Keep Your Politics at Home

 August 19, 2024

Monday

This is an election year and politics often come to church. People become so adamant for a candidate that they want to convince everyone else that this is the only candidate to vote for. They want to gather around politically like-minded people to praise their candidate. Thus, churches can grow in attendance when they adopt a certain candidate. So, why is this a bad thing?

Many people do not believe the adopted candidate is the best. They may not care about certain policies that protect unborn children or fight climate change. Their central issue may be getting the homeless off of the streets or preserving Social Security. These political issues can become so engrained into people that they can't hear the gospel when politics are mixed in.

People who can't relate to the gospel, often relate to politics. Political parties for some people are like sports teams that they support. Their team may do wrong or right but their team is still their team. Rival teams are opposed vehemently. Rival teams are evil while their team is good. Thus, people believe every bit of fake news that supports their team and denigrates their opponents. Of course, they can't believe their own candidate would be a part of such low-life shenanigans. Therefore, people will reject the gospel when a church supports the other candidate. It is like crossing over to the evil side for them. 

Churches that get a reputation for supporting a party or a candidate keep many people from ever darkening their doors. Often, these are people who need the gospel. They will never hear the gospel from those who support other candidates because they have decided not to listen.

In short, supporting a political candidate at church causes people to stumble. They will even quit going to a church (or any church for that matter) if they believe they must be pounded on to support a certain candidate. The Bible warns us that we must not cause people to stumble. I am afraid that is exactly what we are doing when we bring our politics in the church.

Romans 14:21 (NIV) ²¹  It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.