Christianity and Politics? Question for Christians. (Long, but please read).?

Question

On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert mimics a right-wing, fundamentalist Christian (more specifically, Catholic), satirizing not only political issues and paradoxes, but religious ones as well. Believe it or not, he happens to really be a Roman Catholic Christian in real life. In fact, it has been reported that he teaches Sunday school each week.

When asked by an interviewer about his religious views, to summarize, he explains that he does not criticize religion itself, but how politicians use religion, often in hypocritical ways. He then makes the comment that Jesus' Kingdom is not of this Earth, and implies it should be uninvolved with politics.

For first century pagans, Jews, and Christians, there was no such thing as separation as church and state. Caesar, for example, was not just a ruler: he was divine, the son of god, and the savior. For Jews, YHWH was the true God of the world, who would one day send a Messiah to overthrow the pagan powers of the day.

Jesus came preaching the same pharisaic kingdom-of-God-message most Jews hoped for, but at the same time, in different ways. For early Christians, Jesus’ resurrection proved him to be the Messiah, the true Lord of the world. Jesus did defeat enemies, but not exactly the ones most Jews expected; he defeated the forces the enemies of God’s people employ: Satan and death. Ascending to Heaven, Jesus was put above all powers and enemies, but they have not all been defeated. Yes Jesus personally defeated death by his vindication from it, but death still has the final say over the rest of creation; thus the final enemy Jesus will defeat is death itself. This message meant something spectacular for the first century Christians: Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord; God’s Kingdom, not Caesar’s, is where the Christian has his habitation.

Within all of this is the view that God has the final say; one is to live by his standards, not man's. As a result, all the language that was previously used of Caesar – lord, savior, son of god, and so on – was employed for Jesus. This is all extremely political.

On the other hand, in this modern age, church and state are, or at least viewed as, completely separate. Yet, many Christians still feel that the country will be safer and better ruled by a Christian president; George Bush sort of destroyed this view. However, many politicians become religious when the situation fits them, if you know what I mean.

So the question is this: should we, as Christians, try to revert back to the order of things of the first century, when church and state were in-explicitly bound up? Or, on the other hand, should we except the age we live in is quite different, and in many respects, quite better than the first century age? If we do accept that, should we not set aside our religious views when it comes to politics, and especially voting?

Should church, state, and politics remain separate or should we fight to bring them together was they once were? Or should we listen to Stephen Colbert and keep God’s Kingdom in Heaven instead of usurping it to Earth as a foreshadow for what will definitely happen in the future through resurrection and renewal of creation?

Answer 1

I believe that a person who is running for office should have certain convictions whether religious or non-religious and abide by those convictions.

Not everyone agrees with 100% of what their Church teaches unless they really are sheep, but even so, they should follow what their moral compass tells them and say they are doing so. They should not be apologetic for their beliefs and explain them to the public.

Answer 2

Ah, but the Church DOES control Governments around the globe. Look at all the leaders past and present Popes have shaken hands with... including Adolph Hitler- who cut a deal a deal with that Pope.
The Vatican has it's hands in every government. Just as with the Inquisition, during which time the Catholics slaughtered MILLIONS of people, and the Crusades as well, all because they would not conform to the lies of Catholicism... for the sole purpose of Global Domination. It is the Roman Catholic Church that the book of Revelations is referring to as the
whore who sits upon the thrones of many nations.

The entire concept of catholicism is plagiarised from ancient egyptian religion. Example: Horus... worshipped around 3000 BC... born of a virgin, died on a cross, three days later was risen from the dead. Sound Familiar? well it should. Horus was the representation of the SUN. He was not the only 'solar diety' with this story ... so too, were Dionysus, Jesus, and countless others before Jesus. Has anyone not noticed the Epic of Gilgamesh is identical to the story of Noah's Ark? Riligion is the lie pulled over our eyes to conceal the truth and keep the masses under control and blind to what is truly happening here.

Answer 3

There is a fine line that we should not cross. Although church and state should be separate, basic religious principles should still be adhered to. Almost every religion teaches how people should treat each other, that stealing and killing are wrong, etc. If we ignore this simple beliefs under the guise of "separation of church and state", we not only ignore what the founding fathers intended, but we send this country down a slope that it will not recover from. Look at the tendencies of society. It is always easier to become more immoral than to become more moral.

Answer 4

I would like to answer this question in a manner that may clarify some misconceptions you appear to have. Correction of your knowledge is not meant to meant to show bigotry, rather re-inform of misconceptions that are very common.
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While it is true in early centuries and before there was a tendancy towards theocracies ruling the people of the kingdom. In fact in the old Jewish nation David was of such importance he was considered almost divine, as were his children. It's said that an offspring of his son (Solomon) will be the bearer of Messiah. Meaning he will topple the powers today and bring once again Jewish peace among the people.

