Talking politics is a minefield. I’m gonna dance through it today anyway.
Half the folks I know are progressive, and the other half conservative. Half Democrat, half Republican. School and work friends lean progressive, family and church friends t’other.
(Yes, even my fellow seminarians lean progressive. Not because I went to a liberal seminary or anything; I certainly didn’t. But because when you wanna get into ministry and help people, you find the progressives tend to be more helpful, and the conservatives more Darwinian. But that’s a whole other discussion.)
I grew up conservative—conservative parents, conservative churches, conservative friends. So that’s what I used to be. I’m far more moderate now. I often refer to myself as a “recovering conservative,” as those in the 12-step programs tend to describe themselves: I used to hew to the party lines pretty tightly, ’cause I was raised to think all true Christians thought and voted that way. But now I follow Jesus, and let him determine my political views.
To the dismay of both my leftist and rightist friends, many of whom are
Anyway. Part of the reason my various friends struggle with me is because they hate the opposition.
It’s not dislike. It’s not a respectful disagreement. It’s hatred. They’re entirely sure the other side is evil. And to be fair, the other side definitely has a lot of evil people mixed in there. There are self-centered, exploitative, irresponsible, destructive sinners on both sides. Hard to say which side has more of them.
I know; both sides will insist, “It’s obviously the other side.” Partly because they’re willing to extend a lot of grace to the sinners on their own side; just look at all the pastors who blindly support certain politicians, candidates, and office-holders solely because they share a party. Partly because they extend no such grace to the other side, and assume the worst of every last one of them. Or believe the worst rumors they’ve heard about them.
In the end they justify loving their political friends and hating their political enemies, and presume the following teaching of Jesus doesn’t apply to their situation:
Matthew 5.43-48 KWL - 43 “You heard this said:‘You’ll love your neighbor.’
Lv 19.18 And you’ll hate your enemy. - 44 And I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.
- 45 Thus you can become your heavenly Father’s children,
- since he raises his sun over evil and good, and rains on moral and immoral.
- 46 When you love those who love you, why should you be rewarded?
- Don’t taxmen also do so themselves?
- 47 When you greet only your family, what did you do that was so great?
- Don’t the foreigners also do so themselves?
- 48 Therefore you will be egalitarian,
- like your heavenly Father is egalitarian.”
And yeah, this instruction applies to politics too. Arguably it’s primarily about politics. Because whom did first-century Jews consider an enemy? The devil? The neighbor down the street who was awful to them? Or the occupying Roman forces, or the stifling Roman puppet governments like