Tim Wildmon
AFA president
January 2009 – You may have read the recent post-election column by Cal Thomas in which he encourages conservative Christians to get out of politics, government and public policy. Thomas argues that Christians should abandon these areas to non-Christians and devote themselves to ministering in “obscurity.”
To which I must respond: Huh?
He argues that Christians can either work the soup kitchen or work the government, but they are incapable of doing both, and further, to work the government is, by definition, seeking earthly power which is against the teachings of Christ.
Honestly, for a writer as gifted as Thomas, his deductive reasoning skills on this subject are highly questionable.
Nowhere in Scripture are Christians forbidden from engaging in politics, government or public policy. In fact, throughout the Bible we are commanded to stand for righteousness both privately and publicly.
I am glad that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t follow Thomas’ advice. He would have kept his Christian faith inside the church and failed to challenge the nation to extend full civil rights to all people. For Dr. King, the message of the Scripture was not limited to the four walls of the church nor to works of service and mercy. He understood that the Scripture was to be applied in the workplace, the school, the government and in every human relationship. In short, Dr. King simultaneously worked to change hearts and laws. I think Christians can and must do both.
Thomas writes: “Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content into the conservative Evangelical image has failed.”
That’s just not true.
On election night, constitutional amendments in the states of Florida, Arizona and California defining marriage as between one man and one woman all passed. If Cal is keeping score, that’s 30-0 in favor of traditional marriage in states all over the Union the last few years.
As far as abortion is concerned, since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the pro-life community (made up largely of Evangelicals and Catholics) has worked tirelessly on lawful restrictions to abortion-on-demand such as 24-hour waiting periods, parental notification and statutes that ban partial birth abortion. There are perhaps millions of unborn babies who were saved from death by these actions which Thomas declares have been a “failure.”
Now, I want to bridge the gap between the political and the cultural arenas. Stay with me, now – there really is a connection here. A 2007 movie, Bella, is having a long-reaching impact on the abortion issue, clearly a hot political topic and a moral issue as well. (See story here.)
Bella was written and produced by Christians who wanted to show the power of Christ-like love in offering hope in crisis pregnancy situations. The producers have now documented at least 21 cases of young women who had planned to have an abortion, then saw the movie and changed their minds.
You see, Christians can and must work for pro-life legislation – or against pro-death laws like the Freedom of Choice Act. (See story here.) At the same time, we must build bridges to the unbelieving world through movies like Bella, through music, through sports, through books, through community service, through kindnesses to a neighbor – through any means that display the mercy and grace of Christ. I believe Christians must never be satisfied to retreat into a Christian subculture.
I’m not arguing that government is going to save America. But we are a nation of laws. If Christians abandon the law-making process, then how is that being “salt and light?” After all, someone is going to make laws that we all must obey. Why shouldn’t Christians try, as best they can, to structure those laws according to God’s revealed Word? Would it be better if we disengaged and had more laws that are contrary to the Scripture? I confess that I simply don’t know how any responsible Christian could advocate such a position.
The irony in all this is that Thomas, who claims to be a conservative Christian himself, writes about government, politics and public policy for a living. I suggest that if he wants to avoid what seems to be a double standard, then he should lead by example and give up his public column in which attempts to influence his readers on matters of politics, government and public policy.
I believe Cal has missed that irony. But I’m sure that one day soon, he will abandon his column, seek obscurity and begin serving fulltime in the soup kitchen. 
