Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb

Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb

Last updated on: November 23, 2017 at 9:14 pm by Keith Giles

Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb 2017-11-23T21:14:39+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Photo via Pixabay

Political Tribalism in America Is Unbearably Toxic.

Christians in America are oblivious to the way their political entanglement and tribalism have led them away from Jesus and into the heart of darkness.

It started a long time ago. As Princeton historian Kevin Kruse details in his book, “One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America,” our country’s religious prostitution began in the 1950’s. That was when, as Kruse explains, business leaders plotted to link Christianity, Republican politics, and libertarian economics tightly together.

Why? Simply to create a feeling of solidarity between Christians and Corporations who might both see “Big Government” as a common enemy.

This is where our national motto, “In God We Trust” (1956), and a new line in the Pledge of Allegiance was added: “One nation under God” (1954) came from.

Their goal was simple: To entangle Christianity with Republican politics in order to benefit big business.

Simply put: It worked.

On a national level, it’s even worse. We no longer have a Government by the people, for the people, and of the people. Instead, corporations have been legally redefined as people and laws are passed that benefit those corporations, regardless of whether or not the American people want those laws or benefit from them. And most often they do not benefit at all but pay a hefty price.

Political corruption is legal in America.

This entanglement of our faith with politics is pervasive. It has saturated our identity.

Many Christian leaders and pastors vocally support candidates that a few years ago would have been shunned for their shameful behaviors. But today those politicians are embraced so that the Republican party can gain power and maintain dominance in the House or the Senate.

Now, Republicans seek to dissolve the Johnson Amendment which was put in place over 60 years ago to ensure that charitable organizations – including Christian churches – remain non-partisan. Over 4,000 faith leaders recently voiced their support for keeping the Johnson Amendment in place. So, why are politicians interested in having it repealed?

So that Christian Churches can more openly endorse political candidates and the entanglement of faith and politics in America can continue.

Who does this benefit? It benefits political parties, not the Church.

As three different Christian pastors in Houston recently said:

“In our more than 50 years of pastoring churches, we have never shied away from preaching about controversial issues. Nor has the inability of our churches to endorse a candidate prevented any of us in any way from testifying before the city council, writing op-eds or raising our voices in other ways on social issues. Giving our congregations a theological lens through which to view the issues of the day does not require coming anywhere close to the church endorsing a candidate for political office.”

In their summary, these same Christian pastors noted:

“Churches, however, are not partisan institutions. Mixing churches and partisanship is a bit like mixing ice cream and manure: No one ever thinks less of the manure.“

Thankfully, many Christians are waking up to the dangers of entanglement, including conservative political columnist Dana Hall McCain who said:

“Here’s where we are: the GOP has come to understand that Evangelicals are trained seals. We show up and clap for any clown you can slap a Republican jersey on. It doesn’t even have to be a godly or wise person. Our votes are a sure thing, and we’ll turn out and vote for problematic or corrupt GOP candidates far more consistently than non-religious conservatives. So come to terms with the fact that the church isn’t influencing diddly squat, not even in our favorite party. To the contrary, the church is the one being influenced — and our credibility before a lost and dying world destroyed — because we have believed the great lie about political engagement.

We have all the power in the world, but we lack the faith to exercise it. They own us, because we don’t trust God enough to call the bluff.”

She’s right: Christians already have “all the power in the world” and it’s called “The Gospel.” We have simply abandoned that power to transform hearts and minds from the inside-out and traded it for legislative power to govern from the top-down.

The entanglement of Christianity and Conservative Politics is now fully realized. Many Christians in America cannot separate their faith from their politics. They are more American than Christian. They cannot imagine following Jesus apart from political action or influence via their political party.

Those on the outside of our faith cannot see the difference between our faith and our politics either. This is probably one of the more damaging aspects of our entanglement. Christianity, to a non-Christian, looks more like a political party, not a way of loving our neighbors or following the teachings of Jesus.

Because American Christianity has become so completely entangled with Conservative Republican politics, we have become impotent and irrelevant. Thousands of people are leaving the faith because they are sick of this political entanglement. They want Jesus and we give them politics. They want to follow Christ and we want to follow a political ideology. Until we abandon one, we cannot fully embrace the other. Or, as one wise man once put it: “You cannot serve two masters. You will hate one or love the other.”

The simple truth is this: You can’t convert a system if that system has already converted you.

Today’s Christians are hopelessly entangled in partisan politics. Since we are more American and Republican than Christ-like, we cannot convert anyone to Christianity until we repent of our tribalism.

Tribalism is what leads us to hate someone for their political affiliation. It’s what empowers us to divide the Body of Christ over which candidates we like, even though Paul the Apostle wouldn’t allow Christians in Corinth to divide over which Apostle was their favorite.

Until Christians in America can untangle themselves from politics and honestly say that they have no King but Jesus, the Gospel will remain un-preached and worse, un-lived.

There is a way to save this nation, but it’s not a political solution. Until we wake up and realize that, we will continue to be manipulated by tribalism and traitors to our one true Nation, which is the Kingdom of God.

Crucify your politics and pledge allegiance to the Lamb while you can.

The time is short.

-kg

Keith Giles is the author of the Amazon best-seller, “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb.”

Christian Politics

Following Jesus

General Christian Topics

Previous Post

November 23, 2017

How To Fight Like A Christian

Next Post

November 25, 2017 Someone To Rule Over Us

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many chapters does Genesis have?

Select your answer to see how you score.

55 27 66 50

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »