What should American Christians want in Washington D.C.?
What should American Christians want in Washington D.C.?
Teddy James
Teddy James
AFA Journal staff writer

Photo: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter takes the oath of office with his hand on a Bible held by his family members. Department of Defense photo.

September 2016 – Since the infancy of the Christian church, believers have been accused of trying to topple governments and establish theocracies.* With every American election season, the accusations resurface.

In 2015, Public Policy Polling asked 1,338 registered voters, “Would you support or oppose making Christianity the official religion of the United States?” Forty-four percent of the Republican respondents said support.

For several days, the Internet was flooded with headlines such as “They really want a theocracy: The GOP candidates who want to make you bow to their lord,” and “Halfway to theocracy: 44% of Republicans want to make Christianity our official religion.”

Understand the charge
Regardless of the fact that having an official religion is not a theocracy, it is understandable why those outside the faith say Christians want one. Followers of Jesus have a mandate to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). If Christians are to make disciples of all nations, a non-believer might logically ask: Why would that not include controlling governments?

Beyond that, Christians have an allegiance to an authority higher than their local or national governments. Bakers, photographers, and wedding chapel owners in America have recently experienced hardships after they decided to act against existing law because they felt doing so would violate the decrees of that higher authority. From the secular perspective, these Christians are not only expressing religious beliefs, but also pushing for theocratic laws.

The same is true in the abortion debate. Christians believe all life is sacred, regardless of stage of development or disability. That belief compels Christians to fight against the unnatural demise of life, even though abortion is legal. Supporting legislation that changes the status quo on abortion is another arrow in the secularists’ quiver.

In each case, and the many more that could be cited, Christians are attempting to influence a government system to reflect a Judeo-Christian worldview. To many with a secular worldview, that is the same as wanting a theocracy. However, this shows a misunderstanding of a theocracy and the true aims of Christians.

Answer the charge
“In a true theocracy, political authority is wielded by a religious priesthood on behalf of a god or gods,” Ed Vitagliano, vice president of AFA, said. “We have several historical and modern examples of theocracies. The nation of Israel was a theocracy from the time of its creation under Moses until the ascension of its first king, Saul. From that point on, Israel was a monarchy. Several Muslim countries are under a theocracy where the laws are based on Sharia.”

Those accusing Christians of wanting a theocracy point to Islamic countries as examples of what America will look like if Jesus-followers get their way. This not only flies in the face of what Christians are actually fighting for, it also negates the foundation America was built on.

Eric Metaxas, in his book If You Can Keep It, describes the golden triangle of freedom. When boiled down to its most succinct form, Metaxas says, 

“[F]reedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith, and faith requires freedom. The three go round and round, supporting one another ad infinitum.”

There is much debate today concerning whether the Founding Fathers were orthodox Christians or not, but there can be no debate that they highly respected and even revered the Judeo-Christian worldview. They knew that in order for a people to be free, they must be a moral and virtuous people.

The second president of the United States, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Christians active in politics are not attempting to establish a theocracy but are rather echoing the voices of those wise men.

Truth of the charge
Even though Christians are not attempting to overthrow the republic and replace it, they do advocate morality in government. While believers are not crying for a theocracy, they are pursuing the implementation of theocratic principles, moral ideas rooted in Scripture and applied to the formation of laws.

“Christians routinely pursue several legal values essential to American liberty,” Pat Vaughn, legal counsel for AFA, told AFA Journal. “Among them are limited government, rule of law, proportionate justice, sanctity of human life, private property, right of contract, and objectiveness of truth. These are theocratic principles that, in general, our secular brothers also want most of the time, but do not acknowledge where they came from.”

Christians recognize their ideas concerning liberty and value of freedom come from the pages of the Bible. Jim Garlow, prolific writer, pastor, and radio host, says Christians view Scripture as having wisdom that not only pertains to them individually, but also to them as a collective nation.

In his book Well Versed, he says, “I am an evangelical, although it appears the word evangelical to actively influence governments to craft and pass laws has largely lost its meaning. I am the type of evangelical who believes that the Bible is totally authoritative. I believe that the Bible speaks not merely to personal, family, and church issues, but also to national, community, and governmental issues, if we would take the time to listen.” (Emphasis in original.)

Personal devotion to the teachings of Scripture compels Christians to reflect the principles found in its pages. That is not an effort to establish a new government; it is a continuation of what a small group of men started in a stuffy room in Philadelphia in 1787.

Those men looked to the wisdom of Scripture and the God of the Scriptures for guidance. They recognized Him as the source of liberty and freedom. Christians today do the same thing.

The question must be asked: If Christians know they will be derided for their activism, if they will be persecuted for submitting to an authority higher than government; if they will be ridiculed and mocked for attempting to influence government, why bother?

Because they must. They know that a country embracing godly principles will prosper in freedom, virtue, and influence. They know strengthening America is not only good for people within her borders, but as freedom grows here, it will grow across the globe.

Garlow expressed this same thought and encourages every Christian in Well Versed with, “So go forth and love America, knowing that if your love is true it will be transmuted one way or another into a love of everything that is good beyond America, which is her golden promise to the world, and the promise that we, you and I, must keep.”

It is not a theocracy Christians seek. It is a morally sound republic.  undefined 

*Theocracy: A form of government in which God (or a deity) is recognized as the king or immediate ruler, and his laws are taken as the statute-book of the kingdom, these laws being usually administered by a priestly order as his ministers and agents; hence (loosely) a system of government by a sacerdotal order, claiming a divine commission; also, a state so governed. From the Oxford English Dictionary.

Recommended
undefinedIf You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty by Eric Metaxas. Available at online and retail stores.

 

undefinedWell Versed by Jim Garlow. Available at online and retail stores.



undefinedBuilding on the American Heritage Series is a 6-DVD set hosted by David Barton discussing the faith of the Founding Fathers. Available at afastore.net or 877-927-4917.