Church and Politics

What is the best relationship between social/political activism and Christian faith?  List some positive and negative ways the church has sought to influence society.  What distinguishes the positive and negative efforts?

 

I have heard many times in West Virginia that the church should stay out of politics.  I’ve heard it from politicians and from members of the congregation. I think – and I may think this because I am United Methodist – that the church belongs in politics. It’s a dangerous balance, but we need to find a way to do it that brings glory to God (and not harm to people).

 

Who could really argue that the church should not have been involved in halting slavery or bringing safer working conditions to children or to coal miners in West Virginia? Shouldn’t the church work to end racism, gender discrimination, and exclusion? They were and are political stands, to be sure, but they were made at God’s calling. 

 

The truth is that we will not agree on what stand the church should take. The danger arises when we see each other as objects rather than people, and we fail to work together for mutual discernment. The other danger, I think, is when Christian nationalism comes into play, and the values of patriotism and self-centered nationalism become our guiding forces instead of God’s leading.