To The Popemobile

Religion and politics… I’ve talked and written about this a lot before, but it seems to be a topic that arises are reliably as the sun rises.

It has come up again as yet another major religious figure opined about politics and then major politicians told this religious leader to stick to religion and to leave politics to the politicians. In my writing and ministry I try to avoid naming specifics as it serves as a distraction and leaves people feeling called out or targeted.

But I feel like being vague is more distracting than just naming the elephant in the room. The highest echelons of the United States government are currently feuding with the pope. And to be clear, I don’t mean the New Zealand born rugby analyst Brent Pope. I mean il papa himself. That is not a de facto “bad” thing, as disagreements are the cornerstone of constructive dialogue and compromise. What is not constructive, however, is an insistence that the pope shouldn’t discuss politics and should instead stick to theology. This is also disregarding the fact that the pope is the sovereign monarch of an independent city state.

First, I have been chuckling to myself all week about the pope being “weak on crime.” I’ll take all politics out of this and say that I’ve been thinking about what it would mean for a pope to be tough on crime. The pope fighting crime from the pope-cave, riding around in his pope-mobile dispensing holy justice. I think the hat would probably fall off whenever he jumps from rooftop to rooftop.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I think it needs to be said that it is impossible to talk about theology without talking about politics. Feeding the hungry is an inherently political concept. We may have disagreements about how we, as Christians, should go about feeding the hungry, but at its root hunger is a political problem that demands a political solution. Saying that Jesus is king is a statement that is so political that people were executed by the government just for the mere utterance. Blessing the peacemaker is a political statement. War is necessarily a conflict between two political entities. We can’t talk about peace without talking about war and we can’t talk about the gospel without talking about politics.

What is needed is a responsible way of talking politics in church.

Just as it is impossible to talk about faith without talking about politics, it should be impossible for us to talk politics without being influenced by our faith.

Our faith should be an animating force in our lives, in our hearts, in our worldview. Whether we make it explicit or not, the fact that we are formed as faithful people lurks in the background of everything we do. Because we live in a pluralistic society, we need to remember that our faith forms us rather than our faith needing to form other people’s experiences. If we are taking our faith seriously, then it should be unthinkable that our faith wouldn’t influence our public witness.

And a word of caution – if a public figure is telling you to keep politics out of religion but are comfortable putting religion into their politics, it may not be about the confluence of religion and politics, but rather about your religion interfering with their politics.

Peace,

Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline

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As you reflect on the ways faith and public life intersect, consider where your own beliefs are shaping your voice, actions, and engagement with the world. How might your faith call you to speak, listen, and act with compassion and integrity this week? If you'd like to continue the conversation in person, we welcome you to visit our church, join us for worship, or contact our office. Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church is located at 1200 S. Winton Road in Rochester, NY. Call our office at 585-244-8585, send us an email, or stop by to chat.