Christians in politics 1780 – 2022 — Chuck Stephens

Chuck Stephens shows that there is nothing new or unusual about Christians in politics. But, he points out, that no political party has cornered Christianity

I could go back further into history but let’s start with the British Quakers during the time of Napoleon.  They ignited the anti-slavery movement.  Out of their faith and their setting in London’s civil society, they began to lobby against slavery.  This influenced a Christian MP called William Wilberforce.  He took the baton and ran with it.

But Wilberforce was a Conservative MP and his party was split on this issue.  He could not muster adequate support for his Anti-Slavery Bill in Parliament.  Not without support from the opposition benches, so he colluded with the Labour Party leader.  In the end, the combined votes of anti-slavery MPs on both sides of Parliament passed the Bill.

With the defeat of Napoleon, Britannia ruled the waves.  Britain was also the dominant economic power, so gradually it confronted this scourge – far and wide.  Missionaries like David Livingstone in Africa worked tirelessly and courageously to bring slavery to an end – at the supply side.  But on the demand side – especially in the USA which had only recently become independent from Britain – there was still a big struggle ahead.  Christians in the USA supported both sides of this acrimony, and fought in both the Confederate and Union forces – against one another.  But there were certainly Christians at the forefront of the Abolitionists in the USA.

In recent years, the historical narrative of Christian activism against slavery has been toned down.  Mostly, we now hear about slaves being blessed by priests before they sailed from Africa, and being among the proponents of slavery who fought Abraham Lincoln.  We don’t hear enough about Christian activism and Christians in politics vying to outlaw slavery.

Then came a post-Civil War period when “contract leasing” supplanted the social space left by outlawing slavery.  Sometimes called Jim Crow.  Out of which eventually came the Civil Rights Movement.  Again, the leading role of the church in this phase has been played down.  One icon of this era was a Baptist minister called Martin Luther King.  Again, what I see is Christians getting involved on both sides of the struggle.  Any narrative which simply assigns blame to Christians for discrimination and hatred is unbalanced.

In Canada during the 1930s, a young seminary graduate from Winnipeg was deployed in a Baptist church in Estevan, Saskatchewan.  His name was Tommy Douglas.  While he was pastoring that church, there was an acrimonious strike at a mine near Estevan.  Hearing of atrocities being committed by the mine owners against the miners, Douglas went to check it out.  He intervened to assist miners who were hurt in the internal conflict.  This was, by the way, at the height (or should I say depth) of the Great Depression.  Douglas also organized soup kitchens for the poor in Estevan.  Then he got involved in local politics to try to address the causes as well as the symptoms.

At this point, the elders of his church confronted him and told him that he had to choose between pastoring and politics.  They could not abide a “socialist” pastor.  Once again I see Christians weighing in on both sides of social and economic issues.  Douglas resigned his pastorate and soon became Premier of Saskatchewan.  He was re-elected for five consecutive terms of office, before moving up to federal politics.  Because the policies that he piloted in Saskatchewan were later adopted so widely across Canada, he has been voted the most influential person in Canadian history.  A Baptist pastor like MLK!

Douglas led a provincial political party called the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, because it promoted co-op models – from agriculture to banking.  Its critics dubbed the CCF “Communize Canada through Fear”.  Douglas responded that it rather stood for “Children Come First”.

Now let’s look at a close race in today’s news for the US Senate.  The incumbent is Raphael Warnock.  He has been the Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church that years ago, had Martin Luther King serving in that capacity.  In 2020, he narrowly won a seat in the US Senate for the state of Georgia.

Before his election, Warnock was one of the opponents to a “Unite the Right” rally held in Charlottesville in August 2017.  He is well connected to the likes of James Cone, James Baldwin, and other Black Christian leaders, and also with grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter.  For taking a stand like MLK, he felt the heat from literally all sides – whether academic, theological, activist, political, personal – long before becoming a US Senator.

He is now running against Herschel Walker, an ex-football hero from Georgia.  At one point in his career, he played pro ball for a team that was owned by a business tycoon called Donald Trump.  Walker is no angel, but he claims to have experienced “redemption”.  He is supported by many Christian activists who believe that repentance and forgiveness are the way of the cross.

Thus Walker’s campaign for the US Senate against Raphael Warnock has been dubbed a “redemption tour”.  Many critics are sceptical about his personal renewal, but he is giving Raphael Warnock a run for his money!  Here are two Christians in politics – on both sides of the electioneering.

I think back to St Augustine, possibly the most influential of all saints.  He lived a rather wild and immoral life before his conversion to Christianity.  But his conversion was rock solid.  Can this not happen to Herschel Walker too?  This is ultimately not up to the voters to decide, but up to God.  For he sees through the politics – to our hearts.

Just as Jesus welcomed a tax collector like Matthew and a Zealot like Simeon of Cana into his inner circle, I believe that the church is neither Alt-Right nor Leftist.  The church is bigger than politics and has its own change-agenda or “mission”.  From time to time this may lead Christians to engage in the political arena, but it is unfair to say that any one political party has cornered Christianity.  For the church steps to the beat of its own drum. 

Chuck Stephens is Executive Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Leadership and writes in his own capacity. 

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