Faith in Politics- Election 2008

A funny thing happened in 2000. On the road to Damascus, I mean on the way to the White House, everybody got God.

I guess it started with George. He proudly told of his drunken Road to Damascus conversion experience. Then Al Gore referenced his deep faith four times in his concession speech. I guess he figured better late than never. The 2004 presidential race was all about voting "morals" over voting "policy."

And the 2008 race is starting to look like a good-old fashion tent revival. Hillary embraced faith to get her through those scandal-rocked days. The thrice-married Rudy reminisces fondly over his parochial school days. Fred, John, Mitt, Barack, the other John, all candidly and openly discuss the role of God in their private and public lives.

The kindest comment I have to offer all this God-gushing is Balderdash! I won't discuss whose faith is genuine; I don't get to be the judge. But this is starting to sound a bit like "Scout's Honor." And while all the candidates are smart, capable folks, there aren't a lot of Boy Scouts in this bunch.

But I still don't want to be the "faith" judge because it's an impossible task. Invariably, the judges try to equate policy positions with the depth or veracity of the candidate's faith. Once again, I have to respond with a hearty- Hogwash!

Political policy can be like city bus itineraries. Let's say that we have a field of sixteen riders- all desiring to go to the airport. There can be 10, 20, or even 1,020 route combinations to the airport. The best route to any destination is determined by the rider's starting point.

One candidate believes in universal government health coverage for children. The other believes that universal private insurance should be affordable for all families with children. But neither candidate thinks that children should die of untreated disease. One candidate sees a law that allows women to murder their unborn children and supports repealing the law. The other sees that poverty encourages women to murder their unborn child and calls for programs to end the scourge of poverty. Neither candidate advocates the murder of children.

Taking the Lord's name in vain involves more than cussing and swearing. Claiming depths of faith that don't exist is vain. Likewise when a candidate claims that the Lord only rides his or her bus to the airport, it is also a vain use of the Lord's name. Vanity rules the day in American politics.

So a candidates' faith shouldn't matter?

Of course, it matters! A candidates' faith is who he or she is. It is where they are rooted. The root is that we are trying to get to the airport. We can listen to the candidates words and test his/her destination. We cannot judge a candidates' faith by whether they pick our favorite bus route. Does the candidate confess Christ Biblically? Christ is the root. The root matters- not the route. I will select my candidate by his root and route. But I refuse to disparage his root based on a preferred route.

As American Christians, this is where we must agree. We agree at our root even when we disagree on the route. Some of us will support a surge in Iraq. Others will promote a phased redeployment. We all love our nation; we all support American troops. Being rooted and grounded in love, we remain one Body.

Over the course of the next year, Americans will disagree about many policies. Christians will disagree about many issues. We must remain united and defend our root- not our routes.

So how do we know that our candidate is true? What if the faith proclamation is phony?

We don't get to know that. God will judge whether His name was used in vain; we can't. We can agree with the apostle Paul writing in Philippians,

"Some are preaching about Christ because they are jealous and envious of us. Others are preaching because they want to help. They love Christ... [T]he ones who are jealous of us are not sincere... But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that people are telling about Christ, whether they are sincere or not..." (Philippians 1:15-18)

Be Blessed and Fruitful