Disclaimer: I am a person with Christian beliefs and Christian background. I will be focusing on this faith due to my knowledge of it, but this message could pertain also to most other religions.
The mixing of Christianity and political viewpoints has been a controversial topic for years and has yet to be entirely addressed in conversation today. The dangerous association of political parties and faith causes rifts between individuals on both grounds, feeding the disunity already growing in the global community.
This massive dissension may seem too complicated to even begin to unravel; however, this clashing of religion and politics has been well-represented in the pop-culture phenomenon Star Wars, specifically the prequel movies The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
A major conflict in these three films is between the Jedi, a religious sect believing in an all-powerful, omniscient ‘Force’, and the Chancellor, the head of the Galactic Republic and Senate. The Jedi Order has its headquarters on Coruscant, the planet also home to the Senate house, but have their own governing system: a group of twelve Jedi Masters who serve on what is called the Jedi High Council. This Council could bring to mind a group of modern Christian leaders, or any collective that makes decisions for a religious body, such as the modern Christian church.
For the majority of the Jedi Order’s history, its members differentiated themselves from universal politics. They respected that their Jedi Code was not written to fulfill a political agenda, but rather an ethical one. This division between the Jedi Code and politics is mirrored in the real world with the Christian Bible, or any other holy book, and the campaigning parties of the United States.
This separation worked well in peaceful times when the Jedi would let the political leaders make decisions in their field, and the Jedi lead their Order in their way. However, this system is shaken when war comes. No longer can the Jedi, powerful as they are, stay out of the galaxy’s affairs.
As viewers see in the Star Wars movies, the Jedi are forced to ally themselves with the Chancellor, leading to a shift in the balance of opinions. No longer can the Jedi peacefully disagree with the Republic without causing unrest and mistrust. Jedi teachings are expected to align with the Chancellor’s decisions, and when they do not, the Jedi are seen as anti-government or anti-democracy.
This discourse eventually leads to the collapse of the Jedi Order, but the important thing to take away from this comparison is this: The Jedi’s teachings are not suited to debate political ideals, but exclusively moral dilemmas. This is at the heart of the big debate over religion and politics today.
We place assumptions on people who claim Christianity, and some of these assumptions are entangled with the political parties expected of Christians. This belief that all Christians must agree on a political party is absurd because while political parties are based on a person’s opinion on what government should do, the Christian Bible says next to nothing on the subject. Jesus, who Christians believe to be the Son of God and the Savior of humanity, doesn’t say anywhere in his many sermons that his followers should desire a bigger or smaller governing body, or if they should believe in higher or lower taxes. There are true, faithful Christians who are parts of both sides of the political spectrum, believing in the same God but creating different political views.
Now, to answer ethical questions addressed by both parties, many Christians rely on their textual foundation, the Bible, which is believed to be God's own word. This presents another issue, as different interpretations of the scripture, along with personal convictions, are divisive among religious communities. These ethical talking points might include the issue of abortion or same-sex marriage. Division among the church in response to these topics should be addressed with urgency, especially within church walls. These subjects are dealt with, at least to some extent, in the Christian Bible, so they not only fall under politics but also ethics. When considering these topics, and how they align with beliefs on either side of the political spectrum, people should remember also that a person can identify with a certain party, and at the same time disagree with some of their policies.
Understanding that political views and religious views are not always interconnected will begin the process of knitting back together the rips made between citizens in the past. The Bible does not teach political theory, and a politician’s job description does not include ‘philosopher’. Those with Christian views can have vastly different opinions on what government should and shouldn’t provide, while standing together in the foundations of their faith.
Written by: Hannah Lutz
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