Politics. That word can excite people, or make their blood boil. It can be a favourite topic, or a taboo around the table.
Personally, I find politics to be very interesting, and I think it’s important.
It affects our lives, and has shaped the history of our world. I actually devoted most of my undergraduate studies at UBC to this topic.
But when we talk about it together, conversations can quickly become heated, dismissive, and ultimately unhelpful.
As Christians in fellowship, is there a better way?
For our church, the Covid years brought some tension into the fellowship – the situation affected people differently, depending on their place of work, family situation, political views, and news sources. Those years brought to the surface some divisions that already existed between people – and the media just made it worse, with their increasingly polarized views.
Fortunately, I had some helpful opportunities to research this topic, to understand what was happening in our culture, and how people are responding to it.
From that research, came a paper titled “Desire for Dialogue” that included a graphic presentation with various charts, like the one below:
Since then, our church board decided to
read through a book together – written by David Fitch, a Canadian pastor who was serving in the USA.
read through a book together – written by David Fitch, a Canadian pastor who was serving in the USA.Also the author of Faithful Presence, he wrote Desire for Dialogue – Presentation in direct response to the polarization that he’d seen in the church over political matters. He argues that the church should be its own political entity, as a place where Christ’s kingdom is at work in this world – and as a safe place where ideas can be shared.
It was an extremely helpful book that I’d highly recommend – and if your time is short, just read his conversation guidelines in the appendix. Here’s a good review on it as well.
Yet, the polarization continues. Voices in the media still engage in name-calling, labelling people from the other side in dismissive terms that are ultimately de-humanizing. I hear it from both sides. People are afraid, and I can’t help but wonder if this is a method of “divide and conquer” by our true enemy, Satan, who comes to deceive and divide.
So, carrying on from here, after some conversation with my fellow Christian brothers at church, here are some suggestions that I proposed:
- ) As a Christian fellowship, our highest authority is Scripture – not the media. If we want to make a case for something, we should be referring to God’s truths more than the opinions of our divided world.
- ) As a Christian fellowship, our first call is to love one another. Voices in the media tend to dehumanize people who have different views. They call them Fascists and Communists, completely dismissing their views, and expressing hatred. This name-calling is frequently done by both the left and the right – and Christians should be better than this.
- ) As a Christian fellowship, we do not belong to any political party. Jesus is our Lord and Savior, our Leader and our Hope. Our views should always be shaped by His teachings and the examples that He sets. Debates about politics should always include His words as part of the conversation. Our position, as Christians, is to stand apart from the world’s ways (John 17:15-18), to not conform (Romans 12:2), and to pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-6). If there are other Scriptures that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear them!
- ) As Christians who share the above values, there is no reason to let political disagreement lead to spiritual disunity. When political discussions happen, people don’t need to completely agree, but we should at least bring an open mind, being willing to learn something new, and understand where our fellow brother is coming from. I love to learn new things – real facts and stories that I haven’t heard before. But I don’t personally enjoy hearing name-calling and views that are dismissive of others.
- ) With an open mind and a loving approach, we should be able to see strengths in the other side. For example, Democrats can recognize that Republicans led the country thru the Civil War, brought an end to slavery, and brought an end to the Cold War. Republicans could recognize that Democrats led the USA thru the Depression, WWII, and the Civil Rights Movement. As Christians, we don’t belong to either – we’re called to love people and seek the truth.
I’m reminded of Paul’s stern warnings in the pastoral letters:
1 Timothy
5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.
2 Timothy 2
14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Titus 3
9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.
Grace and peace to you,
Tim