Huckabee, Lemurs, and A Christian Nation

For the past couple weeks, I have been reading two books about the issue of the relationship between Church and State. At a time of Presidential campaigns, and a time when the notion of God enters into public political discourse more than ever, for aware Christians this issue seems to be all around us. And I believe that it is one of the most important issues that we can and should discuss.
The two books I am reading come from different perspectives. The Culture of Disbelief is by Stephen Carter, a committed Christian professor, arguing that religion has a rightful place in the public sphere, and political leaders ought to be free to base their judgments on their religious beliefs – ie. George W, candidate Mike Huckabee, and even many non-conservative politicians. The second book, Letter to a Christian Nation is by Sam Harris, a committed atheist, who blames religion’s influence in politics for many of the perils and horrors in humanity’s history. While I cannot side completely with either viewpoint, and do sympathize with some of Harris’s critiques of our faith, he paints Christians as unintelligent lemurs following a fairy tale story off the cliff of rationality.
While I certainly believe that atheists have the right to express their opinions just as anyone else, I am easily pissed off by vindictive atheists who blame Christians for all the evil in the world – in the same way I am pissed off by vindictive Christians who blame non-Christians for the same things. Christians cannot be proud of our entire history – years of killing Muslims, burning heretics, and supporting slavery ought to cause us more than a little humility. However, this does not disqualify us from hoping and helping to change the world. The important question is, By what means do we go about doing this? What role in national politics should religion play? This is a question that I struggle with constantly.
As a Christian, I know that we are part of God’s agenda to transform the world, and that transformation will take place through the Church. But to what extent can we use national politics to achieve those ends? Mike Huckabee has said that in order to make a difference, he felt like he needed to leave the church and enter politics. Many Americans believe that voting for the right Christian candidate will lead to God’s will being done.
For one, I believe this is an excuse for laziness. Voting can often be a substitute for direct action, for actually loving others, serving others, and working for justice and mercy. Christians are called to work through the church to accomplish the work of God, and the government has an entirely different agenda. As Karl Barth says, it is not the government’s place to legislate the Kingdom of God, because the government’s first responsibility is to the will of the people – especially in a democracy – and the first responsibility of the Church is to the will of God. Both are held to different standards. Does this mean that Christians therefore cannot run for political office, or lobby for political agendas?
Personally, I believe it is a democracy’s job to legislate the will of the majority, even if that goes against our understanding of the will of God. And it is the Church’s job to stand up against that injustice through our own means. For example, while the will of the majority may be in favor of allowing abortions, as Christians who believe that only God has the right to end life – even to stop life from beginning – it is our responsibility to ethically direct the public by not seeking abortions ourselves, and as Hauerwas says, to create the type of communities where there is so much caring that no one financially, emotionally, and physically needs to have an abortion.
So in response to Harris, I do believe the church as a mandate to enter the public realm and voice its opinion, but we must be careful not to become too closely linked with compromising politics, or else we may gain the world and at the same time forfeit our soul.