How Big is God? Bigger than an Elephant?

I don’t believe God is politically partisan. I know we like to shore up our egos with visions of God marching with us to the ballot box and guiding our hand to vote one party exclusively, but the older I get the more ludicrous that seems.

Like many evangelical children, growing up I demonized Democrats as venomous reprobates—they were “Godless” as Ann Coulter has so gently described them. If a Democrat ever made it into office, then I naturally thought the inmates would be allowed to roam the streets and communism would choke out democracy in the West. With Democrats in power, I thought, citizens would be required to take the mark of the beast and our society would disintegrate into something reminiscent of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The names that scared me most growing up were Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton and, of course, Ted Kennedy.

It is ironic that the person who would change my warped perspective would actually BE a Kennedy. This week, I had the pleasure of speaking on the telephone with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kathleen is the eldest daughter of Robert Kennedy and a woman of deep faith. Her manner is disarmingly generous and amicable.

I have just finished reading her book, Failing America's Faithful: How today's churches are mixing God with politics and losing their way, and found it to be convicting and compelling. I do not recommend every book I read, but I do recommend this one. Though her theology and politics are often disagreeable, the book will challenge you to think no matter how you vote or where you worship. And believe it or not, she is often very balanced.

Here are some examples of her insight:

"...the good life did not come just from following the rules and resisting temptations--after all, Jesus did not follow the rules--but from taking our faith out of our houses of worship and putting it into practice."

"...evangelical churches in some ways have the opposite problem: They touch people personally so they are growing by leaps and bounds; they have helped many people turn their lives around; they have created communities where members feel a great deal of connectedness and spirituality, and where they are given help with real life issues...Any yet they, too, are building up walls of fear, protecting these "sacred" communities from the more profane influences of modern-day America."

"The right pretends that virtuous activity occurs only in the sphere of private behavior, not through governmental intervention. In fact they seem to think governmental intervention is appropriate only for overturning previous governement decisions that they disagree with--e.g., ban on school prayer...The well-organized and politically-attuned Religious Right pointedly ignores Christ's admonition that we should care for the "least among us" when it withdraws from those arenas where government has had a traditional role, such as civil rights, adjusting tax policy, and supporting social programs that can improve the daily life of the poor. Among the leaders of the left, we find a different malady. They are obsessed with keeping religion out of the public sphere, demanding a perfect purging of faith from public life far beyond what our Founding Fathers meant by "separation of church and state." This obsession with secularism weakens their moral authority...It makes leaders of the left sound intellectual but without passion. The danger of not engaging religious teachings in the drive for social reform might be worse than condemning them."

Kathleen offers a sobering charge to those of us who wave the banner of our faith but refuse to fulfill Christ's call to care for the less fortunate and unprotected. We cannot only support governmental intervention to enforce the two or three issues we feel flow from our faith--abortion, stem cell research, etc.--and refuse to support progressive policies that are just as ingrained in Christianity--justice, generosity towards the poor, protecting the environment, etc. We cannot blindly support a war on terror and change the channel when the anchor speaks of Darfur. Furthermore, we cannot live as though the party we support has a monopoly on God's blessing. Not every Democrat is "Godless," and God is bigger than donkeys and elephants.

Doubly Disgusted

I was recently profiled for an upcoming book entitled, We the Purple: Faith, Politics, and the Independent Voter by Marcia Ford (Tyndale House, 2008). I want to share it with you for a couple of reasons. First, it offers a look into my personal political mindset, which may surprise some of you. Second, I think it offers a great opportunity for conversation. Take a look at the excerpt, and then check out the questions below.

"Jonathan Merritt is a self-described conservative independent who is disgusted with both parties and has an inexplicable affinity for Libertarians. To understand how radical that political perspective is for him, you’d have to know a bit about his background—starting with his heritage. His father is Dr. James Merritt, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention; Jerry Falwell was a family friend. “You never had to ask how we voted. Our family voted a straight Republican ticket,” says Merritt, who is completing his master of divinity degree at Southeastern Seminary in North Carolina. His father’s political views were no secret to anyone. “We were invited to political dinners, and some of the most active members of our large church were congressmen and politicians,” he says.

When he reached voting age, Jonathan Merritt followed suit, voting a straight Republican ticket—and believing that a person couldn’t be a Christian and a Democrat; the two were mutually exclusive. In his last year of college—not surprisingly, at Falwell’s Liberty University—he was elected GOP precinct chairman for the 1st precinct in the state of Georgia. “I resigned shortly after,” he says. “I had ventured into the belly of the partisan beast, and I almost didn't return intact. It is an ugly place to exist.”

Even though all office-holders face pressure from contributors, independents, he believes, have the advantage of “pressureless voting” from a partisan standpoint. They’re free to vote their conscience, which Merritt believes is more trustworthy than a “party's ever-changing disposition.”

A writer and the senior editor of PastorsEdge.com, Merritt remembers attending church during his college years and often asking a friend, "What exactly was the sermon about today anyway?" Much of the service had been devoted to endorsing candidates and other political talk, with little or no room for the Word of God. Democrats were mocked from the pulpit. “When a church publicly draws a political line, it can begin to overshadow the real reason the church exists,” he says. “My experience was not uncommon. It was actually normative. Over the years, scores of progressive college grads left Liberty University and found themselves disillusioned with the politico-religious culture found in so many places.”

Merritt’s major political concerns today are the war in Iraq, particularly achieving victory so the government can focus on other foreign policy issues, and consistent environmental regulations. Global warming, he says, is stealing the stage right now, but other environmental concerns need to be discussed as well.

Though his conservative Protestant faith greatly influences his political perspective, he is open to voting for a Catholic or Mormon candidate. He considers a candidate’s voting record to be more helpful than a claim of faith that may not be authentic. His ’08 presidential pick as of the summer of 2007 was Fred Thompson—though he secretly wishes Stephen Colbert would run."

Here are a couple of questions I want to throw out there. Please share your opinion:

1. Is it just me or are you nauseated by both parties right now?

2. Would you consider voting for someone of another faith?

3. Who is your presidential pick as of right now?