Comments on: Why I’m a Political Atheist: Part 2

By: Shane Martin

Shane Martin — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:25:00 +0000

I look at a man like William Wilberforce, among many other examples, and I suspect that politics is not only a reflection of culture, but a shaper of it. Similar to the media. I don’t think you can take Jesus with his focused agenda and extrapolate that his followers are wasting their time by investing in politics. This smacks of legalism and fails to allow for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in these matters. However, I think it is right to argue that, in general, Christians should be more holistic in their effort to transform culture and less politically focused.

0 likes

By: this went thru my mind |

this went thru my mind | — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 06:02:32 +0000

[...] Why I’m a Political Atheist: Part 2 by Caleb [...]

0 likes

By: Steve W,

Steve W, — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:32:00 +0000

I actually think your example fits perfectly with Caleb’s point. Yes the government used force to integrate southern schools (for which we should all be thankful, by the way). But what the government couldn’t do was eliminate racism, change peoples hearts or wash away the effects of hundreds of years of oppression against African Americans. Hence, we still live in a society with a fair amount of de facto (rather than de jury) segregation. In reality it is only the power of the cross of Jesus and his kingdom that can really create the lasting change that leads to real justice and salvation, not just for individuals, but for all of creation as well.

0 likes

By: Caleb Wilde

Caleb Wilde — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:29:00 +0000

Don’t get me wrong … I love politics and have much respect for politicians. Every time my wife and child get in my car I’m thankful for federal regulations that have increased the safety standards for automobiles.

I’m certainly not apolitical, I just fear that during this time of the political cycle both politicians and the voters deify the power of government.

0 likes

By: sgath92

sgath92 — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:48:00 +0000

The power of politics can work, just not by itself. Imagine how different the 20th century in the United States would have gone, if something as simple as Brown v B.O.E. never happened. Granted, it took 10+ years for the ruling to actually be enforced. So long, that the SCOTUS actually had to repeat the ruling with a second identical one in Brown v B.O.E. II, which basically added a few sentences to the end talking about how the ruling needs to be enforced, and quickly. It was the courts, and the use of the 101st Airborne in Little Rock that ended a hundred years of school segregation. Not, to discredit the Jews and Unitarian Universalists’ roles in the black civil rights movement, I don’t think the same effect could have happened as quickly, and as [relatively] nonviolently without the State’s intervention. The society just has to be ready [enough] first [De Tocqueville used that point to explain why Republicanism government was able to flourish in the United States while it went so terribly wrong in France; some 40,000 people paid the price for that mistake].

0 likes