:29 GN).

What is lacking in America today, I believe, is an American prophet to call America back to its moral compass.  We are sorely lacking a national prophet of the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. who might call America back to its better self.

Yes, as a minister, the line between the dictates of our faith and the issues of our day is sometimes like walking a tightrope.  As ministers we are condemned by some if we lean one way on the tightrope, and we are condemned by others if we lean the other way.  But as people of faith, we need to be able to take politics out of the equation when it comes to clear-cut issues of justice and human rights and the call of the Hebrew prophets and Jesus for kindness, mercy, compassion, and love.  May we have the wisdom and the grace to do so.  Amen.

Cited: “Do politics belong in church?”  Christian Century.  October 10, 2018, pp. 20-26.