Church and State: Can the Church Be Too Nationalistic?

What happens when the church and the government, or the church and political parties, become close bed fellows?  This is something that's been on my mind a lot over the last couple of weeks for two reasons.  First, those of us in the United States have elections coming up tomorrow, and second, I've been studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his role in a plot to kill Hitler as well as being openly against the way the Nazi party had co-opted the Christian Church in Germany.

This is a huge issue in today's United States, whether you like it or not.  You can be the most irreligious person on the planet, but if you live in the USA, the interaction between the Government, particularly political parties, and Christian churches has an effect on you.  You may or may not think it should be that way, but for now anyway, it is.  The question before us now is: can it go too far, or perhaps has it already gone too far?

Let me give you a little background on what I'm talking about with Bonhoeffer, the Nazis, and the German Church of the World War II era.  In March 1933, the German Reichstag passed what was known as the "Enabling Act," granting then Chancellor Adolf Hitler plenary powers over the German state.  With these powers in hand, he and the Nazi party dismantled the machinery of state and all political opposition.  They also went to work on the church in Germany.  In April of that year, various protestants in Germany (likely Nazi stooges) began to advocate for a "German National Church."  This came to pass over the summer as the machinery inside the German church became steadily Nazified.  There was even a broadcast plea from Hitler to German protestants calling on them to join this movement.  Eventually one of Hitler's cronies was installed as the head of this new church as the "Reichsbischof."  In late summer of 1933, the new "Protestant Reich Church" adopted the "Aryan Paragraph" which included tossing out any clergy with a drop of Jewish blood or any clergy who was married to anyone with a drop of Jewish blood. The seminaries in Germany began cranking out pro-Nazi clerics, and with all of this in place Hitler and the Nazis had full control over the German church.  Throughout the Third Reich era it would be used as a propaganda arm for the Nazi government, an indoctrination center, and a tool to further eliminate Jews from German society.

Not all German Christians were thrilled with this.  One of these was a young pastor and theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer and others broke away from the Protestant Reich Church and formed what would be known as the "Confessing Church."  These Christians contended that any government regime, including a dictatorship, had limits when it came to the church.   They renounced the Reich Church and their interpretation of Christianity.  This was of course, illegal. Bonhoeffer and others were persecuted for this, and some were even sent to concentration camps, including Bonhoeffer himself.  Bonhoeffer had also become a courier with the German resistance and was allegedly linked to Operation Valkyrie.  This was discovered and he was eventually executed by hanging at Flossenburg concentration camp in April 1945, just two weeks before the camp was liberated by Allied forces.  His body was never found.

Now I'm not saying that Christianity in the US is becoming Nazified.  The example of the German Church in the Third Reich is obviously an extreme case, but I am concerned that we are seeing elements of the politicizing of churches in our country.  This is problematic on a couple of levels. First off, the United States Constitution specifically set up the government as a separate entity from any religious organization.  Some conservative Christians disagree with this, but it's true.  The word "God" does not exist anywhere in the US Constitution.  However, the use of religious litmus tests for candidates and making laws about the establishment of religion are expressly prohibited.

As a part of this, churches and religious organizations in the USA are allowed to operate as charitable organizations that pay no taxes to federal, state, or local governments.  They are meant to be apolitical entities.  Questions have arisen in recent years as several churches have not only taken high profile positions on specific proposed laws, but they have also given church (tax free) money to interest groups fighting for or against these laws and have also began to advocate for or against these laws from the pulpit.  Now, this might be one thing if churches were out advocating for the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the dying, you know like Jesus did, but instead much of the church in America seems overly preoccupied with LGBTQ people.

This came to a head in Houston, Texas, in recent weeks.  Some churches in Houston had been gathering signatures that would require the city to put a controversial non-discrimination law on the ballot for public referendum.  The mayor of Houston, an openly gay woman, met with clergy members and came to believe that some pastors were advocating against the law from the pulpit. Five pastors, 4 men and 1 woman, had their recent sermons subpoenaed by the city as they sought to determine if this had actually taken place.  There was an immediate outcry against this by religious groups and conservatives, and the mayor decided to recall the subpoenas.  I will admit that even as a very liberal minded Christian, this made me a bit uncomfortable, and perhaps seemed a bit heavy handed.

However, this is an interesting test case for our nation in which churches have became more and more politically orientated, particularly in Conservative political circles.  I'm not trying to pick on conservatives here, but let's face it, you don't really hear people wondering if the American church is going too far in advocating liberal policies, do you?

