Christianity and Partisan Politics

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

Eric Reitan Christianity and Partisan Politics The last few years have seen in the United States a dramatic rise in the involvement of Christian groups, under the heading of the "religious right," in partisan politics. But is such Christian involvement in partisan politics a good idea? By "partisan politics" I mean diat complex ofcompetitive activities and practices, within an established political system, whose end is to win and preserve political power for one party or individual against rivals. As such, partisan politics is distinctfrom the activity ofgovernance, which involves the use of political power to make decisions that affect the community being governed. Partisan politics is also distinct from the pursuit of social change. A religious community might pursue social change by entering into partisan politics, perhaps hoping to win political power for diose who would use that power to effect such change; but there are other ways to pursue social change diat do not involve partisan politics—such as die grassroots protest activities exemplified by the civil rights movement, or lobbying efforts designed to influence or inspire those who already possess political power. Hence, it is important to distinguish the issue of Christian involvement in partisan LOGOS 2:4 FALL I 999 CHRISTIANITY AND PARTISAN POLITICS politics from Christian political involvement more broadly construed. Also, to avoid confusion, it is important to distinguish between two senses of"Christian involvement in partisan politics." On the one hand, one could have in mind the involvement of individual Christians in partisan politics who, while perhaps not hiding their Christian commitments, are not acting as political agents of the Christian community, with the formal support of some political group or organization that defines itself as Christian. While such individuals will certainly be influenced by their Christian commitments as they pursue their political goals, their partisan affiliation is neither explicitly nor implicitly Christian. On the other hand, one could have in mind Christian groups or communities, qua Christian, adopting expressly political goals and pursuing diose goals by forming a political organization that adopts a role within the structures ofa system ofpartisan politics.The most obvious instance ofthis latter would be if a Christian church or community were to form a Christian political party, nominating a candidate to represent the Christian community and pursuing the political victory of this candidate (who would be running as a "Christian" rather than as, say, a Republican). It is Christian involvement in partisan politics ofthis last sort that is of interest to me here. While there is not at present an expressly Christian political party, the Christian Coalition (formed in the wake of Pat Robertson 's failed presidential bid) does constitute a step in that direction. And even though it is not a political party as such, insofar as die Christian Coalition endorses and supports "Christian" candidates for political office against their political rivals it certainly is a political organization actively involved in partisan politics. Hence, the question ofdie appropriateness ofsuch Christian involvement in partisan politics is particularly relevant today. This question falls under die broader question ofthe proper relationship between religion and politics, a matter ofperennial concern 84LOGOS for both political philosophers and theologians.] Because both"religion " and "politics" refer to complex phenomena, the relationship between the two can be considered on many levels. In other words, there are really many questions pertaining to the proper relationship between religion and politics. One could, for example, consider how die religious commitments ofindividuals should influence their choices in the political arena, and vice versa. Or one could consider the proper relationship between religious and political organizations —and insofar as there are many different organizations in both categories, and many kinds of organizations in both categories, this question also breaks down into several components.2 It follows that we couldn't immediately conclude that Christian participation in partisan politics is objectionable just because we found theocracies to be morally objectionable. From the premise that there ought to be some kind of clear separation between the state that governs a society and the religious institutions widiin the society that teach religious doctrines, it doesn't follow inevitably that there should be a parallel separation between allreligious organizations and all political organizations within...