Faith and Politics

I am ashamed to say that have spent much of my adult life in mild political apathy. But the invasion of Iraq and what we were being told about it jolted me in a way that I never expected. I realised that I didn't want to live in a world where our leaders could tell us lies and then send our sons and daughters to some far off land to serve as canon fodder for an unjust cause. I didn't want to be part of a country where our armed services would use high-tech weapons to drop bombs from high altitude on defenceless civilians below while our TVs showed us carefully selected footage of laser guided bombs blowing up "strategic" targets. Something was happening to me. I was beginning to care about politics.

Last week Pope Benedict travelled to the Fatima shrine to worship, drawing 500,000 followers with him to the spot where the Virgin Mary allegedly gave visions and prophecies to three Portuguese children. This week Portugal ignored Pope Benedict XVI's pleas and legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the sixth European nation to do so. The Pope had criticized both gay marriage and abortion as "insidious and dangerous threats to the common good". Whether people adore or ignore the Pope, he holds a powerful position in the world. Who is the man under the Triregnum, this man who influences so many millions of people?

Converts from Islam to Christianity are increasingly concerned about a number of reports in recent months which have cited astounding statistics on conversion. It is true – and a matter for thankfulness to God – that more Muslims are now coming to Christ than at any other time in history. However, they are not converting on the vast scale alleged in some reports. These false reports, often initiated by non-Christians and then circulated by Christians, are a matter of grave concern, not just for those who love truth and accuracy, but also for the many individuals whose lives are being endangered by the publicity given to the exaggerated figures.

Brother Andrew urges Christians not to 'black list' radical Muslims.
By Deann Alford - from Christianity Today

Brother Andrew, founder of the persecuted-church ministry Open Doors and author of the forthcoming book Secret Believers, has been traveling to the Middle East for more than 30 years. During that time, he has met with Israelis, Christians of all kinds, and Muslim leaders from Fatah, Hamas, and other radical or militant groups. Ever since his Cold War days taking Bibles behind the Iron Curtain (made famous in his 1967 autobiography, God's Smuggler), American Christians have often responded to Brother Andrew's reports with some degree of skepticism, but always with awe. Christianity Today senior writer Deann Alford recently interviewed Brother Andrew on the current Gaza crisis and Christian relations with fundamentalist Muslims.

Most attention in Iraq is focused on Sunni and Shia families forced to leave their home towns by sectarian violence. The fate of non-Muslim minorities, particularly Christians, deserves equal attention. The Iraqi Christian population has fallen to a third of its level of twenty years ago.

The American led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 deepened the already existing division between the Middle-East and the West, divided America from long-time political allies, and even divided America itself. It even divided Christians. Three years down the track as the American military body count surpasses the number of victims of 9/11, more sober minds are evaluating what the real cost of the war has been.

In October 2006 the Washington Post published the results of a study estimating the number of deaths in Iraq since the war began. The number is staggering. The study revealed that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred. This figure is not the total body count of the conflict, but focuses on what could be termed as 'excessive deaths'. ie: Non-combatant civilian deaths resulting from 'collateral damage' during the war and the instability which followed as result of the failure of the invading forces to establish law, order and the repair of essential services. Unlike other death-toll estimates, this estimate used a scientific method called "cluster sampling" and compared official death rates before the war with death rates since. While acknowledging that the estimate is large, the researchers believe it is sound for numerous reasons, and the great majority of deaths were also substantiated by death certificates.

What many people don't realise is that the Separation of Church and State was actually a Christian idea! These days this phrase is used by people who want to minimise the influence of religion in the political realm, but originally it was a phrase invented by Christians who wanted to limit the influence that the State had on the Church!

On the phone, in between his duties at Schofield Army Barracks in Hawaii, Sergeant Logan Laituri tells me he wants to "live radically for Christ." Normally I stumble over that sort of fervor – couched, as it is, in terms I would usually consider vague and cliche – but if following Jesus means telling your captain that 9/11 didn't absolve you of the need to love your enemies, I'll keep listening.

Can a good leader make monumental mistakes? Can a man who leads a country, who allegedly prays about major decisions, and who comes across as a reasonably nice guy - can someone like that make huge errors of judgment? The answer of course is yes.