Religion and politics: Why Christians need to start talking
In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides in this election year: “the children of light” and “the children of darkness.” The children of light constitute the most conspicuous par t of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority.
More than ever, Christian people need to understand the Biblical meaning of religious liberty, which should remind us that this is a Biblical election. The right to religious liberty is rooted in the obligation and responsibility of every human person to seek the truth about God as revealed in sacred scripture and to embrace it and hold it as they come to know it.
This duty derives from the very dignity of the human person. It does not contradict a “sincere respect” for different religions which frequently reflects a ray of truth which enlightens all men, nor the requirement of charity, which urges Christians to treat with love, prudence and patience those who are in error or ignorance with regards to the faith. The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man of the true and good. Christians are called to be the light of the world. This shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies.
“Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others within due limits.” This right is based on the very nature of the human person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth which transcends the temporal order. For this reason it “continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it.”
The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error, nor a supposed right to error, but rather a natural human person to civil liberty, i.e., immunity, within just limits, from external constraints in religious matters by political authorities. This natural right ought to be acknowledged in juridical order of society in such a way that it constitutes a civil right. The right to religious liberty can of itself be neither unlimited nor limited only by “public order” conceived in a positive or naturalist manner. “The due limits” which are inherent in it must be determined for each social situation by prudence according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by civil authority in accordance with “legal principles which are in conformity with the objective of moral order.”
Moral conscience is directly related to moral order in that “deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his hear t at the right moment;” for man has in his heart a law inscribed by God… his conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.
Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking and knows that his conscience is a judgment of reason and faith. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescription of Divine Law: conscience is a law of the mind; yet Christians would not grant that it is nothing more; I mean it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of responsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise… conscience is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil and teaches and rules by his representatives… that is Christian disciples of Jesus Christ.
In our daily prayer and refection, we should allow God’s Word to form our minds and change the way we think and live as disciples of Christ. Expectant faith and docility open the mind and hear t to hear Christ’s voice and learn from him.
With the election on Nov. 3, we will determine which party has the best platform that will represent our Christian values and morals. It is in this hour that our Christian voices must be awakened and vote for what is right for our beliefs. Prayer is our way of speaking to God, let us therefore offer prayer asking God to intercede for Christianity: “O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord; Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments. We thank you for the privilege of being able to organize ourselves politically and of knowing that political loyalty does not have to mean disloyalty to you. We thank you for your law which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and recognized as higher than any human law. We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us to exercise our solemn duty not only to vote but to influence countless others to vote, but to influence countless others to vote correctly. Lord we pray that your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, that their response to you requires that they have a moral obligation to be politically active. Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world; but rather a community of faith renewing the world. Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booths: are the same eyes that read your Word and that they do not cease to be Christians. When they enter the voting booth that their eyes read the names on the ballot and they do not cease to be Christians. Lord we rejoice today that we are citizens of your kingdom. May that make us the more committed to being faithful citizens on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”