I'm Sure That's Caesar's Or Some Such

I have heard Christians suggest that if THE CHURCH did what it was supposed to, THE STATE would be unnecessary. That's a pretty big "if" though. Forget for a moment what that assumes about the nature of a state and the institution of the church, it is a bit of a dodge isn't it? It seems like a way for a stripe of Christian to say, "If only we could be more church, all these political things could be ignored," or, "Less government is better because it allows me to work on being more churchy" (though this seems a more ideological claim than spiritual). So in pursuit of that "if" some Christians might separate their Christian identity from any type of cultural or political identity.

Maybe that's something, though it seems a weird split. We hope to remain untainted by politics, wether they be the dirty political decisions of others or our own unsavory political leanings that we have trouble reconciling with our Christian identities (I seem to be assuming that many see politics as something that dirties). Maybe we think x is bad because it's political so we stay away from it. Or maybe we think x is itself bad, but we separate it from who we say we are as a Christian so it does not taint us as we possess it. Or, it may simply be a matter of not wanting to tell someone else what they ought to do, so we are politically circumspect. That is, politics must be something the community does not address. After all, if there's one things Christians resist, it is saying anyone ought to do anything, right?

Maybe that's thinking it's more than what it is. Maybe what people have meant by that is just the suggestion of some anarcho/libertarian paradise wherein everyone does what they ought so no form of governance is necessary (other than one's totally sanctified, though isolated, reason).

In any case, they're each a part of a Christian identity and a political position. I find all of those problematic though better than claiming unequivocally that I know exactly what it means to be a Christian that has fully integrated the practices of my faith into my desire for theocratic governance.

If I had to choose... if I got to choose I would opt for someone like the above than the following:

"Two organisations, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), demanded an investigation Tuesday of Daniel Cooper, President George W. Bush's undersecretary for benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs...

Their complaint stems from an appearance Cooper made in a fundraising video for the evangelical group Christian Embassy, which carries out missionary work among the Washington elite as part of the Campus Crusade for Christ.

In the video, Cooper says of his Bible study, 'it's not really about carving out time, it really is a matter of saying what is important. And since that's more important than doing the job -- the job's going to be there, whether I'm there or not.'"

IPS News