I read an article today about a pastor of an evangelical mega-church where the pastor basically told the congregation that Christians have no business moralizing and should...well I am not sure what. There are links to audio clips, but they are short and cut off before he gets to the point.
The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
I don't know what he is talking about. Well, I do, I just think he is dead wrong. For me, one of the many beauties of being Catholic is morals do not change from pastor to pastor. So if the Church says it's wrong, it's wrong.
The Church has to fight for a Culture of Life. I am not sure why in popular politically correct culture, it is acceptable to rally for social justice when the issues involve war and poverty (and I am not arguing against this), but when it comes to people hurting each other with sex as the weapon, it is a personal matter. I know that people use each other, hurt each other, and allow people to abuse them when they would steer clear of them otherwise because of the misuse of the gift of sex.
When I first became a practicing Catholic again, I started to search online for like-minded Catholic people. What I started to see were people of extreme beliefs in all kinds of issues. Before that point, I didn't realize how "segregated" (for lack of a better term) we were. Rad Trads, Neo-Cons, homeschoolers, non-homeschoolers, blah, blah, blah...Trying to fit in somewhere, I lurked on boards of all groups. What I have since decided is not everybody is called to have overwhelmingly correct experiences and opinions on every issue (although many think they should). One opinion I heard over and over again was bafflement about how Catholics could be so obsessed with abortion and claim to be "pro-life" but vote for Bush and be pro-war. One conclusion I read was it was because everyone is so sex obsessed. The other was that Catholics love to show how good they are by being married and flaunting their 18 kids, but refuse to see the beam in their own eye. I found this opinion completely baffling, as I do the above mentioned pastor's.
I have to admit sadly, I am somewhat a fence sitter on the war issue. I just don't trust any information that comes my way. I don't think Bush is a horrible person who is war happy, but I also know the Pope spoke out against the war. It only occured to me recently that this is not a deficit in my intelligence or Catholicity, but I think there are a lot of Catholics with a lot of different experiences to have a bit more light on different perspectives. Through my own experiences what I do know is this: abortion is a genocide. As long as we are greedy and bloodthirsty enough to kill our own, our perspective of everything else will be unbalanced.
I am so tired. I see the county health and social services offices have flyers up for daycares, for where you can get free birth control, dishes of condoms out, lists of places to get AIDS testing, but nothing that says "girl, keep them legs closed unless he's gonna marry you". Or "don't become another 'Baby Daddy'unless you are married to the baby's mommy". Why not? Because by saying so we lose the culture war by putting trust in the sword? Huh? How about this sword: AIDS kills. Abortion kills. Children living with their mother's boyfriends have a higher rate of abuse than any other non-parent.
I feel like everytime I read something like this, I think the world has just gone so crazy. I do give people the benefit of the doubt. I think there are people, perhaps this pastor who feel that they are not being overly judgemental. Yes, we have to be charitable and have tact, but not to the point to keep making it acceptable for people to hurt themselves and each other.
Slowly, I am getting these thoughts out of my mind and onto the blog, so I should reach the end soon and go back to wondering about the important Pansy stuff, like why Johnson spends all day eating Raisin Bran at work.
I would be one of those people who would have a hard time voting in the US because I am pro-life but am (was) anti-war... But there are always nuances, it's more about HOW war was declared on Iraq than that it was... It's such a delicate issue, because neither side is all right nor all wrong.
I have been voting conservative here in Canada recently, (don't tell my DH, he'd be horrified) not because their hopeful was pro-life (he, like all the others, probably wasn't) but because at least in HIS party, there ARE pro-life people and his leader still lets THEM decide how they are going to vote on important issues.
I kind of agree with the pastor as far as politics, patriotism etc. is concerned. Moral issues are one thing, political are another. There's a difference between a church group promoting pro-life issues and a political party promoting pro-life issues. One can set up shop in the church vestibule, the other cannot. I would be very much against a pastor introducing politicians or putting up flags. I know this is not what you emphasized here, but it's my pet peeve i guess. This country is a little too convinced God must be on their side. Don't flame me, I'm generalizing, I know. Of course i agree with you in princple.
Don't flame me
No flaming. No, I don't think a Church should be promoting a political party. There is a difference at election time between reiterating what the Church teaches on abortion, just war and other issues and handing out buttons and flyers for Bush. The first would be things to consider while selecting a candidate, the second would be wrong.
I am not sure why some common sense moral issues are even political issues to begin with. I guess it has to do with abortion.
A lot of Puerto Ricans I know are evangelical protestants. They stop you on the street about being Christian, being saved, reading the Bible, and getting you to buy products for their fundraisers. That does not bother me at all. I enjoy hearing people who found God and it brings them joy. What I don't understand is if their congregations have this much influence over them, why not say "oh, by the way, getting married is a good thing too" But all you hear about is being judgemental.
Maybe that is what attracted many of them to leave the Catholic Church to begin with?
I`m not sure what point that pastor is trying to make. Short of endorsing specific candidates or parties, I`m not sure how any church that espouses particular viewpoints can fail to take a stand on directly relevant issues to those viewpoints. Not hanging up flags is one thing -- steering clear of politics all together is like trying to ignore an elephant in the room.
Our present San Francisco church let a local activist speak after the homily before last November`s election, urging everyone to vote for the proposition supporting parental notification before an abortion. I know not everyone heeded it, but the message was logical and consistent with church teachings.
Before the last U.S. presidential election, our former church in Tokyo prayed during intentions that "Americans make the right choice on election day" -- without every implying what that choice was. (Although it`s a Franciscan church, so I can probably guess whom they were rooting for...)