Dr. Change Gov or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Obama

“Welfare is evil, though the people who are on it don’t realize it.” This was the comment I heard from across the table during a marathon world-problem-solving session with a group of friends. The conversation had wandered from the spiritual matters where it had begun and was now firmly entrenched in the finer points of conservative politics. Normally I would have joined enthusiastically, but this particular night I just listened. I had been having doubts. Red flags were going up. Some things were bothering me.

Thing 1: This group of people, a group we gathered often with, almost never seemed to notice when the conversation shifted from religion to conservative politics. To them the two were synonymous. At this point in my life I was preparing to move overseas, which was really affecting my thinking about political matters. Was it really possible that God’s favored, chosen political party was the one that was voted for by less than 1% of the world’s population? What about the Christians in other countries? If there weren’t Republican candidates there, could they even vote in good conscience? (These are not the questions I asked myself. Just bear with me for awhile while I carry this worldview to its logical conclusion.) Of course, the fact that a Christian in the US could, in good conscience, vote for a Democratic candidate was outside the realm of possibility.

Thing 2: Why was the tone of these conversations so frantic? We would get all worked up as if our opinions were being attacked, though we were the only ones there, just hashing and rehashing our nearly identical positions. Other people, the ones who disagreed with us (the ones who weren’t actually present to take part in these conversations), were deeply threatening to us. It was us against them and no point of disparity was too small to merit endless debate.

As I sat back and watched the straw men fall I saw for the first time a connection between Thing 1 and Thing 2. I began to see them as a progression. Of course Thing 2 was happening because of Thing 1. When a person’s faith is so closely intertwined with their politics, to attack one is to attack the other. No wiggle space is left for a simple difference of opinion; everything is a matter of eternal life or death.

So, how did we get here? The rationale, as I recall it being articulated several times, was that the platform of the Republican Party lined up with Christian principles more than the platform of the Democratic Party. The issues of abortion, homosexual marriage, and the oft-quoted "If a man will not work, he shall not eat," placed God firmly on the Republican side. We embraced the party and its platform. Even the parts that are not necessarily mentioned in the Bible (small government, personal freedoms, individual responsibility, right to bear arms, etc.) came to be considered on the same level with those that are.

Of course we as responsible citizens of a democratic republic are going to participate in our political system. And, of course, we are going to support candidates who agree most with our point of view. But I wonder sometimes if the evangelical church’s strong support of the Republican Party can be traced to something deeper.

It makes sense that the best way to deal with a fallen world is to create a group of people, a nation, a culture centered around God. A greenhouse, so to speak, with all the right conditions to cultivate people who follow God. Walking with God in the cool of the day was a little vague. Something more clearly defined might work better. A strong religious heritage, laws in accordance with Biblical principles, leaders who follow God and make decisions in harmony with their personal relationship with Him. All of these should, in theory, save us from some of the pitfalls of our current fallen status.

Now, what I am about to say was never stated in so many words, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

I grew up thinking that I was born in this (greenhouse) nation. My Christian school strongly emphasized the United States’ Christian heritage. America was a nation founded on Biblical principles and therefore blessed by God (and better than everyone else, which was implied but not actually said). Every winter we had a school program to celebrate God’s incarnation, and every spring we had another program to celebrate the country that finally got it right and arranged their nation God’s way.

As I became older I began to see that every few years this nation faces a new perceived threat to its perceived status as “God’s greenhouse.” Not everyone is on board with becoming God-followers, and the dissenters rise up every once in awhile to enact new laws that will allow the very pitfalls our greenhouse was supposed to help us avoid. We God followers, in trying to protect our greenhouse, rise up to fight against these dissenters and protect our “most favored nation” status. We (evangelical Christians) have identified the Republican Party as our ally in this battle, so we vote faithfully for them, hoping our greenhouse will be preserved.

The evening of the “welfare is evil” conversation I realized for the first time how flawed this point of view is. I began to see us as a group of people looking to be redeemed by our perfect laws. If our nation acted Christian enough, we would become an oasis of Godliness in our world. We would be able to maintain this Godliness and pass it down from generation to generation. Because the attacks on this idea have been in the political realm, we have responded in kind and struggled to maintain a system of laws that reflects our values.

So, you may ask, what is the problem with having good laws that reflect Christian values? Nothing, unless we place too much importance on them. Laws are not able to redeem us or maintain us, as the Israelites discovered. They had their laws straight from the mouth of God, and yet after Genesis the rest of the Old Testament chronicles their repeating pattern of obedience, disobedience, punishment, and restoration. Laws were not able to save the original chosen people, and they cannot save us either. I witnessed this first hand in the Philippines, where abortion is illegal but a study done in 2005 says that 70% of unwanted pregnancies end in abortion. Divorce is also illegal, but it is very common for couples to separate and live separate lives with their new partners.

Mostly what I was beginning to learn was that it is complicated. While we will all continue to vote and support candidates we agree with, we cannot solve our country’s problems by shutting off our brains and allowing ourselves to be so easily manipulated by any politician who drops a little religious talk at the right times and places. We have been separated from God, and we can find a way to mess up no matter what the system of government or current controlling power. Turns out the major failing of any form of government is the same reason we need to be governed in the first place.