Faith & Politics
A prayer to remember:
“Lord our Heavenly Father, High and Mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech thee, on these our American States, who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent on Thee, to Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give; take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in Council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle! Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. That the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst Thy people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. all this we ask In the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior.
Pastor Rick Warren made an interesting point before welcoming Senators Obama and McCain to the Saddleback Civil Forum: “We believe in the separation of church and state, but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics because faith is just a world view and it’s important to know what they are.” I may be in the minority. Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
Why did I begin this post with a prayer? This prayer was from September 7th, 1774 as the first prayer in Congress. Can you imagine hearing this prayer in Congress today? Do you think our elected officials and next President of the United States should talk about faith or live/vote/lead by faith?
OOC
August 24 2008 02:50 pm | Education and Legislation and Rulings and Morality and The War
CatholicMom on 24 Aug 2008 at 9:52 pm #
I think Christians have an obligation to vote for candidates who will support legislation, policies and programs that will lead to a just society that protects the rights of everyone. As a Catholic, I have to prayerfully consider issues that are important to all of society. The right to life, from conception to natural death, is only one of those issues.
I live in an area where there are so many homeless people that local churches of all denominations sign up for weeks to house our homeless during the harsh winter months. Hundreds of volunteers work to ensure that homeless people can have a safe, warm place to shelter when it is cold. There’s something wrong when we can’t figure out how to help this growing segment of our population.
I can’t imagine dividing my faith life from my political responsibilities. I would hate to think that Christians in our country would think, “I can’t get involved,” when the future of our children is at stake.
Our Founding Fathers knew full well that the things they undertook would have lasting significance. They were unwilling to move ahead without asking for God’s blessings. Can we do any less?
OOC on 25 Aug 2008 at 8:07 pm #
CatholicMom,
There seems to be much more talk of religion/faith this election than any other and neither the Republican or Democratic parties seem to have significantly changed their party lines. I do not want to pick on one side, but I find the following article pretty interesting:
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Democrats open faith-filled convention with prayer
By ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski, Ap Religion Writer – Sun Aug 24, 10:48 pm ET
DENVER – At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future.
Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote “Dead Man Walking,” assailed the death penalty and the use of torture.
Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.
Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston.
But that same year, “values voters” helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them.
The result was on display at Sunday’s interfaith service, staged in a theater inside the Colorado Convention Center, and will be evident throughout the convention agenda and on the sidelines.
There will be four “faith caucus” meetings, blessings to open and close each night, and panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn’t even exist in 2004 — not to mention protests from religious groups and leaders opposed to the Democratic platform.
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Do you think the religious tone to the convention is more than an attempt to secure votes after ‘04 lessons learned? OOC
CatholicMom on 25 Aug 2008 at 10:12 pm #
OOC,
You know, I’m not entirely sure. I do think voters of faith, particularly evangelicals and Catholics, have been identified as “swing groups” that both parties are hoping to persuade to their sides. There’s tons of media interest in things like Joe Biden’s brand of Catholicism (a topic for another post, perhaps), the appeal or lack thereof of an LDS candidate to right-wing voters, how to convince the American voters that Barack Obama is not a Muslim, despite his middle name (I am still hearing this silly rumor, even now, in real life!)…you get my drift. I do think both parties have a vested interest in appealing to voters of faith - why else would Nancy Pelosi actually discuss St. Augustne with Tom Brokaw? (I don’t, personally, believe it was because she wants to debate when life begins…she wants to prevaricate enough so voters on the fence feel a little better about voting for pro-abortion Obama.)
While I wish I felt better about the Democrats’ appeal to various faith groups, a report like the one you cited leaves me wondering how much is staged and how much is genuine, how much is coincidence and how much is planned.
In fairness, I’m sure we’ll see much the same thing from St. Paul next week.
GP on 27 Aug 2008 at 1:08 pm #
Remember, politics is all about inclusiveness and appealing to as broad an audience as possible. True Christianity is rather narrow, based on the uncompromising truth of God’s word. When ever an attempt is made to explain the scriptures or the Christian faith in terms of a given politician’s all inclusive world view the gospel becomes distorted. Unless the politician sees the world through an accurate biblical model Christians become only another interest group to which the politician needs to cater. Politicians have mastered the art of compromise. What we need to guard against is compromising the truth in order to advance any agenda.
