My Massachusetts Duty...

I just got back from voting in the Massachusetts special election. If you don't know (how could you not, really?), it's for the vacant senate seat formerly belonging to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for, and I'm not going to tell YOU who to vote for, because that's not what this blog is about and I don't want to alienate any readers I may somehow have gotten.

It got me thinking, though, about the tendency the Church has to become too political. Granted, there ARE church politics, but that's an entirely separate thing. What I'm talking about is when preachers decide it's their duty to preach politics from the pulpit.

I will grant you that biblically and theologically, Christianity is going to impact how Christians view politics (at least, it should). After all, we are told to love our neighbors as ourselves, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and avoid killing people - &c, &c. That ought to shape our way of viewing the world.

Now, don't get me wrong - there are two things that should be made clear. Church and state SHOULD be separate. But Christianity is necessarily a part of my way of looking at the world - it shapes my morals, for example. That doesn't mean I think I should vote the same as another Christian. One person might think that feeding the hungry and clothing the poor implies state and national programs using tax money to do this; another person might believe they should donate their own money to the charity of their choice.

This discrepancy in opinions is why I believe VERY strongly that preachers should keep their politics out of the pulpit. As a preacher, one might feel it their Godly obligation to instruct others how to be proper Christians in the political field... But if that's the case, preach scripture, and ask the congregation to vote based on how scripture moves them. Don't tell me what my political leanings should be and who I should vote for based on those leanings.