Should the church have any role in politics?  Should the church somehow function as the "conscience of the state?" If it should, should there be limits?  Where should the line be drawn on these limits? Can our churches become too nationalistic?  These are important questions that we will continue to face in the years ahead, and as I mentioned earlier, the way these questions are answered will affect both religious and nonreligious people alike.

In order to illustrate my opinion here, I turn again to Bonhoeffer.  In 1933, in the midst of everything that was happening in Germany, he wrote an essay entitled "The Church and the Jewish Question." In this essay, he argued that the church should indeed be the conscience of the state, and he described three ways that the church can interact with the state.  I'll list them here as illustrated in Eric Metaxas' book "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy."

1. The Church can ask the state whether it's actions are legitimate and in accordance with it's character as the state, i.e. it can throw the state back on it's responsibilities.  

2. It can aid the victims of state action.  The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community. "Do good to all people."

3. The third possibility is not just to bandage the victims under the wheel, but to jam a spoke in the wheel itself [to stop the state from perpetuating evil]. Such actions would be direct political actions.

These things are in line with what Bonhoeffer believed about Christianity.  He believed that as Christians, we are required to speak out for those who cannot speak.  He believed that this was the very least that the Bible requires of us.

My opinion is based on these three assertions and the belief that Christ requires me to speak out for those who cannot speak, for those who do not carry the power to influence government, those who cannot escape the crushing wheel that Bonhoeffer speaks of.  Yes, the church has a role in politics. Yes, the church should function as a conscience of the state.  However, yes there should be limits. Churches should not be aiding specific agendas of political parties.  The church should not be pushing the perceived moral absolutes of the ultra right wing on people whether they are Christians or not.  This was not the concern of Christ.  The role of the church is to advocate, and advocate strongly, for the those whom Christ advocated for: the poor, the needy, the sick, and the dying.  These people are becoming more and more ground down under the wheel of the moneyed elite and their powerful political interests in our country, and for the most part, the church is not even asking if that's the right thing to do or aiding those who are damaged by our system.  I would prefer to see Christians drive a spoke into the wheel of the political machine myself, and that's how I vote.  Instead much of the Christian church seems to be caught up in advocating against certain ideals that don't fit their archaic version of morality. much of which Jesus himself had nothing to say about.  In my mind, we've become distracted from the real purpose.  Much of what passes as "Christian advocacy" these days is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Republican party and their ultra right moral agenda. People are not asking what Jesus might say or think, they're too busy buying up books from the Duck Dynasty guys, who seem to be prophets and spokesmen for a new generation of Christians who care about nothing more than money, fame, and strict adherence to an Old Testament morality.

This is all leading to a national, American brand of Christianity, and that frightens me.  We have begun to cloak the cross of Christ and the Bible in the Stars and Stripes.  Want proof?  Click here.
This process attempts to connect our history specifically to Christianity, which is exactly the opposite of the secular republic set up by the Constitution.  This leads to Americans feeling superior to other Christians and non Christians alike and is resulting in negative and un-Christlike behaviors towards many people including poor people, gay people, and Muslims.  A couple of months back, one of the Duck Dynasty guys was on Fox News saying that ISIS members should be converted to Christianity or killed.  Many Christian circles have become hotbeds for anti-Muslim sentiment, and in this climate, I fear that we are only one terrorist incident away from having that sentiment explode into some very nasty outcomes, outcomes that might be sanctioned and advocated for by many Christians in our country.  In the end, is it all that different from earlier times?  Is wrapping the Bible in the Stars and Stripes really any different that wrapping it in the Swastika?

THE GERMAN PATRIOT'S BIBLE connects the teaching of the Bible, the history of the Reich, and the life of every German. Discover Biblical truths that formed the foundation of the Reich's values and how they apply to today's culture. Experience spiritual milestones in Reich history with beautiful, full-color insert pages. Examine the intersection between Reich history and the Christian faith through unique articles spotlighting the people and events that have made the Reich great.

Does reading that make you even a little bit uncomfortable?  Does that sound like something the Nazi propaganda machine might have put it out?  Does it sound like a Bible for the Protestant Reich Church?  All I did was take the paragraph on the "American Patriot Bible" and switch the word "American" with "Reich" or "German."  It makes me sick to my stomach.

That is what I have to say on all of this.  You may disagree or agree with me.  You may think I'm flat out crazy and reading too much into things, but the reality is that these questions and issues will continue to face our country for awhile to come.  They WILL have an affect on all of us no matter which faith we belong to, and even those of us who don't belong to any faith.  These questions are worth asking and it's a conversation worth having.  I've told you what I think, what do YOU think?