Party Politics

Galatians 5:15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Our primaries for various elected positions finished last week, allowing most of the electors time to breathe before the real canvassing gets underway. Because of my involvement in the Radio show “The Voice,” I’ve been in personal contact with some of the front runners for most of the county, district and state seats. Most of the time, I’ve been impressed by the commitment all of the candidates give to their campaigns. Sadly, though, I’ve also grown tired and weary of watching and hearing them tearing their opponents to shreds. It’s seems that to get elected anywhere these days, you’ve got to jump all over your opposition and spend more time maligning them rather than presenting positive ideas and sticking to the issues.

Party politics is a contact sport and it’s getting bloodier as each election comes and goes. I’ve seen the best of Christians become the worst of political devotees. I’ve read blogs from church people who spew absolute hatred in their comments about other parties. We are so used to separating our religion from our politics that we feel justified in using unchristian language, behavior and actions in order to undermine the other side. We let the ends justify the means, which, by the way, is not Biblical.

Christians are not just Sunday Christians; they try to be Christian all week long. Perhaps if we adopted Christian values throughout the election cycle, instead of declaring “open season” on our opponents, other people might become less cynical about the tawdry world of politics and begin to elect worthy representatives, no matter which party they came from. Perhaps then we could begin to take back our communities and heal them of all the biting and devouring that, in the end, only destroys ourselves.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, in the run up to the important elections that are taking place, help us to remain Christian. Keep us from straying on to the paths of zeal, fanaticism, and hatred which only lead to discontent, disunity and division. Grant us discernment and patience, wisdom and understanding that to be political does not give us the freedom to be sinful, and that to be religious does not always make us right. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.