The real question in this series has yet to be answered. Should Christians be involved in politics? Well, I don’t know if they should be involved in politics, but there is no prohibition against political involvement. But even if a Christian decides not to engage in political activity, they are not excused from taking a stand on just causes. It’s not necessary to make such a stand in a public forum, but rest assured, what happens in society often invades the family and the church. I’ll deal with that in a few moments.

I used to believe that there was a separation, or dichotomy, between moral issues and amoral issues. For instance, abortion is a moral issue. No matter what position you hold on the topic you must make a moral judgment. Most Christians, indeed, most Americans, would agree with that assessment. But then there are topics such as taxes. Are taxes a moral issue or amoral? I’ve heard Christians make the point that taxes fall within the realm and discretion of government. The argument goes that taxes are neither good nor bad. No one likes to pay them, but they are an inevitable ill of human government. Even Christ paid taxes. I suppose that is a good argument, and it is true that our Lord did, indeed, pay taxes (Matthew 17:24-27). But can the argument be made that some forms of taxation are an oppression upon the poor? Look at the current argument about whether Congress and the President should extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income classes. One party argues that the rich should not receive a tax break. They want to sunset the tax cut for all those making more than $250,000 a year. However, most small businesses in America are netting their proprietors incomes between $150-$400,000 a year. The increase in taxes for these small business owners would result in a cutting back of expenses, including direct labor. In other words – layoffs. In the midst of a recession is it a good idea to potentially harm those who can least afford it? This is when a supposed amoral topic intersects with a moral one.

Would it be permissible for a Christian to protest against a proposal to raise taxes on moral grounds? Yes. Why not? But we must remember that we are Christians. We need to to watch our speech (Ephesians 4:29). We are prohibited from speaking falsehood or slander (Exodus 20:16; Ephesians 4:25). We cannot use our political convictions as a pretext for disobedience unless we, or the church, are asked to violate God’s law (Titus 3:1; Acts 5:29). In fact, we are to come to the aide of those who cannot defend themselves (Matthew 25:25-36; James 1:2). This is most important with a moral issue like abortion. Prenatal babies cannot defend themselves. They are dependent on help from those who honor the sanctity of life. Abortion is both a political and moral issue in our country. The church must speak out against it. Our pulpits must rail against it! The Nazis murdered over 6,000,000 Jews and others that they deemed as “undesirable”. Since abortion became legal in the United States over 50,000,000 babies have been murdered. I am not attempting to minimize the horrors inflicted by Hitler’s regime. But simple math reveals the compounded horror of state sanctioned infanticide. Should the church turn a deaf ear to such evil?

We’ll continue this discussion in the next installment.