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10/15/2002 Entry: "Religious right"
Joshua Claybourn has an interesting post about the religious right, and specifically about whether or not Christian leaders should be involved in the "nitty gritty" of politics:
Many disciplines, from law to psychology, are value laden with worldview implications. Each area, and most political issues, demand basic assumptions about the nature of reality in order to grant meaning to specific approaches to it. Some may use a libertarian worldview, some may use much more liberal ones, and others will use some sort of a Christian worldview. I'm hesitant to say "Christian worldview" because if that's taken to the extreme, some Christians will claim each of their political positions are some sort of decree from God. Similarly, some Christians will suggest God belongs to their party, when in reality no country, no political party, no political ideology can own Him. He's the boss.Absolutely. The problem is that when Christians enter this particular fray, they are too quick to claim "the Christian view" as the one which matches their own. I know that I am guilty of this. The truth is that Christians of all flavours - liberal, conservative, radical, left, right and swinging-all-ways - spend too much time shouting their own views and not enough listening to the truth that speaks with a still small voice. Most of the time it seems to me that we read our Bibles knowing in advance what it is going to say to us. More time listening would be time well spent.The fact of the matter is that a lot of it is very grey, and Christians can rightfully disagree on many things. Although I don't agree with many of Pat Robertson's methods or positions on issues, I think he's correct in suggesting Christian values can be applied to things such as the (possible) war in Iraq, and that the Christian worldview has something to say about it. In short, there is a place for religious leaders in the public square, so long as they don't claim to definitively know God's will when Biblical interpretation is required.
