Essay:Politics as Evangelism

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Liberal politics destroyed Christianity in Europe. Conservative politics can save Christianity in Europe and enhance it in America.

Politics is the lingua franca of culture today. A society taken over by atheistic politics will not retain a Christian culture. Similarly, evangelism must occur through the language and terminology of politics. Increasingly it is all that people understand and pay attention to.

Example: People who "turn off" all references to religion will listen to and debate political issues. It is often easy to prove irrational closed-mindedness in the context of politics than it is in the context of atheism.

On a personal level, conservative politics can keep one's mind open to faith despite indoctrination by the atheistic school system. For adults, too, conservative politics can best resist the atheistic closing of the mind pushed by newspapers, television, and even the workplace.

Controversy or conflict is often useful or even necessary to attract attention. Jesus was extremely controversial in His time and that increased interest. But today politics is more controversial and attention-grabbing than the traditional presentation of religion is, leading many people to spend more time discussing politics than discussing religion.

Example: Religious programming on television has some of the lowest ratings of all. Millions can be poured into it without reaching much of an audience. But for only about a million dollars, an advertisement about the faith of Tim Tebow's missionary mother was broadcast to over 100 million viewers during the Super Bowl, which is a conflict that attracts the largest viewership of the year.

Society is becoming increasingly participatory with tweeting and blogging and emailing, and politics is more participation-driven than traditional religion is, which consists more of silent prayer and only weekly meetings. Politics incorporates the technology that consumes young people's time more than traditional religion does.

Politics looks forward, as people do, making it more influential than topics like history that look backward.

Politics is ever-changing, which makes it particularly effective at overcoming the hardening of hearts against faith and reason. It may be forever impossible to persuade someone who has closed his mind about a topic, but a new issue presents a fresh opportunity to soften the heart and enlighten the soul.

Example: Someone's heart may be hardened and his mind completely closed in that he believes in evolution. But when asked the political question of whether he supports spending many millions of taxpayer dollars on evolution "research", he may reconsider his position and begin to open his mind on the topic ... and thereby open his mind about (privately funded) religion also.

Politics, such as the pro-life issue, is universal and understood as well by the young as by the elderly, by the less intelligent as well as the more intelligent, by those with more formal education as well as those with less, and by those of all races, ethnicities, and creeds. It can be easier to communicate, motivate and discuss than finer -- and divisive -- points of theology are. Stated another way, politics is ecumenical.

Example: It is virtually impossible to fill two large buses for a difficult religious trip in the dead of winter. But on the cold day of Jan. 22, 2010, we did fill two large buses containing diverse students and adults for a trip to D.C. for the pro-life March for Life, and said a prayer along the way.

The number of conservatives is almost identical to the number of people who attend church on a weekly basis.[1] When liberal politics moves a nation or region to the left, it has nearly a one-for-one effect in decreasing church attendance. Conservative politics can help Christianity, and vice-versa.

George Orwell observed: "All issues are political issues." That offers an opportunity to evangelize, and a realm essential to defend.

References

  1. Both concentrations are at about 40% nationwide in the United States, and a state-by-state breakdown correlates closely to a political electoral map.[1]