Besides reelecting our hugely popular Republican governor, the people of Hawaii voted overwhelmingly Democrat yesterday. So did the rest of the country. In a Christianity Today commentary, George Hunter says this could be a good thing for evangelical Christians.
First, he says it will help us reevaluate our unequally-yoked relationship with the Republican party, a secular institution that doesn’t always reflect biblical values. Second, it will help us recover Christianity’s “full ethic”:
Most Americans would assume, from listening to public evangelicals, that the biblical social vision is limited to concerns about abortion, homosexual marriage, and evolution. For our sake and the nation’s, let’s allow society in on the larger revealed ethic that Jesus mandated his disciples “to obey” (Matt. 28:20).
Jesus’ ethic, for instance, stands powerfully against war and all forms of violence; because his kingdom is “not of this world,” he said his servants must not fight (John 18:36). Many pagans know that Jesus taught nonviolent love; our acquiescence to the current war of choice in Iraq has undermined evangelical credibility with millions of people.
Not so fast, Hunter! In light of Romans 13, I think biblical commands on non-violence are directed toward individuals, not governments. But aside from that, he makes a good point about our need for expanded vision when it comes to public policy. For example, I was very encouraged to hear that the new Democrats in power are eager to resurrect Bush’s compassionate immigration proposal that Republicans in Congress had killed. This would be crucial for Hawaii, with almost 20% of our population being foreign-born.