Church & State

Well, we delved into the world of politics yet again on this past Monday's show. I reported a recent news item concerning the Internal Revenue Service's investigation of the United Church of Christ (the denomination in which I serve). The UCC's tax-exempt status has been called into question due to Senator Barack Obama's speech at the 50th Anniversary General Synod, held in June of last year in Hartford, Connecticut.

If you'd like to read the original story reported by United Church News, here's the link: http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-speech-in-2007-prompts-1.html
(One item of historical trivia--according to what I've seen, this appears to be the first time in American history that an entire religious body's tax-exempt status has been called into question.)

Of course a debate has begun over whether Senator Obama's speech constituted political activity for the UCC. Since I was present at this event (and actually sat directly behind the President and General Minister of the UCC, the Rev. John Thomas), I wanted simply to reiterate a couple points made in the news article. First, Senator Obama has been a member of the UCC for twenty years. Secondly, he was invited to speak on how his faith informs his public service well before he had declared himself to be a presidential candidate. Thirdly, he was one of 60 presenters at General Synod to speak on how faith intersects with vocation.

(On one interesting note that I saw from my unique seat--at one point, when Senator Obama made a statement that included some promise that began "When I'm President," both the Rev. John Thomas [president of the UCC] and Edith Guffey [Associate General Minister of the UCC and administrator of General Synod] looked at each other and rolled their eyes. I got the sense that they wished Senator Obama hadn't said that.)

Now, having given you all this information, I'm more interested in the bigger question posed by the situation. What is the appropriate relationship between religious bodies and government? I wholeheartedly believe in freedom of religion--including separation of church and state. But I also believe that the church should be free to speak from their values on issues relevant to social and political policy.

So, in simpler terms, where is the balance? Is it currently too far in one direction or another? Should tax-exempt status be dependent on status of political activity?

There are two extremes I abhor in this debate, and these two poles highly inform my thinking on these issues. First, theocracy is unacceptable. There are those on the religious right who explicitly claim this should be a Christian nation. For example, Randall Terry has been quoted by the Indiana News Sentinel as saying, "Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism." That's scary. The fact of the matter is that theocracy and democracy do not mix. Period.

The other extreme is to internalize religion as relevant only for personal or individual spirituality and salvation. This may be true for some, but I believe that Christian faith calls for much more. Much of what Jesus taught was grounded in images of the "Kingdom of God." Now, many choose to interpret this as a heavenly afterlife, but that's a misreading. When Jesus points to God's reign, he contrasts it with the current regime (in his case the Roman Empire), in which violence makes peace, victory comes from conquest, enemies are to be scorned and executed, and the poor are to be exploited in business as usual. I believe that Christians are called to work for Christian values actually based on Christ's teachings (which appears to be a novel concept for some): love enemies, honor the poor, love your neighbor, challenge the powers that maintain the status quo.

I believe it was Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia who once said that religion and politics come from the same wellspring: the difference between what is and what should be. It's a great sentiment, but one that fails to lay to rest all the questions we've raised. This debate is far from going away, and in a democracy, that's a good thing.

Out of hot wind for today,
Pastor Chris