Christianity and Politics: What *DID* Jesus do?

I read an interesting news article from the Associated Press the other day, involving Christianity and interaction with culture. I have reproduced it below, and you can find a direct link HERE.

Kids’ Dress-Up Day Draws Christian Ire

REEDSBURG, Wis. (AP) — An elementary-school event in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office.

Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week. On Friday, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex.

A local resident informed the Voice of Christian Youth America on Friday. The Milwaukee-based radio network responded by interrupting its morning programming for a special broadcast that aired on nine radio stations throughout Wisconsin. The broadcast criticized the dress-up day and accused the district of promoting alternative lifestyles.

“We believe it’s the wrong message to send to elementary students,” said Jim Schneider, the network’s program director. “Our station is one that promotes traditional family values. It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error.”

Schneider co-hosts “Crosstalk,” a nationally syndicated call-in Christian radio show.

After the program aired, both the school and Reedsburg School District office were flooded with calls complaining about the event.

The response surprised Principal Tammy Hayes, who said no one had raised any objections beforehand. She said a flier detailing Wacky Week had been sent home with children the prior week, and an announcement was also included in teacher newsletters.

The dress-up day was not an attempt to promote cross-dressing, homosexuality or alternative gender roles, district administrator Tom Benson said.

“The promotion of transgenderism — that was not our purpose,” Benson told the Baraboo News Republic. “Our purpose was to have a Wacky Week, mixing in a bit of silliness with our reading, writing and arithmetic.”

The theme for Friday’s dress-up day came from students, Hayes said.

“It’s different every year. They basically present the ideas, and they vote on what they would like from Monday through Friday,” Hayes said. “… They did not mean anything by this day. They were trying to have fun and come up with a fun dress-up day.”

About 40 percent of the student body dressed up Friday, Hayes estimated, with half portraying senior citizens and half dressing as the opposite sex.

“I can assure you we will not be having this day (again),” Hayes said.

Reedsburg is in southern Wisconsin, about 60 miles northwest of Madison.

Now, there are a couple noteworthy points here. First, look at the radio network’s declaration, “Our station is one that promotes traditional family values.” For my British readers (and Americans not in the political loop), these are a huge buzzwords in the American political arena right now. The Republican Party touts itself as the “traditional family values” party, luring the Christian Church into its fold. The Democratic Party has taken the bait; rather than exploiting this weakness and catering to Christians and everyone alike, Democrats have reactively defined themselves as the “areligious” party. As a result, the evangelical church- the Body of Christ in North America- has completely blinded itself in its pursuit in the political sphere, wedding herself to the Republican party, and divorcing herself of her Bridegroom- Jesus Christ.

This has resulted in a Constantinian model of ‘Christendom’: trying to “take back America for Jesus,” or “get back to America’s Christian roots.” America’s founding fathers were deists and freemasons. And as students of history will recall, the Christian Church tried this once when it married itself to Constantine’s Roman Empire. The result ultimately lead to a model carried through to the Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages- known by this dismal name for this very reason. The fruit of this model was campaigns such as the “Holy” Crusades. Didn’t Jesus said that those that live by the sword would die by the sword?

Do Christians want to take over the government, and make the 10 commandments the law of the land? Does this sound like Jesus, or does this perhaps ring more in tune with Muhammad?

Back to the article: Is this really an issue over, or an attack upon, traditional family values? And to use the words of the station, is this event genuinely “striking at the heart and core of Biblical values”? Is this a legitimate concern, or is this fundamentalist overreaction? Bear in mind, this is elementary school children, meaning under the age of 10. Also, it is the children themselves that came up with the themes for the Wacky Week; not some liberal adult agenda. For the icing on the cake, there was a flier sent home before the event altogether. If Christian parents are so concerned for their children, where was the attention and worry over the flier beforehand?

Perhaps it is the Republican Christians that have converted this into an adult agenda.

*****

Jesus was not a Republican. Jesus was not a Democrat. Conversely, the Democratic Party is not Christian, and neither is the Republican Party Christian. Neither of these parties honor Jesus in all that they do. Yes, Christians should be concerned with issues like abortion- but likewise, Jesus said to care for the poor of society. Is this something the Republicans are well-known for?

Neither party has a monopoly on morality. Christians need to divorce the State and reclaim their Bridegroom. Christians proclaim “Jesus as Lord,” not “Republicans for President.” Likewise, the Democratic Party needs to wise up- you’ve been suckered into the trap.

Jesus is interested in changing the hearts of men and women in their everyday lives. The Old Testament Law was about imposing law over people to live up to. Jesus is about changing the hearts of the people themselves, to then walk out the transformed life (the same life that the law tried to get people aspire to, to begin with). Ultimately, Christians do need to be salt and light in influencing their governments, and this is very important. But government is not the chief focus of Jesus, or the Church.

This is why Jewish believers didn’t think Jesus was the true Messiah- they were expecting an earthly King, like King David, to overthrow the Roman Empire and establish his Messianic Rule on earth forever.

Jesus is King over his Kingdom, and reigns in the hearts of the people themselves. It’s not an earthly kingdom. It doesn’t have geographical boundaries, it knows no ethnicity or nationality. It is not tied to a political party. Jesus does not establish a governing structure and rules to live by, but rather says “Love God, and love your neighbor.”

Christianity is not about religion, it is about loving and following Jesus.

-ACR

~ by A. C. Rathburn on April 11, 2008.