Should People of Faith Speak Out?

Many people who worry about people of faith speaking out on political and social issues say things like, “They’re trying to cram their religious beliefs down our throats.”

I’ve often heard or read on social and other media that kind of comment and I’m always puzzled why people are allowed to be motivated by their interest in “gun rights” or “border issues” or party affiliation, and advocate for them, but not someone motivated by their faith.

Writes David French in a recent issue of the New York Times: “Anyone may disagree with Christian arguments around civil rights, immigration, abortion, religious liberty or any other point of political conflict … but it is no more illegitimate or dangerous for a believer to bring her worldview into a public debate than it is for a secular person to bring his own secular moral reasoning into politics.”

Christian Nationalism

French is writing against Christian Nationalism, which I’ll attempt to deal with later in this blog. But he first tells his readers what he believes Christian Nationalism is not.

“It is not Christian nationalism if a person’s political values are shaped by the individual’s Christian faith. In fact, many of America’s most important social movements have been infused with Christian theology and Christian activism. …The civil rights movement wasn’t exclusively Christian by any means, but it was pervasively Christian — Martin Luther King Jr. was, of course, a Baptist minister.

Christian Primacy?

“The problem with Christian nationalism,” he continues, “isn’t with Christian participation in politics but rather the belief that there should be Christian primacy in politics and law.”

For me, slogans such as “God is on our side,” “Our country, right or wrong,” and worse, “My religion should rule,” help define Christian Nationalism.

Regarding that last slogan, I should note that my own Catholic faith has less than an admirable record. Catholicism has promoted or accepted a role as “official religion” in many countries, including many in Latin America.

Faith Compels Us

But to return to the question at hand, should religious people speak out about politics and social issues? I think faith, particularly Christian faith, compels us to do so. And “speaking out” may include voting, writing members of Congress and state representatives and letting other people know what you think.

Born into a family at the bottom of the social ladder, Jesus’ mission was to bring God’s reign to the world and make humans more God-like. And part of that was to be an advocate for the poor, the sick, the untouchables, and people on the margins of society.

Can his followers do any less?