Religion and Politics
Ordinary Sunday 27, 3rd October, 2004
The Rev'd Dr Craig D'Alton
Assistant Priest, St Peter's, Eastern Hill
This time next week Australia will have a new government. It may be Howard and Costello; it may be Latham. Who knows, it may be that Bob Brown will become Prime Minister! Whatever the outcome, however, one thing can be said with certainty. With the exception of the far right conservatives (and more of them in a minute), religion has had no impact at all on the current political process. The only public comment I've heard from a church leader has involved views about private school funding – seemingly concerned more with trying not to rock at home the boat than with preaching the gospel.
This silence, to my mind at least, is wrong. Religion and politics are, inevitably, linked. This is not to say that religious leaders and teachers should ally themselves in a party political fashion. Sometimes that can be necessary – but rarely, and it's a course always fraught with danger. No. What I mean is that church leaders and Christians in general must not be shy of allowing their religious convictions to influence their personal stance on issues of the day. Rarely will that lead us to become partisan politicians, but we must be the sort of people who stand up and are counted – and not just on issues that affect us directly like funding to Anglican schools.
Of course, in this country at least, there is a prevailing attitude not just in the community at large, but in many parts of the church, that politics (or, to use a better phrase, social policy) and religion do not mix. The problem here is that even the most superficial reading of scripture makes it quite clear – they do and they must. The Old Testament is an extended narrative of the way the leaders of ancient Israel were influenced, or not, by the prophets of God, every one of whom was politically active as society's conscience. Moreover, while it can be argued that the arrest of Jesus was on religious grounds, his execution was without doubt a political act, as Pilate sought to placate the populace and local leaders.
In the epistles of Paul and others we have, time and again, calls for Christians to stand firm against that which is contrary to God in the world around them, and to work their best to ensure that the world understands Jesus' great religious, social and political message: God is about love, justice and peace; not hatred, injustice and violence.
Today's epistle puts it succinctly, and underlines the importance of Christians not being afraid to speak the truth in love. The Second letter to Timothy is one of the so-called pastoral epistles – three letters dating from after the death of Paul, where his followers – perhaps his successors – invoke his name and authority for their teaching. The writer, in the verse before our reading today, commends Timothy for his sincere faith, which is third generation. Timothy's mother Eunice and grandmother Lois were Christians before him. Timothy himself has received the laying on of hands – perhaps ordination – from the author of the epistle.
The Spirit given by pseudo-Paul – Paul's spirit, Christ's spirit, the spirit of God, is of power, love and self-discipline. It is not, we are told, of cowardice. Another translation says 'timidity' and I think that makes the point more clearly. We are not to be timid in our religion. We are even to risk persecution for our faith, if that is our calling, and to guard the good treasure of the gospel of faith and love, entrusted to us through generations. But none of this is about battening down the hatches. It is about taking risks to maintain the truth.
Our Lord makes a similar point in the difficult words of today's gospel. That final verse – 'when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say "we are worthless slaves; we have only done what we ought to have done,"' – does not mean that we should be slave-like, abject and cowardly. Rather, Jesus is emphasising that we are all tiny cogs in the wheel of life. There is always more to be done, and we should accept our role in salvation history even if it is uncomfortable.
And so, back to politics. It is uncomfortable for comfortable Christians to mix political statements and action with religion. It requires the rejection of timidity and cowardice; the rejection of selfish gain. It requires, rather, strong preaching and teaching about the truths of faith, justice and love, handed to us by the apostles. It challenges us to be the conscience of society at those times when it needs challenging. The far right, even the Assemblies of God party, Family First, have worked this much out, and, much as I disagree with most of their policies, I cannot help but applaud their engagement. For engagement leads to conversation, and conversation leads to influence and – just sometimes – to change. How can we ever hope to have a political system which reflects the priorities of the gospel if we do not take part in it as Christians? And where are the Christian leaders calling our leaders – of all parties – to task?
The simple fact is that few do, but that even those few are rarely heard by a society which has come to associate church with privilege. It falls, then, to each of us to make a personal contribution to the interaction of religion and politics. Thus, as next Saturday looms, I invite you to reflect on the policies of each party and candidate and to ask not "what will they do for me?" but "how closely do they reflect the ideals of truth, justice and love which I find in the Gospel of Christ?" That may not require any one of us standing up and saying "vote for whoever", but it might at least ensure that our religion impacts upon our political choices. And that can only be a good thing.
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