Politics and the Church

Every now and then I get correspondence from someone who says: “The church should not be involved in politics.” I also get the occasional message suggesting that I should be ashamed of myself for speaking out on an issue. These responses typically come when there is disagreement with something I wrote or said. Given the diversity of the denomination, there is always someone who disagrees with what I have to say. And that is okay.

As the head of church for the United Church of Christ, the statements I issue are on behalf of the denomination and consistent with the resolutions and witness of the General Synod. I am neither ashamed nor afraid of voicing opinions on behalf of the most vulnerable among us. As a woman, as a woman of color, as an immigrant, as a justice seeker, as an ordained minister and as a person who believes the world can be a better place, I have something to say in the polarized discourse plaguing the United States.

My personal opinions are not factored into my public comments; instead, I look to what has been said, the consistency of our witness and, where issues are emerging, at ways in which the General Synod has spoken that relate to the situation at hand. Typically, my comments are related to issues of justice, speaking out where the poor, the marginalized, and the running list of underserved and underrepresented find themselves beaten by a system that is unrelenting. My personal opinions are private and are nobody’s business but my own.

Politics, by definition, the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. We are all involved in politics whether we choose to be intentionally so. Choices to vote or not vote are political. Choices to vote for one party over another are political. These are activities associated with governance. Advocacy by its very nature is political. When we express expectations of just and compassionate leadership and governance that, too, is political.

There appears to be confusion between being engaged in politics, which is participation in the public square, and partisan politics which aligns a person or organization with one party and is unquestioning in that support. Partisan politics are a violation of the separation of church and state. The church should not be involved in partisan politics, telling people how to vote, or endorsing political candidates. Partisan politics are very evident in these days where so called “Christian” nationalists have no qualms about who they voted for and why. They use faulty theology to justify support for candidates while claiming God’s presence on their side over everyone else’s.

The church should be a place of safety for all. A place where the human rights and civil rights of all are affirmed and defended inside and outside the walls of the church. If the call for justice and advocacy for “the least of these” is the action that deems us political and involved in politics, may the church always be that! Silence in the face of tyranny and oppression is antithetical to the prophetic call to seek justice. Ignoring the hungry, the naked, the unhoused, the uneducated, the undereducated, the sick, the anxious, and those whose very existence is threatened by injustice is to deny the example set by the ministry of Jesus who spoke out against the empire of his day and against the religious leaders who were amassing power and position as they contributed to the oppression of the people. Jesus had a lot to say about the religious elite who cozied up to the emperor and the empire while collecting temple taxes and tithes.

The call for justice has been relevant regardless of the political party the president represents, or which party controls the House of Representatives or the Senate. There has not been a time in the United States where the church has been silent and now is not the time either. The prophetic witness is not easy, it never was and it never will be. There is a price to be paid for answering the call to speak truth to the powers that are of this day. The church must be present in the public square. Advocacy, political activism, and the call for justice and fairness should be nonpartisan and rooted in justice. Justice for all is paramount. Silence is violence. That is not okay.