What is our role as Christians viz-a-viz the government and civics? Are we to be political? Should a pastor stay away from politics? How do we know when something is purely political and has nothing to do with the Gospel? Does the Gospel have nothing to say about political and governmental things? When a government goes off the rails, who are the ones to call it out if not the priests and the prophets?
We all say now that communism and Nazism are bad. The pastor can preach without impunity that Soviet communism was bad. He can even offer up examples of instances along the path that led to Soviet communism and say that those things were bad. At what point then can a pastor preach that something happening politically is a negative mile marker on the road to something even worse? At what point do we say freedoms or rights are being violated and ought not to be? Do you want your priests to stay quiet? Think on it: If our rights are God given and inalienable, which sphere is most equipped to safeguard those rights, the sphere of faith or the sphere of government?
We say we don’t want to hear pastors preaching politics every Sunday. But don’t we want to hear it sometimes? Do we never want to hear our priests say anything political in a homily? Is the Gospel not political? Does the Gospel have nothing to say that is political? Well, how do we define politics then? We don’t want them to endorse a party or candidate. To a degree that is understandable. We don’t want to confuse the Gospel with a political system, party, or movement. Yet, why don’t our politicians, others, and even ourselves, want pastors to be political? Why do we prefer complete homiletic political silence from the pulpit? Why wouldn’t politics and politician seek out words from God and want to hear from pastors? Does truth not speak to power? Does the word of God have nothing to say about politics? Is there a whole realm of life, and a large one at that, of which the Gospel has nothing to say or cannot address?
Hasn’t there been at least a relationship between religion and politics throughout? The relationship hasn’t always been positive, but hasn’t it been the norm for faith to speak to and inform politics? Isn’t this what we see happening in so much of the Old Testament? Was Christ not political? His kingdom is not of this world, but it is a kingdom and He is The King. Would we say then that He was and is apolitical?
Does the Gospel have nothing to say about abortion, sexual issues, military action, or labor exploitation? What about taxes? In one instance St. Basil called the emperor to repent of an unjust tax upon the people. That is where we get the tradition of the vasilopita. Haven’t our holy people critiqued not only policies, but also the very character of political leaders? Should our clergy now keep silent about such things? Do we want our clergy to keep silent? If so why? If they keep silent then what do they preach, and who gets to determine when a sermon or conversation has crossed the line too far into politics? What constitutes politics from the clergy? What is the criteria for determining too much politics, and who decides?
There may be another problem behind these questions. Namely, that we have become too comfortable. We do not wish to be challenged or hear anything we disagree with from the pulpit. If we do hear something disagreeable or uncomfortable we might leave the parish or Church altogether. That is a problem indeed. We have become so accustomed to not being challenged that we can not handle our feathers being ruffled? Have we come to the point where we don’t want to hear politics in the sermon for no other reason than we can’t handle a different word than our own?
Please know that I do not have answers to all these questions. I may have partial answers for only a few. Nor are these questions meant to be put forth as a challenge to or criticism of particular persons. First and foremost I am asking these questions of myself. It is merely my hope to ask these questions and see what else ought to be considered.