Christians must be 'major influencers' in American politics, say activists on opposite sides
Two Christian activists are urging followers of Jesus to get active in politics, believing that they have an obligation to become “major influencers” in American society by restoring civility to political discourse.
Christian rapper Lecrae hosted Justin Giboney of the & Campaign, who generally favors the Democratic Party, and Georgia State University executive-in-residence Cory Ruth, who generally supports the Republican Party, on his podcast “Deep End” last week to discuss the presidential election and why Christians should remain active in politics.
The conversation between the three outspoken Christian men also touched upon the importance of maintaining civility in a polarized political environment.
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When asked to react to a study released by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University that found many Christians plan to sit out this election, Giboney urged the faithful to view voting as a matter of “stewardship.”
“As someone who has a vote, that means you have influence,” he added. “For a Christian, when you have influence, you should try to use that influence to serve your neighbor, to do good.
“When you get an opportunity to help somebody to be able to vote on something that could feed a child or protect a child or something like that, you should do it. You should steward that influence in the right way.”
Ruth agreed that it's important for Christians to vote, noting how “a democratic republic relies on its citizens engaging.” Ruth maintained that “when we take ourselves out of that conversation, then we can’t wonder why we feel society may be hostile to our faith.”
Ruth quoted 2 Timothy 2:15 when instructing Christians to “study to show yourself approved,” suggesting that believers “should take as a principle, as a people, that we are going to be the most informed people in the American body politic because when you’re informed, when you are knowledgeable […] when you have a mastery of the issues, then you can be civil.”
Ruth contrasted this approach with the tendency to get “emotional” when discussing politics, explaining that "you can just be calm and speak the truth in love.”
“I do think it’s important that Christians do study. And I know we’re busy, but we have to study to show ourselves approved, we have to vote as unto the Lord,” he added.
Ruth contended that Christians have a “key opportunity” to make a difference, warning that “right now, American politics does not have a lot of clarity."
"There’s a lot of clutter of voices out there," he said. "No one knows which source to trust, and if Christians rose up as knowledgeable and civil, we can start to be the major influencers in American politics.”
Lecrae seconded Ruth’s analysis, viewing civility as “part of the call for us as believers.” Noting how Christians “put a heavy emphasis on […] how our faith should view all the issues,” the rapper defined civility as “another part of having a biblical lens.”
Giboney also stressed the importance of civility as he expressed support for some aspects of the “culture war.” Sharing his belief that “we fight it wrongly because it’s [uncivil],” Giboney declared that “those issues do matter.”
“What’s in your kid’s curriculum? Are they learning stuff about sexuality in their curriculum that’s inappropriate? That’s not something small,” he said.
Ruth and Giboney also reflected on what they defined as mistakes made by the Christian Right over the years, with Ruth saying they “weren’t Christ-like in their delivery of Christian values.”
Giboney characterized their posture as a “holier-than-thou kind of perspective” that came across as “looking down on other people.” He expressed disappointment that, in many cases, leaders within the movement worked to cover up their own scandals.
Ruth also lamented that political parties are “trying to almost make their party your religion,” adding that “people are like starting to commit to the party’s principles” with higher intensity than they do to religious principles.
Expressing concern about the tendency to end friendships with people due to differing political views, Ruth said "we have to do, as Christian leaders, a lot of unraveling there because I think behind all of that, there’s a trick of the enemy to pull people away from the lordship of Christ in their lives.”
The podcast concluded with a revisiting of why Christians should care about politics. Giboney asserted that “government is a God-ordained institution to create order and peace.”
“One of the reasons I think that Christians should participate in politics is to make sure that we maintain that order and that peace because we know, in a broken society, governments can become broken and they can really hurt people,” he said.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
