Every Christian A Lobbyist: A Brief Response To A Texas Baptist Theologian

January 25, 2010

Jim Denison, theologian-in-residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has an interesting column over at Associated Baptist Press. You’ll want to read the entire article for the full context.

Here’s a snippet or two from The Meaning of Massachusetts:

This seismic shift from objective ethics to personal morality has affected every part of our society. Take abortion as an example: A majority of Americans continue to believe personally that abortion is morally wrong, but more than half favor keeping abortion legal….The reason for such private/public disparity is clear: most Americans think that society has no right to legislate personal morality, even behavior with which they disagree personally.

….

The good news is that our pluralistic, relativistic, consumeristic 21st- century culture looks very much like the culture in which Christianity was birthed. The Roman Empire was filled with philosophers debating the nature of truth, from Platonists and Aristotelians to advocates of the Greek pantheon, the mystery cults, and the Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics and Skeptics.

In such a maelstrom of mindsets, Christianity showed it was right by proving it was relevant. The church could not make child abandonment illegal, but it could rescue abandoned babies. It could not legislate against slavery, but it could buy slaves and free them. Early Christians demonstrated God’s love in theirs. They took to heart Jesus’ promise, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The message of Massachusetts for Christians is clear: the best way to get God elected the King of our culture is for us to elect him the king of our hearts.

I think the era of the Early Church has passed….

Individual Christians and Christian churches played a significant role in the Abolition Movement. Again, individual Christians and Christian churches/organizations worked to enact laws criminalizing child abandonment/neglect. In fact, the Christian Life Commission of the BGCT played a key role in getting child support legislation passed in the late 60s/early 70s which for the first time made both the father and mother equal in responsibility to their child under the law.

The United States is not the Roman Empire. We as citizens are certainly not without a voice. We are not powerless. And unlike the Christians in the Early Church, we are not a persecuted minority.

The idea of Christian Citizenship has always played a prominent role in Texas Baptist life. One former director of the BGCT’s Christian Life Commission bluntly explained this biblical idea almost 30 years ago:

In a sense, no one can be a good Christian in a democracy without being a good lobbyist…to stay out of politics is a cheap cop out….biblical theology clearly calls Christians to political action, to attempts to influence legislation, to lobbying.

I have no desire to “get God elected the King of our culture” through the political process. However, I don’t think we should convey the message that political apathy is acceptable. We must apply our Christianity in the public square. We do have social obligations and responsibilities. I’m not completely sure what Denison is getting at in this essay but I don’t think he’s calling on Baptists to accept these social obligations.

I’m no communitarian. But I’m also no fan of a misguided form of individualism that lacks a practical social ethic. I think it has been demonstrated throughout U.S. history (Abolition Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Environmental Justice Movement, etc.) that Christians can affect social change and society can be transformed through active involvement in the political arena as both individuals and communities of faith.