Religion and Politics

Last week I was having breakfast with a group of unchurched and mostly unsaved men. This is a group of men I meet with on a consistent basis. It has been my joy to lead several of the men and the servers at the restaurant to know Jesus as their Savior.

As you would imagine our conversations run the full gamut of topics. This particular day the topic among some of the group was politics. One of the men spoke up and said that he “never discussed religion or politics.” While I have often heard this statement, this time it caused me to wonder why we would exclude “religion and politics” from our dialogue. It would seem to me that these should be two topics that rank high on our list of items to be discussed.

One of the reasons we hear this phrase is that there are people who lack conviction and therefore have little or nothing to say concerning wither religion or politics. Another reason is that there are those who cannot dialogue but rather desire to argue others into submission. Further, there are those who are so intolerant of others as to allow that there may be another position to be considered.

I believe both religion and politics are necessary topics for our public and open discussion. If we genuinely believe in our republic and the democratic way of life it provides then we must involve ourselves in the process of dialogue concerning the matters of the day politically. To do otherwise is to surrender our participation in the greatest nation in history. Civil discourse is no only guaranteed by the First Amendment it is required of free people.

Religious dialogue is not only necessary it is natural. If a person has a genuine living relationship with Jesus they will desire to speak of that relationship. While I possess firm conviction about my personal faith, my dialogue about my faith should always be civil and respectful. I have no fear of losing my faith in public discourse. Jesus is the truth and will stand the crucible of public dialogue and critical examination.

We must never lose sight of common courtesy as well as maintaining personal conviction. Start talking about religion and politics. It will do your soul and your country good.

Attempting to connect the dots…


Wayne
Romans 1:16

Quotable:
“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.”
~ Mahatma Ghandi