[Baptist Press 2/11/98]

Christian role underscored in addressing public issues

By Nedra Kanavel

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)–Christians are called to stay determinedly
active in the public arena to address the most pressing issues of our
day, public policy champions said during a conference on faith and
public policy at Union University, Jackson, Tenn.

About 200 people attended the Oct. 19-20 conference, titled,
"Christian Faith and Public Policy: Where do we go from here?"
and cosponsored by the Baptist-affiliated university’s Center for
Christian Leadership and the Coalition for Christian Colleges and
Universities.

The center’s director, David P. Gushee, noted the first day’s
speakers talked broadly about Christian involvement in politics, while
the second day’s speakers addressed more specific issues, including
abortion and separation of church and state.

On abortion, for example, Richard Land, president of the Southern
Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the abortion
issue’s divisiveness shouldn’t convince Christians to avoid the pro-life
effort, but rather, give them hope and encouragement to continue the
"struggle for hearts and minds."

"We’ve won in some respects, " Land said. "Most of
America is uncomfortable with abortion today. Abstinence programs have
been enacted, and the number of abortions has gone down."

But the fight is not over, Land said. Laws in support of abortion
are still in place, and those laws "have chosen death and cursing
over life and blessing."

Ultimately, Christians have a choice to make when it comes to the
abortion issue, he said; they can choose to emphasize individual rights
(such as those of the woman) or emphasize the human life which God has
created. "For those who say we can’t legislate morality, I say
explain the civil rights movement," Land said.

The most effective way to affect legislation, including that of
abortion, is through "prudent and principled" activity, said
Michael Cromartie, a senior fellow in Protestant studies at the Ethics
and Public Policy Center in Washington.

One of the loudest and most accepted voices in the public squares of
early America was that of the Protestant Christians, Cromartie said. But
beginning with the Scopes trial of 1925, Christians began to shy away
from the public arena, even going so far as to say that God’s work could
only be done within the church’s walls.

By the late 1970s, Christian involvement in politics revived, but
mainly because Christians increasingly felt the government was working
against them rather than with them. "They see themselves as
defendants, and not the aggressors, in the culture war," Cromartie
said.

The most effective Christian activism, Cromartie said, nevertheless
will come from "epistemological humility, public modesty and
charity toward even our strongest opponents."

"The argument should never be whether Christians ought to be
involved in social and political issues. Rather, the issue should be: on
what matters should we be most concerned and what are the most prudent
ways to express such convictions," Cromartie said.

Jean Bethke Elshtain, a professor of social and political ethics at
the University of Chicago Divinity School, insisted government and
religious institutions cannot afford to separate themselves.

Ridding America’s public life of any religious connotation is
impossible and destructive, Elshtain said, noting: "Religion
contributes to political life and its mores. Religion draws people into
the community and away from themselves. Religion and politics cannot be
separated."

To separate the two compromises the Constitution’s promise of
freedom of religion, Elshtain contended. "A private religion is no
religion at all. When religion is destroyed, it’s not freedom but
bondage," she argued.

Stephen Monsma, professor of political science and chair of the
social science division at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., said
there are two theories struggling for dominance when it comes to
separation of church and state: a strict separationist,
no-aid-to-religion theory and an equal-treatment, substantive-neutrality
theory.

Those who support the no-aid-to-religion theory hold that "the
religious freedom language of the First Amendment should be interpreted
to mean that church and state must be kept in as separate spheres as
possible and that government may not subsidize or support
religion," Monsma explained.

Like Elshtain, Monsma said he believes the no-aid theory’s strict
policy of separation of church and state is a detriment to American
society. Specifically, Monsma argued the no-aid theory has driven
government in some cases to withdraw its financial support of
religious-based social service organizations.

"For the poor and low-income families, the results are often
truly tragic. The poor have no choice but to make use of the social and
health services provided by government agencies or by private agencies
the strict separationist principle would deem to be sufficiently
religion-free, even when those agencies are ineffective and lack any
religious commitment," Monsma said.

Jim Skillen, executive director of the Center for Public Justice in
Annapolis, Md., explained why government has a mandate to be just and
why Christians must stay involved in public policy.

"The person, work and authority of Jesus Christ have to do with
everyone and everything in all creation. Therefore, Jesus Christ has
everything to do with government and public policy. The question then is
how, not whether, Christian faith is connected with public policy,"
Skillen said in a chapel address to an audience of about 1,000. Skillen
pointed out first that Christianity is not a stranger to the world’s
governments. In fact, "Jesus is not a visitor to, or intruder into,
a strange land," Skillen said. "This world, including human
political responsibility, belongs to God through the Son even before the
Son’s incarnation."

That means humans, and even more so Christians, are mandated to do
what they can to ensure that government and public policy are
fundamentally just, he said.

"This does not mean giving in to utopian expectations about
human achievements on earth through politics, " Skillen said,
citing several issues that Christians can focus on, such as racial and
environmental justice.

"Wholesale, legalized discrimination against black or red
people was a fundamental injustice, " Skillen argued. The challenge
today is for government to protect against arbitrary, racist exclusion,
not necessarily make people love one another," Skillen said.

In regard to the environment, Skillen pointed out the Bible clearly
explains humans are to be good stewards of God’s creation, including its
land, water and non-human creatures. Christians, Skillen said, should
advocate "good public law that recognizes the full value of land
and water" and "the interdependence of all creatures."

"The attempt to clarify government’s responsibility for
protecting everything from innocent life to religious freedom, from
precious resources to the rights of families, is something that should
compel Christians everywhere and at all times," Skillen stressed.
"This is part of our Christian service, part of the way we
acknowledge Christ our Lord and seek to love and serve him."