In Roman times it was common to call the Caesar lord, as he was considered to be the most knowledgable person of the land and more divine than any other living person. This was somewhat reminiscent of every kingdom that existed before it, such as the Egyptians. It was believed though that he was more powerful than the Gods himself, as the Gods to the pagan Romans were deities that brought upon the earth great powers. (Whether it be Sex, Love, War, or Fire). Since it was only the Caesar who was able to initiate the power in active form he was considered to be the bearers of these Godly powers, not the creator and surely not greater than the creator of each.

In Christian text there's a Roman who asks Jesus something to the effect of "Shall we not pay taxes to the Caesar if he is not lord?" and the response to this is "Give the Caesar what is Caesars". The importance of this is Jesus' recognition of the fact he's not there to topple an empire by destroying it, it is the government that loves money and the government should get what it loves. That the gift given by God of 'love' and 'prosperity' were worth MORE than the money that the Roman empire demanded.

Another misconception is that the Jews have EVER desired a kingdom to be forced upon this earth, other than Reformist Jews (Zionists). In Jewish law it clearly states that no man can create the nation of Israel, for it will be turmoil on all the Jews of the earth and all of Gentiles will have hardened hearts against the Jews. It's the break of the covenant the Jews had with G*d that sent them into exile into the world until the kingdom was truly recreated. The time it would be created will be in a time where all men on earth are bad, or all men on earth are good. Neither have happened so the orthodox Jews of the world strongly OPPOSE the creation of a Oligarchy under Jewish law. Currently Israel is running a non-Orthodox rule that most Jews oppose. It is the place of the Jew to live in the world without a homeland until the end of time. 'Yahweh' is also a term endeared by Messianic Jews who read from Ethiopian texts. The limitations on Ethiopian as a language (as compared to Hebrew) have led to so many mis-truths that Messianic Jews are not Orthodox in ANY sense of the word. The true name of the G*d I am unallowed to print, as it's a violation of Hebrew law. It's unlikely you will find it written anywhere on the internet. Do not for a second believe that people who believe in Yahweh are at all Jewish in nature, if they were they'd read from the propper texts and believe strongly against a Nation of Israel.
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To more clearly answer your question: |
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The concept of a 'Kingdom of Heaven' being separated from earth did not come into existence until the Catholic church broke away from the Eastern Orthodox church at the time. The rules as written by the Catholics were taken out of the hands of the pope and put into the hands of the leaders of the Nations existing at the time. This separation of Heaven on Earth and Heaven in the afterlife were never completely separated until this, in fact were very much closely related. The inference that taking your religion out of your political views is that of everyone in office should be atheist. Your religious views ARE the core of what you believe (even if you're a humanist) and therefore it would be impossible to really take them out of the way you run a country. Therefore people who say "we're going to war for G*d" (like Israel some times does) neglects the fact that the Jewish law PROHIBITS not only war with foreign nations but a Jewish states existence! This is true of any political nation, most acts people say are in the name of G*d are not truly so as most laws prohibit the actions. However, if a president said "We're going to help the starving children on the street in the name of G*d" this would NOT be a defamation of G*ds name, and I would imagine that no person (athiest, Jew, Christian, or Muslim) would at all oppose this action.

Answer 5

Wow, a lot of words that say little. There has never been a separation of church and state or a joining of them. We were built on Jadeo- Christian beliefs which consisted of laws based on the ten commandments. Our founding fathers believed in God but not in a State supported religion. In fact, religions flourished here because people were free to practice religion however they wished. Colbert is not a theologian and his opinions are just that, his opinions. Our Constitution is great because our founding fathers had strong moral beliefs. Peace

Answer 6

Look at history, or look at the current situation, in many parts of the world. When political decisions are made by religious zealots, you get messes like Iraq, Ireland, Israel and everywhere else that people are killing each other. That is reason enough to keep religion and politics totally separate. Even though Stephen Colbert is a comedian, he is bright and passionate about his personal beliefs!

Answer 7

Greetings!

You feel that asking a question twice will get better answers, or did you change your rant TO a question?

And by-the-by, things didn`t work out so well for "1st. century Jews", there was no "Catholic State", no Kingdom was ruled by Priests, a "Theocracy" is never viable, but there were, and still are, powerful people who will use "Religion" as a smoke screen to get their way.

/!\

Answer 8

Politics and religion should be kept entirely separate. All one has to do is look at the dark ages, the wholesale slaughter of protestants by the catholic church or islamic fundamentalism. I'm a Christian who believes that the church should have no political power and that the state certainly shouldn't meddle in church business.

Answer 9

Church and state should remain separate. Since this country was founded on religious freedom, that means we should expect many religions in the US, not just Christianity. If church and state mix, who is supposed to decide which church is the one to be paired with the state?
Politics and religion are highly personal. That's the beauty of not mixing church and state.

Answer 10

And which form of Christianity should be the government? Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah Witnesses? Maybe Islam or Hindu? Let us talk first about and agree upon God.