Compassion & Conviction was written as a "resource to help believers engage the civic space as faithful Christians and informed citizens." Everyone is political, "government is a God-ordained institution," and "Christians should engage politics because doing so provides us with a robust opportunity to love our neighbor by acting justly, promoting human flourshing, and seeking the prosperity of our community." This book provides a framework for how to engage in politics.
Highlights
How do Christians participate? What about separation of church and state? "No one makes political decisions from a neutral position." "Many people have misinterpreted the separation of church and state to mean that religious views shouldn't play a role in public discussions and lawmaking . . . [but] whether political views derive from religious tenets or secular philosophy, invoking values to influence the legislative process violates neither the constitution nor the spirit of the deliberative process." "In fact, all policies and laws come from some set of values." So what does that mean for Christians? How should we apply Biblical principles to our political decisions?
We'll start with the obvious: for the Christian, "the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority in all arenas of life, including politics. This means the gospel should be the foundation and staring point of our political decisions." Yet "the Bible does not provide a political platform, and we should be careful to not confuse our personal policy preferences with religious doctrine. Two Christians can disagree on an important policy without one or the other necessarily being unfaithful . . . even when the Bible does speak directly to an issue, Christians might disagree on how to apply the principle in the public square. It's a mistake to suggest that Christians should always come to the same political conclusions. However, all Christians should make those decisions from a biblical framework . . . that emphasizes love and truth, compassion and conviction, social justice and moral order." So what is that framework?
First, Christians must frame questions of the day correctly. A common political tactic is to frame complicated issues deceptively by presenting a false choice (like "do you love the poor or do you believe in personal responsibility?"). In America's two-party system, such false choices are common on both sides of the aisle and must be rejected by the Christian. Parties can make it seem as though two concepts are "somehow at odds with each other" when in fact they are not. It is possible to think biblically- but doing so may result in a conclusion that aligns with neither political party. So question assumptions and frame questions correctly, being fair to both sides of the argument in so doing.
In general, all Christians should "evaluate all political issues through the love and truth of the gospel. This is a both-and proposition, and not either-or." This means (among other things) that "we must seek justice for our neighbors" while we remember that moral "truth is established by the Bible; it must frame our civic engagement." (Though "how to apply moral standard to politics can get complicated . . . sometimes it is wise to accept that the best use of the law in a given situation is not to enforce morality but rather to allow for the freedom to be moral.")
Evaluating issues through a gospel lens will likely run afoul of both of today's main political parties. "Neither progressivism nor conservatism satsifies the love or truth imperatives of the gospel. Both fall outside of a biblical framework. Christians must recognize the failings and blind spots in their own political party and ideological tribe in order to avoid indoctrination and to faithfully correct unexamined assumptions." We must also remember that "the Bible doesn't speak to every politcal issue. We might have political preferences that the Bible neither affirms nor forbids. We need to be honest about that and not use the Bible to fortify a position that faithful Christians can see differently." We must fight against a common trend- that "some Christians are more willing to defend their ideological tribe than the Christian faith."
The book proceeds to discuss tips on:
- partnering with non-Christians on issues of common concern,
- faithful and effective communication (messaging & rhetoric),
- racial reconciliation,
- advocacy and protest, and
- civility and political culture.
Review
This short (130-page) book is an excellent introduction to faithful political engagement. The framework is very high-level; they will not tell you how to vote on a given issue/etc. Written by (and to) Americans, the intent is to suggest a better way of approaching politics than many Christians (on either side of the aisle) have shown in recent years. Highly recommended.
Rating: A
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