An article published last fall in this publication praises the Young Women for America movement as a healthy, holy, and wise way that Christians can engage in politics. It is an excellent article, well worth any reader’s time. At the same time, I want to suggest that for the Christian, politics need not be a central part of their mental and emotional vision. This is especially hard to see now, in our politics-saturated world.
The key theoretical claim of the article is that politics is just another sphere of influence for the Christian to engage with. I would like to show you that is not the case: It is a unique sphere and deserves unique treatment—on the back burner (still on a burner!) of the average Christian’s mind.
First, look at the vitriol and pain that contemporary politics brings forth. On both sides, there is almost a total hatred for the policies that depart from theirs and the people that disagree with them. Backstabbing, lying, cheating, betrayal, the whole boiling soup of human twistedness in a writhing mess of fake smiles and slogans. Now does this mean politics is inherently bad? No. But at some point, it’s like a TV show that gets so caught on the same tropes that you drop it. It’s probably fine that the show keeps running, but it’s not something to which you need to be devoting much of your time.
Why, when there are so many other and better things to do, do we give our time to the continuing show?
How many women still get abortions in America, despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade? Ask any Christian who knows anything about the foster care system and they will relate its abysmal state. What about the statistics of the homeless? How about the horrors of education? What about the sharing of the gospel à la the apostle Paul? These problems are not wholly unrelated to politics. Rather, politics aims to answer them in its own way. But they would be best addressed by groups of concerned individuals, making headway in local areas by communal activity.
Second, in addressing these good concerns of justice, we must also remember the personal aspects of Christ’s commands: Jesus says to take the log out of your own eye before you handle the speck in others (Matthew 7:3-5). We should examine ourselves in a healthy way. When political problems and agendas take precedence in our mind, we must remember the log in our own eyes, asking, “Am I so quick to correct society because I think I have it all figured out?” Introspection like this best begins a rigorous regimen of self-examination. Do we have faith, love, hope? Do we have courage, self-control, practical wisdom? Do we live justly ourselves? These are also important concerns that we risk losing sight of if we partake in constant political commentary.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just throw your phone in the sock drawer and take a break. “Touch grass,” as the trolls say. If you stop reading this article right now, put your phone in your pocket, and wander up and down the nearest street, I wouldn’t blame you. I might even applaud you.
But before you do, we must remember that the Christian is of the city of God. What treatment of the Christian’s relationship to politics would be complete without Augustine’s foundational conceptual treatment of the city of God, the city of Man, and their two separate destinies? Put short: we who are of the city of God are the people of God. We live and die for Christ and His kingdom, of which we are citizens. Citizens of the city of God seek the eternal peace that God will bring by His power above all others, because they love Him more than themselves.
This one key metaphor for the identity of the Christian necessitates primary allegiance to and identification with God and His rulership. Part of the metaphor’s helpfulness lies in its contrast with the city of Man. In the city of Man, everyone acts for his own sake. Each man looks out for their own interests, seeking to bring themselves peace. We who are of the city of God may cooperate with their earthly peace to a degree, but we cannot go the whole nine yards with them. Their lords are themselves. We must hang back, waiting for our Lord to appear. As we seek earthly peace, we keep matters of eternal peace at the forefront of our minds.
I do not expect to convince anyone that Christians should never be engaged in politics. That is not my purpose here. My suggestion is that politics should remain a low priority in the mind and heart of the Christian. There may be some called to politics, and for them these worries do not apply.
One way to sin seems to be what Augustine speaks about in his On Free Choice of the Will: “So we are now in a position to ask whether evildoing is anything other than neglecting eternal things…and instead pursuing temporal things…as if they were great and marvelous things.” If you have been thinking—“but we must engage in politics”—if we must, we must. But let us not lose sight of eternal things for the temporal.
