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Show Should The Church Enter Politics? By C. Russell Quinn The founders of the American Republic demanded of their new government only two things, the administration administra-tion of justice, and the affordance of police protection. The unhappy experience with George III painfully emphasized em-phasized to them the truism that he who governs least governs best. And upon this fundamental principle was based the new Constitution. Today in Washington there are from 125 to 150 established estab-lished lobbies influencing legislation on every conceivable conceiv-able subject. And with a conspicuous finger in many of these political pies is found the church. It is so inextricably inex-tricably mixed in politics now that Dr. Caleb R. Stetson, of the Old Trinity Episcopal church in New York City, writes: "I'hcre seems to be a desire to make the clergyman the directing head of a corporation giving his attention to general subjects, such as world peace, law enforcement, enforce-ment, prohibition, disarmament, etc., while committees under his direction care for the individuals who may come to church. The increasing political activity of the churches has caused many people grave anxiety, and many have given up their church membership because of it. They felt that these churches were giving their interest and influence to objects outside their proper sphere, and were neglecting the souls in order to further some political measure." The church, of course, argues that its reason for this is entirely worthy, It has no selfish interests to serve, as do the other lobbyists, but only enters the political arena on moral issues. It is on just this ground, however, that we would raise objections. As we understand the doctrine of Jesus Je-sus Christ, it is a message which, when accepted into the heart of an individual, makes of him a good morai being by a supernatural power which transcends all laws or nodes. In other words, the individual does right because be-cause he wants to. Now when the church endeavors to force men to be good by the power of the state, it either rejects this principle of a higher power of redeeming grace, or else it confesses its inability to reveal this power pow-er to men. Christ allows no mistake to be made as to His gospel being free, and has provided that every one work out his own salvation. Were this not so, however, and it fell to some group or individual to be the divine guide to every one else's conscience, who, we ask as we look around, would merit the responsibility? With the ex ception of the Roman Catholic, there is no church which makes the dogmatic and unqualified claim of having absolute ab-solute truth. It is very improbable that after these years we can all gojback and accept once more the authority au-thority of the pope. If we look to the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America for guidance in this matter, we still cannot be altogether satisfied. This council, which includes in-cludes twenty-seven denominations, presents a strange attitude on certain questions. We find that it has gone on record against the Japanese exclusion law, against military intervention in China, against the building program pro-gram of the big navy advocates, and has supported the World Court, the Kellogg-Briand Treaty, and President Hoover's disarmament program. Certainly it does not favor war. Yet only fifteen years ago these same clergy who now vigorously declare that war is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, popped up in and out of meeting meet-ing to extol the glory and virtue of war. If war is contrary con-trary to the teachings of Christ now, it must have been so fifteen years ago. It is not our intention here to make a brief for' or against the churches ' wartime policies, but we merely want to show that when the churches' conception of the teachings of their Founder can change so radically in so short a time, they are certainly in no position to dictate these conceptions to any one else, and label them with- the brand of absolute truth. Yet this is what is lmpnea wnen iney iorce tneir convictions on every one. It is all well and good to feel a deep religious conviction; but when you try to force this conviction on some one else, it is an entirely different matter. And if we did accept the council, what then should we do with such powerful an conscientious churches as the Southern Methodists, the Protestant Episcopalians, the Roman Catholics, and otihers who in no wise grant the council omnipotency in judging moral values for the American people? There must certainly be a speck of truth in their religious conceptions, and even if not, a country w'hich boasts of being the "land of the free" must recognize every one's right to freedom of worship. There will always be dissension among the religionists, religion-ists, because they are engaged in a searcih which is progressive. pro-gressive. God alone has absolute truth, and if He wanted want-ed it forced on everyone, He would have planned it that way. Scientists, it seems, have been quicker to learn that the best way to convince people of truth is with proof, and spend their time in laboratories instead of in legislatures trying to pass laws demanding the acceptance accept-ance of certain theories. If there is anything of value in religion (and we think there is much), it will be accepted by the individual as it appeals to him. If there is nothing of value in it, no amount of police backing will ever give it any merit. It is up to the church to prove itself of its own intrinsic worth. When viewed in this light, one has grave misgivings as to the power of the church over its members, as it resorts re-sorts to political measures to propagate its doctrines. The historian Lord Eryce points out that from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries the moral power of the church "sank lowest just when it had secular authority most i fully at its disposal." To the church is intrusted the spiritual development of the individual; to the state, the duty to see that he may follow his convictions unhampered. In no case should it prescribe what these convictions should be |