Political But Not Partisan

In the ever-thinning line that separates church and state, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation that clouds an already murky situation. It helps to understand the Constitution, even though it is becoming a less authoritative document for conducting our nation’s business (thank you Supreme Court).

The First Amendment makes two claims concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. According to www.uscourts.gov

“The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from ‘establishing a religion.’ The exact meaning of ‘establishing’ is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.

Today, what constitutes an ‘establishment of religion’ is often governed under the three-part test set forth by the Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kutzman (1971). Under the ‘Lemon’ test, the government can assist religion only if (1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.

The Free Exercise Clause protects citizens right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of ‘public morals’ or a ‘compelling’ governmental interest.

Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict. The federal courts help to resolve such conflicts, with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter.” (Somehow this does not inspire confidence given our current Supremely partisan Court).

Historically, these Clauses have been understood to mean that the church does not play partisan politics and government does not manipulate religion. The rise of Christian Nationalism is significantly impacting this practice as right-wing religious views are melded into political positions and political views are melded into religious teaching. Churches are promoting candidates and questioning people’s faithfulness if they vary from the “party line.” The flow of dark money (which I prefer to call anonymous money) into the church to support a political agenda that is anti-just-about-everything is staggering. In addition, anonymous money is pouring millions of dollars into specific congressional races to help assure wins. Rallying the conservative Christian vote is crucial to making their plan work.

This is wrong.

People of faith are, however, confused as to what an appropriate political expression is during these fractious times. The answer is to be political and not partisan.

Scripture has more than enough examples of political integrity and faithful action. First, this includes the preferential option for the poor. Jesus spoke more about economic inequity than anything else. He routinely lambasted both religious and political officials for their collusion to make the lives of the poor untenable. The realm that Jesus ushers in is one of radical inclusion for all people, a redistribution of goods and services to benefit the poor and a perspective on justice for all people, not just the wealthy elite.

Second, there are examples of righteous leadership throughout scripture. David, for all his broken humanness was an instrument of God in the rule of Israel. Throughout the history of Israel, whoever was in power, whether the judges in the early days of national identity or the kings that began with David, one thing that remained the same was the demand of God for righteousness, justice and fairness. This is the standard against which all political actions, past and present, are measured.

The church has a prophetic mandate in this time to put forth the values of God’s realm and preach the gospel as it is revealed in the total message of Scripture. This is not a time for proof-texting and trotting out favorite verses to support a narrow political or religious perspective.

Third, the bible is a political book. There is no escaping this truth. Jesus was political. It’s what got him killed. He was executed as an enemy of the state for preaching about the last being first and the first being last. Our task in this time is to be political but not partisan. The Christian Nationalists are trotting out their favorite scripture verses and twisted biblical perspectives to support a dangerous political agenda (think Project 2025). Most of us don’t know our own bible well enough to counter with a different perspective. It is a sad state of affairs for the church as most of us know it.

There isn’t a lot of time to get educated about the overarching message of scripture. That ship sailed a while ago. This is the time, however, to read! Books like the “False White Gospel” by Jim Wallis is a good place to start. It may be the most important book you read this election season.

Preachers, ours is prophetic duty to walk the fine line between being faithfully political while not being politically partisan. A candidate’s name should never be mentioned in public worship. A political party should never be mentioned in public worship. I believe it violates the separation of church and state.  That said, there are political messages throughout scripture that speak to God’s realm and the demands of righteousness. We need courageous and faithful preachers who aren’t afraid to walk the razor’s edge.

What is at stake is the heart of our democracy. If religious nationalism and radical political conservatism win, fascism is our future.

It’s not too late to change that. Everything is on the line.