Take It Down a Notch

I enjoy politics as much as the next guy.  Probably even more, actually.  After all, I majored in it in college and even hosted Greenville College's very first political talk radio show.  But even I'm starting to get sick of politics these days.  Which is too bad because political dialog can be both informative and (dare I say it) fun.  It's the the people who care more about Kim Kardashian's latest escapades and what tops the weekend box office who scare me.  We live in a culture of superficiality and banality.  Politics, with all of its shortcomings, can offer a reprieve from this shallowness so that as a nation we enter into civic dialog about what matters to us... things like freedom, the common good, transparency in government, and so on.  I'm attracted to politics precisely because it DOES matter -- it matters if our nation adopts the Dream Act or "Obamacare," it matters to the retiree if social security will be solvent, it matters to the unemployed if there will be a social safety net available during the hard times.  These things impact the lives of million.  I mean, think about it.  What's more important:  public policy concerning the ordering of the largest economy in the world or fall fashion?

What happens in Washington matters.  And it is worth thinking about and discussing.  As John Adams once declared, "Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write!"

And yet most political banter these days makes my stomach turn.  Perhaps it's Facebook and Twitter's fault.  Perhaps social media has led us from lengthy, articulate, reasoned discussion into loud, obnoxious sound-bytes of 140 characters or less.  Or perhaps we just live in an age where people demonize those who don't agree with them.  (Although this is nothing new.  Just look at some of the rhetoric and political cartoons from the election of 1800!)

Recently a friend of mine excommunicated me from his Facebook account.  Actually, he's a family member.  Why?  I don't know for sure, but I can hypothesize that the reason is because he disagreed with my positions on important social issues.  I really don't mind if someone disagrees with me.  In fact, I welcome it.  Let's talk.  "Come now, let us reason together." (Isaiah 1:18 taken horribly out of context). But that seems like a tall order these days.  Too tall for some.

I realize that what I'm writing is nothing new.  Bloggers, public speakers, op-ed writers, average citizens are all calling for a more reasonable tone to modern politics.  And rightly so.  Consider last night's presidential debate.  It was a bar fight.  As we watched, my wife turned to me and asked in disbelief, "Can they do that?!?" in reference to the way Obama and Romney were squabbling and talking over one another.  So it is right and fitting that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert hosted a rally for restoring sanity in politics.

To all such efforts I give my hearty support.  But I want to go a step further.  I want to suggest that politics has become an idol.  It has become a god which demands our total allegiance.  This is a vicious, territorial god that demands we demonize the other.  This god demands that we unfriend our own family members on Facebook.  This god sucks the joy out of community and sows division, suspicion, and enmity in its place.

I am a follower of the Jesus Way.  It is the core of who I am.  I believe Jesus is Lord even on the days that it doesn't seem like it.  And I know there are many others who claim the same foundation.  Nothing is a more pungent source for unity than the blood of Christ.  And yet I see the body of Christ being torn apart by the idol of modern politics.  Rather than making our political party subservient to our faith, we have allowed just the opposite to happen.  Judging by the passion of some, it is not unfair to claim that they are a Republican first and a Christian second, or a Democrat first and a Christian second.  That, my friends, is idolatry.

It's okay to like politics.  The way we order our society is important and talking about these things is a far better use of our time than perusing youtube videos.  But we who follow Jesus must never allow our politics to subvert our faith, our community, or our unity.  It's time for the idol of angry politics to be named for what it is:  demonic.  

Can we just decide that we won't play that game?  Can we just commit to remaining loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled as we talk with one another?  Can we keep ever in our minds that the cross matters more than who wins this election?  

Let's take it down a notch... a big notch, okay?