politics and religion

jokingly i told my friend the other day that - as a dual citizen - i jealously reserve my right to criticize the governments of two countries equally.

he replied: you should. you're a pastor. you're job is to critique. after all, whenever you mix politics and religion, all you're left with is politics.

he's right.

election time is terribly distasteful to me. i find myself constantly embarrassed by political christians, put off by political commercials, and barraged by requests for my political opinion.

let's be clear - in the current, two-party, political system of the united states we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. that's not to say that neither side has anything good to say; or that either side is completely free of its share of closet-skeletons...

i'm simply stating the obvious: christ-followers cannot abdicate their intellectual, political, and moral responsibility by picking the "christian" candidate.

we must listen.

we must think.

we must vote.

we must decide.

and - most importantly - even if everything (or nothing) changes, we have to remember that we find our identity first in christ, then in our country. we live as strangers and exiles in this world...come what may, our ultimate hope doesn't lie with a presidential candidate.

it is our responsibility to pick a president.

it is our hope to trust in god that he will teach us how to support that president when he's right, challange him when he's wrong, and criticize him when he's outside the bounds of scripture.