Mixing politics and religion

We have probably all heard of the following: you can't mix politics and religion and we should not talk about either with people.

In today's world, neither is true. Over the next few months, a number of books will be coming out on the subject of Christianity and politics. Interestedly enough, while some of the authors are going to attempt to say that they belong to neither political party, their stands on various issues will reveal that they certainly support one or the other. Politics and religion are intertwined in our society today. Both political parties are seeking the religious vote.

Then we have the religious right and the religious left. One complains about the stands of the other on various issues and the other does the same. Both sides tend to stereotype the other. Dennis Prager warns about what he has observed in the secular realm. The right disagrees with the left and wants to debate, but the left disagrees with the right and sees it as evil, therefore no debate is necessary.

We need to be willing to discuss our differences and recognize that both sides have serious issues and disagreements, but that does not make us enemies.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out over the election year.

Recently, Biblical scholars have come to recognize that the early church and even Jesus faced political power and issues. John the Baptist was imprisoned by a politician over moral issues. Jesus faced the ruling power of Rome. Paul's preaching used words like lord, salvation, and redemption that were used of Caesar.

I really do not know if we can successfully separate ourselves from politics, nor if we want to. But there is a danger. Depending on government to solve or answer our problems is putting our dependence in the wrong place. I think both the left and right religiously have done this, have been disappointed, and mislead, reading problems the wrong way.

So more comments need to be made and hopefully over the year we can do that.