OC on 27 Aug 2008 at 8:40 pm #
I can hardly believe my eyes…a string with Christians discussing issues of faith and life. Thanks OOC for bringing above just debating with atheists - important work that it is - and bringing us to the point where we, as believers a discussing important topics.
Find that I can agree with all of you. (I might make a good politician one day) I’m concerned about abortion, the poor, the downtrodden, my consitutional rights (homeschooling, bearing arms, freedom of religion…)
I’m also very concerned about the Church and her co-option by political parties. GP is right. Believers need to look past the bluster and promises of politicians and work to make the Church a place were righteousness and love shine.
We can’t wait for government to solve our problems. We need to use God’s power and love to break down the barriers of denomination, race, and heritage. I believe if we can worship with any believer regardless of his/her color or creed, then we’ll see true change in this nation.
I’m getting tangential here but as I’m writing it is coming to me that God wants us to use the church to reach the lost and yet most churches on Sundays are the most segregated places in town. We’ve got to do something.
OC
CatholicMom on 28 Aug 2008 at 8:24 am #
I think any effort has to begin with heartfelt prayer. In some cases (Karen Weber leaps to mind, as I’m nowhere near Florida and can’t go protest in person), prayer is pretty much all we can do. We need to be persistent in our prayer, as Jesus told us to be.
I also think we’ll never manage to reach people with Christ’s message of love if they can’t see love in action. I know my little homeless casseroles only give 6 people one meal, but I’ve seen those homeless men line up for casseroles just like mine, and they’re real people needing real help. If they see that people do care about them and treat them with the dignity and respect everyone deserves, perhaps they’ll be willing to return to the churches that host them for Winter Shelter at some other time of year to hear what Christ has to say to them.
When I watch all the convention hoopla on TV, it all seems so scripted and focus-grouped that I feel depressed. (My son compared it to a game show!) My one little vote seems less significant than my one little casserole. It’s hard to break out of that cynical thought spiral and focus on learning about platforms and candidates so that I use my one vote wisely.
How do you decide which candidates to support? Do you look at one issue (such as abortion) as your litmus test, or do you look at several criteria? Do you think the party platform matters?
GP on 28 Aug 2008 at 9:47 am #
For starters what if each of us committed ourselves to meet regularly with one believer from a different racial back ground? A white man and a black man (for instance) sharing the word with each other, praying for each other, and exhorting each other to Godly living.
The second step might be to begin to embrace each other as family’s, wives and children sharing portions of life together. Would we not emerge with a better understanding of each other and move more toward the centrality of Christ in our relationships.
For OC and OOC who live in a military environment this may not seem all that radical. The sub-culture of their branch of service tends to foster relationships and lends much commonality to their life experiences. To those of us in the civilian world, we are much more estranged from our brothers and sisters who are of a different race.
CatholicMom on 28 Aug 2008 at 12:23 pm #
GP,
I read your comments with interest - I’ve been a military wife for so long that I know I’ve forgotten how it feels to live the civilian life. Does it really seem to you that there’s that much (involuntary) segregation in church and on the job? I have had quite a few jobs, some on military bases and some off, and had colleagues of all racial backgrounds everywhere except when I was a substitute teacher overseas and when I worked in the ultra-racist parts place. Maybe I worked in unusual fields?
I do think it’s important to meet and befriend people from everywhere. That’s one of the reasons I love to travel, to find out what people think (particularly about the USA) in other places. We can’t begin to share our faith with people we truly don’t understand.
Nathan Clark on 29 Aug 2008 at 8:37 am #
Congress opens in prayer nearly ever day.
A prayer from May 1, off the chaplain’s site (http://chaplain.house.gov/archive/index.html?id=604):
Our dear Heavenly Father, on this National Day of Prayer, we publically acknowledge You to be: the Lord of the Universe; the Author of Creation; the Arbiter of History; and the Savior of Mankind! We bow before Your Providence, and celebrate your Goodness to our Nation! Thank you for blessing America! Bless this Chamber of decision–makers and let each of them seek Your guidance in every matter affecting our Country. Bless this Chamber of Legislators and let each of them vote always according to Your eternal standards which transcend time and personal preference! Bless this Chamber of social leaders and let each of them model for us Your healing virtues of compassion, mercy, integrity, forgiveness, and service! We bow before your power celebrating Your goodness to us as a people! Thank you for blessing America! In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask and pray all these things.
Amen.