I have observed during the last few elections cycles that there is a tendency among Christians to think that (or at least to act like) a particular party, candidate, or issue advocacy group is the answer to all that ails the U.S.  The attitude seems to be, “If we can elect enough people from the X party, America will be a better place,” or “If only candidate Y gets elected, all these things that are wrong will get fixed;” or “If only this proposed legislation, supported by the Z group gets passed, the situation in our country (or state or locality) will change.”  Sadly, this isn’t true.

My parents have always, during my lifetime, been politically aware and regular voters.  I grew up in a home where we stayed current with the events of the day and talked about the issues.  We were also very active in our church so our views on issues were directed by Biblical principles.  During my early life (the 1960s and early 1970s) I don’t really remember that our friends from church were necessarily focused on politics or political issues.  There was even sort of an attitude that Christians shouldn’t be involved in politics, to the point that some did not vote.

As the 1970s were coming to an end and Ronald Reagan was making the run that led to his election as President in 1980, there was a change.  In 1980 a large group from my church participated in the county caucus to elect a slate of delegates to support Reagan at the District caucus.  At this same time, Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” was coming to prominence on the national scene.  Christendom, or at least the Evangelical part of it, had caught the political bug.  The sense was that Christians could make a difference in the direction of the nation by supporting candidates and issues and by getting out and voting.  I’m sure that energizing Evangelical Christians, many of whom had remained outside the political arena for many years, effected the 1980 Presidential election.

In the last 30 or so years, the church has played a major role in leading the discussion of issues.  This is a good thing.  However, the “success” of candidates who support Biblical views on certain issues during this time frame may led us into the views and actions I referred to above:  That party politics is the solution to the nation’s and the world’s problems.  I’m convinced that this is a false view.

In summary, here’s what I’ve seen over approximately 50 years.  There was a time when Christians were disinclined to participate in the political process.  This was caused by a belief that politics was incompatible with Christianity, or that Christians could not make an impact on the political process.  Since the late 1970s the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.  Now many Christians seem to think that politics is the vehicle whereby the world will be changed.

With this background, I’ve been thinking about the manner in which Christians should view and participate in politics.  I believe that both of the views I’ve described above are incorrect.  If that’s true, what is the Biblical approach to the Christian’s participation in the political process?

I’m going to address this issue in upcoming posts.