Must Evangelicals Dirty Their Hands in Politics? – Part 1

“I’m the Devil, and I approved this message.”

That’s often what evangelical Christians hear at the end of a political ad on TV or radio. For us, voting for “the lesser of two evils” is more than a hyperbolic metaphor. We take it literally. We know that all political candidates are, at their core, inherently evil (just like we are, and just like the Bible says), and our duty as good Christian citizens is fairly straightforward: simply vote for the candidates with the fewest sins in their public record!

Ok, there’s more to it than that… that is, if we bother to turn out and vote at all. As with half of all eligible voters in the U.S., nearly half of all evangelicals consider politics to be a spectator sport.

I used to be a political spectator myself.

Back in the fall of 1980, I was an 18 year old college student attending the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. The biggest issues facing our nation were the Iranian hostage crisis and exorbitant interest rates. The incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, was out to extend his political life four more years, and his challenger, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, was hot on Carter’s tail. As it moved closer to Election Day, things got nasty.
“Can we afford four more years of Jimmy Carter putting America at risk?” Reagan’s ad would query. In the very next ad, the voiceover would end something like, “Is Ronald Reagan trying to hide his communist past?” It was mildly irritating for my friends and me to have Monday Night Football interrupted and sullied by back to back political attack ads instead of a few goofy beer ads. We wondered if the sarcastic, accusatory, deep-throated voice in both ads belonged to the same guy: “Boy, I bet he’s making a boatload of cash this election… alright, back to the game!”

Needless to say, I was about as apathetic (or just pathetic?) toward politics as one gets. Then again, who cares about apathy! Like many students, I didn’t have much time for or interest in politics. Like most students at a Christian college, I had other priorities, such as earning decent grades, growing in my faith, getting some hands-on ministry experience, playing sports, and spending time with my friends and girlfriend.

Politics didn’t really affect my life much, anyway. I was single and living in the sheltered world of a Christian college. I had little money, paid few taxes, and relied on my parents and a few student loans to get by. I also had very little in the way of personal property, save an orange Ford Pinto that my Dad called “The Rust Bucket” or “That Thing”.

However, after receiving several reminder phone calls and strong encouragement from my parents, I did somehow follow through on mailing my absentee ballot back to Minnesota that year. I remember feeling a small sense of pride when the on-campus notary public put her official seal on it. I had fulfilled my civic duty.

As the 1984 election approached four years later, my attitude toward all things political had moved from inactive indifference to disillusionment – even cynicism. American politics was such a dirty business, and I reasoned that no good Christian should take part in it. I witnessed, as a mere casual observer, the acrimony arising between the major parties and candidates over seemingly petty differences. Without too much deep analysis, I concluded that politics only brought out the worst in people.

Then 22, I viewed the political scene with a lot more head knowledge and a little more wisdom than I had when I was 18. I knew all the basics of a Christian’s civic duties: obey earthly authorities (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17), pay taxes (Matthew 22:17-21; Romans 13:6-7), and live peaceful lives (Titus 3:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 1 Peter 2:11-12).

I also knew that my citizenship in Heaven far outweighed my citizenship on earth (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Peter 2:11-12). The real battle was being waged in the spiritual realm, and that’s where I wanted to focus my energies (Ephesians 6:1-10). Compared to the cause of Christ, the cause of a bunch of ambitious, mostly immoral politicians seemed so worldly and temporal to me.

Several ideas guided my thinking as I recall. First, since God is in control and ultimately appoints all human leaders, I didn’t need to get too caught up in the power struggles of this world. Second, since the gospel is preeminent, taking political sides might get in the way of my testimony for Christ, so I’d best keep my political opinions to myself. Third, Jesus, Paul, and other great heroes of our faith accepted the earthly leaders and political systems of their day. Why shouldn’t I?

Therefore, I made the decision to stay above the political fray until Election Day; then I’d quietly stop by the polls to cast my vote (I still had some sense of civic duty in me.). The electoral process would run its course without too much input from me, as it always had before, and God would ordain the outcome, as He always had before.

However, having transferred to the University of Minnesota a few years earlier to complete my undergraduate degree, I couldn’t avoid getting hit in the face with the politics of the day. This time it was Ronald Reagan going for his second term against Minnesota’s own, Walter Mondale.

Reading the campus newspaper, “The Daily”, almost required a pair of hazmat gloves. Every article outside the sports pages spewed hatred and vial profanity against the government and the leaders of the day.

Walking across the campus mall was like ducking through a verbal war zone. I remember once on my way to class stopping to watch some anarchists shout down a College Republican trying to make a speech on “Reaganomics”. Then moving on a few steps, my ears were immediately assaulted with the scratchy, amplified voice of a radical feminist screaming some kind of monologue into a microphone. Ah, the First Amendment in all its glory!

Reading some of my class texts – Marx and Engels, for example – also gave me pause for political thought. Maybe socialism and communism had more merit than a lot of Christians realized. Capitalism, and the democratic system that supports it, only encourages greed and selfishness while ignoring the plight of the poor.

This all helped me form a shallow and cynical view of politics. Combine it with my fairly one dimensional understanding of Scripture, and it made for an idealistic, naïve worldview. For instance, I couldn’t figure out why the modern church and, by extension, my government, wouldn’t adopt the early church practice of sharing all things in common (Acts 4:32-37). It seemed to me that if God blessed communal-like living as a wonderful social arrangement back then, why couldn’t it work for us now?

Fortunately, these were just thoughts that bounced around in my mind and in private conversation with friends. My complacency toward politics kept me from jumping aboard one of the radical student movements of the day.

Then, about a month before the election, I attended a church service where a film was shown that highlighted the gruesome techniques used by abortionists and showed statistics about the millions of unborn babies who had died in America. This had a strong impact on my thinking. Something had to be done about this great social injustice! But what? ….. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.