A new confession
In the days before the election, I received several invitations to read and sign "Confessing Christ in a World of Violence," and I ignored them. [And I'm a confessional sort of guy.]Surely, I thought, the election will demonstrate that we don't need this confession.
Surely, I thought, moderate religious voices will make a difference.
Surely, I thought, Bush will lose.
I was wrong.
More than 200 of the brightest theological minds in the world have signed the confession coordinated (if not penned) by Sojourners editor Jim Wallis. They're from all over the Christian spectrum. And they are right.
The document rejects a politics that co-opts the gospel for militarism and nationalism, and it calls the church to confess a God who knows no national boundaries; who rejects war; who challenges us/them, right/wrong, black/white dualisms; and who treasures humility among those who claim to know God.
"We reject," the confession concludes,
the false teaching that those who are not for the United States politically are against it or that those who fundamentally question American policies must be with the "evil-doers." Such crude distinctions, especially when used by Christians, are expressions of the Manichaean heresy, in which the world is divided into forces of absolute good and absolute evil.
The Lord Jesus Christ is either authoritative for Christians, or he is not. His Lordship cannot be set aside by any earthly power. His words may not be distorted for propagandistic purposes. No nation-state may usurp the place of God.
We believe that acknowledging these truths is indispensable for followers of Christ. We urge them to remember these principles in making their decisions as citizens. Peacemaking is central to our vocation in a troubled world where Christ is Lord.
Amen.
For me, this confession--always important--has become crucial for Christians in the "blue states," those among the 49 percent who voted against Bush and his rhetoric of faith gone mad.
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Wednesday, November 03, 2004