Category Archives: Politics

The difference between political posts and religious posts

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electionAfter publishing a post where I encouraged people to stop posting about politics, I got into a discussion about the merits of such posts. One friend suggested that these people were merely doing with politics what I do with religion. It was a point worth considering. And rejecting.

The point would be valid about political posts in general, but not about 99% of what I see. I don’t see reasoned arguments. I don’t see posts explaining the worth of a certain position. I don’t see explanatory posts which detail the plans and policies a certain candidate is proposing.

The political posts I see are attacks on the other candidate. I see people explaining why they won’t support Hilary or why they won’t support Trump. They don’t explain what good they hope their candidate will do.

The political posts I see are often based on distortion and mistruths. Facts fall by the wayside in an effort to promote fear and distrust of the other candidate.

The political posts I see almost always come from a biased source. Granted, there aren’t a lot of unbiased sources out there. But when your source is Liberal MediaSite or Conservative Mouthpiece, I’m really not interested in reading their attack on the opposing candidate.

There are religious posts like that. I try not to create them myself nor repost them. I don’t care for them when it comes to religion any more than I do when politics is the subject.

So maybe I’m not against all political posts, in a theoretical sense. I’m just opposed to the ones that are currently being put out there by people I know.

I wish I could say that I think things will get better after November, but experience says that the next election cycle begins even before the current one ends. It’s a never-ending circle of hysteria and fear. Every election is the most important one ever. Every election is critical to the future of this country and the entire world. Or so they say.

Can Facebook posts change your mind?

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facebookI posted on Facebook the other day, discouraging my friends from sharing their political posts. Someone asked me what the difference was between me sharing religious thoughts and others sharing political posts. In the discussion, I and others pointed out that Facebook discussions almost never sway people to leave their previously held views. I don’t try to convert people to Jesus via Facebook posts. I don’t expect people to switch from one party’s candidate to the other because of political posts on Facebook.

Fact is, people mainly read what they already agree with. Facebook’s algorithm’s encourage this; when you hit LIKE, they show you more posts that are similar to what you have endorsed.

But I’m willing to be corrected. There has to be some value in public discussion of issues, be they religious or political. What do you think? How can Facebook (and other social media) be used to persuade and change? Is it possible? Or are social networks only good for reinforcing previously held views?

Everything is politics; but it’s not

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Oxford_Advanced_Learner's_Dictionary_of_Current_EnglishSometimes when I express a desire to avoid political discussion, people will chastise me by saying, “Everything is politics.” Basically the argument is that everything affecting the “polis,” the city, and its citizens is politics.

I get that and find it to be true at some level. But at its core, it’s a flawed argument. There is something called “politics” that is identifiable. When I choose the “Politics” tab on a news website, I don’t expect to see science news nor sports. I have a neighbor that teaches political science; that doesn’t mean that he teaches the science of everything. There is a specific realm of study within the social sciences that is political science.

The main definition that the Oxford dictionaries website offers is:

The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

That seems like a definition that we can use. I want to spend a bit of time discussing politics. If you’re unsure what I’m going to be discussing, check this definition.

Citizenship, ethnocentrism, and politics

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Wooden ballot boxGot involved in another discussion about citizenship, this time centering around the Pledge of Allegiance. (I’ve written a number of articles about my views on saying the Pledge) That led me to think more about how citizenship and nationalism affect our politics.

At some level, citizenship is a given. Our modern world pretty much obliges us to be a citizen of some country. The spiritual truth is that we are citizens of heaven and foreigners in every nation of this world. Our difficult task is to reconcile the pragmatic realities with the spiritual ones.

Nationalism is feeling loyal and proud of your country. Ethnocentrism is the belief that your people are inherently better than all others. This may be tied to a race or a tribe or a nation. This belief leads us to judge all other countries in terms of our own. It often goes hand and hand with nationalism, though not necessarily so.

How do these things affect our politics? When making political decisions, people typically want what is best for their nation, even if this comes at the expense of other nations. If we as Christians recognize that our nation is the Kingdom of God, we will make one kind of decisions. If we view the United States as our nation, we will make different ones. That’s one reason that I think it’s vital we understand where we are from and where we are going (using the language of John 13:3).

As Christians, we seek the good of all people, not just those of the country we hold citizenship in. We pledge ourselves to actively work for the good of all nations, not just the United States. We place the good of all men above our personal good and above the good of the country we live in.

We should be fervently nationalistic about the Kingdom of God. We should give whole-hearted allegiance to that great nation. We should make it clear that our patriotism is for our true patria, not the place of our birth nor the land where we now live.

And our political decisions should reflect those realities.

Come out from them and be separate

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political BibleIt’s June, and the two presidential candidates from the major U.S. political parties have been chosen. Donald Trump. Hilary Clinton.

I want you to prayerfully consider a response to these choices based on the following passage of Scripture:

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”” (2 Corinthians 6:14–18)

Some people speak of “hold your nose and vote.” I say don’t do it. Don’t give your support to either of these candidates.

  • But if I don’t ___ will win, and we can’t have that.
    There is no “vote against” option in the presidential election. You are casting your vote for someone. When the final votes are tallied, your vote will count as an endorsement for the person you voted for, not a condemnation of the person you voted against. Your vote will provide an argument for their policies, a base for their mandate, an encouragement to continue doing what they are doing.
    I personally vote in no national elections. The reasons are too complex for a sub-point in this post, but I explain some in the post “Voting.”
    Many of you haven’t made that choice and are fearful that if you don’t vote in the presidential election, the voices of “the good” won’t be heard, only those of the ungodly. If that fear weighs on you, vote in the congressional election and all others. Influence those races through voting, and influence the presidential race by not voting.
  • But ___ is so much better than ___.
    No they’re not. Neither is basing their campaign on Christian values. Neither is exhibiting Christian values in their life. Neither is promoting policies that will strengthen the Kingdom… except in that the Kingdom is strengthened when it stands out in stark contrast with the surrounding culture.
  • If Christians don’t vote, we won’t have a voice in the process.
    You think not? What if every Christian in this country abstained from this election? You don’t think the major parties would begin to see what they could change to reconnect with the Christian vote?
  • It’s our Christian duty to vote.
    No it’s not. We are called on to be good aliens in this foreign land where we live. We are to obey the laws. We are to pay taxes. If voting were obligatory, you might could make a case from a sense of Christian duty. But even where it’s obligatory, most countries allow a “blank vote” to be cast.

I’m not one of those who says you can’t be a Christian and vote for Donald or vote for Hilary. You can make a lot of bad choices in life and still be a Christian. I’d just like you to prayerfully consider an action that goes against the American way but seems very much in line with the Kingdom way.