When Church and State Collide
July 1st, 2008
With Independence Day rapidly approaching, I thought I would devote this column to matters of church and state. This is not something you hear me discuss very often, and for good reason—church and state are not areas that were meant to be combined. The separation of church and state has been a foundational Baptist principle since Baptists came into existence, and I continue to advocate its importance.
However, the curious thing I’ve noticed over the last several years is how few Baptists join me in my support for the separation of church and state. In fact, I hear a lot of my fellow Baptists, and many evangelical Christians in general, saying things like “If only we could elect more Christian leaders, then this country would turn around.” I hear a lot of discussion among Christians about which candidate is really “God’s man (or woman) for the job.” The underlying assumption seems to be that if we could just elect the right Christian, or enough Christians, to the Presidency and Congress, America would suddenly become a much more wholesome and loving place.
Before you go calling me names, let me make it clear—this assumption hold true equally for Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. Both sides are equally convinced that the only way to change our country is to elect different people and pass new laws. We have bought into the lie (and although it is pervasive, it is still a lie) that the state must be the agent of change in the world and not the church. In other words, our faith is in the political process.
I believe that faith is misplaced. As Christians, we are called to put our faith not in governments or political promises, but in Jesus. Chuck Colson once said, “Our hope is not in who governs us, or in some new laws that are passed, or in what great things we do as a nation. Our hope lies in the power of Jesus Christ working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope lies in this country, and that’s where our hope lies for in life.”
I’m not sure many Christians today really believe that. We might come to church on Sundays and say prayers or sing songs, but that’s not where we place our hope. Instead, we continue to hope in our government to make the nation a more Christian place, despite the overwhelming evidence that this has never happened in any political administration, whether it be Republican or Democratic.
This 4th of July, I believe it is time to reassess where we place our hopes. I am convinced that the solution to our nation’s problems lies not in making the state more Christian, but in making the church more Christian. The church is Christ’s chosen agent of change in this world, not the state. And I genuinely believe that if Christians of all political persuasions focused more on doing as a church what Jesus has called us to do, the Christian nation part would take care of itself.