God is not…political

The Western world is saturated in politics to an extent that I’ve never seen before.

Perhaps you agree. Perhaps you don’t.

At some point in the last decade it seems as if political arguments, slogans and memes have entered the public consciousness in a way they simply hadn’t until that time.

A lot of this is down to the advent and widespread adoption of social media.

Social media

You might be thinking this doesn’t apply to you, if you don’t use social media.

Putting aside the fact that you almost certainly do use social media if you’re able to read these words, the simple fact is that the majority of younger people do. If you’re a Christian, you have a responsibility to engage with people in what might be called the marketplace of ideas.

In the book of Acts, for example, when Paul went around preaching he went to the places where he knew people would gather to discuss issues of faith or deep meaning and significance. For Jews that would mean the synagogue. For non-Jews it might be marketplaces, lecture halls or the philosophers’ forum at Athens.

For a long time churches reached out to the general public by holding public lectures to teach the Bible, since that sort of event was where people would go in order to discuss or learn about topics of interest or importance.

With the introduction of television and then the Internet, that’s changed dramatically. Today, social media is the place to go if you want to capture the attention of the younger generations.

And social media is awash with politics.

Such as…

Perhaps ever since Donald Trump was elected to his first term as US President in 2016, social media has become a battleground between his supporters and his enemies, with both sides determined to secure social and cultural dominance over the other.

Slogans such as “Make America Great Again” or “Black Lives Matter” became rallying cries for one side or the other. Organisations such as Antifa even went beyond verbal and social warfare into perpetrating actual violence in real life.

And although this began in America, it hasn’t stayed there. All across the Anglosphere the same political divisions exist. Many, many people will have very strong views for one side or the other.

Now you might be thinking that again this doesn’t apply to you. Perhaps you’ve no interest in politics. Perhaps you don’t vote or don’t get involved in the endless debates.

However, even those who have no interest may not be immune from absorbing what they see and hear in the daily media.

For example, if you believe that Donald Trump is the worst thing that could have happened to America (or the world as a whole) – or on the other hand, that he’s the best thing that could possibly have happened to America or the world as a whole – then you’re almost certainly not as detached from the political debate as you might think.

Or if you believe that one side of the political debate is entirely right and the other is entirely wrong – whichever way round – then you’ve probably absorbed a lot more from the surrounding culture than you realise.

I know plenty of people who claim to have no interest in politics but will eagerly post memes promoting the slogans or talking points of one side or the other, with little evidence that they’ve made any effort whatsoever to listen to the other side’s point of view.

No matter how dedicated a Christian you are, no matter how little interest you think you have in the sociocultural matters of the world around you, we all absorb the surrounding culture’s values and prejudices more than we could possibly realise.

Even if we don’t mean to, it’s very easy to choose a ‘side’ and think that it’s our duty as Christians to support that side. Perhaps not going so far as to enter politics or even vote, but nevertheless to feel that the human race will be better off with one side in power than the other.

But what does God think?

Does God take sides in our political disagreements? Or in conflicts whether intra- or international?

In a word, no.

In the Old Testament he favoured the people of Israel and Judah above all other nations. He interacted with them directly, gave them a legal framework, gave them victory over their enemies (as long as they were faithful), delivered them from disaster (when they were repentant) and returned them to their homeland after they’d been driven out. They were his chosen people in a way that no other people group was.

In the New Testament the focus changed. God’s people are now anyone who has accepted Jesus as their saviour and been baptised as a Christian, regardless of their ethnic or cultural origins.

Today Christians can be found in every nation on earth and probably on every side of whatever political debates and conflicts rage daily in the news headlines. No nation or political group can claim to be God’s chosen people in a way that excludes everyone else.

Christians should never be divided by politics. None of the cultural or nation conflicts which divide humanity should be significant enough to put a gap between followers of Jesus. Even in 2025, when those gaps are closer to chasms, our faith should unite us regardless of which side we might choose or instinctively absorb.

We should be the ones who show the rest of the world that these charms are bridgeable, that there is something higher which can unite us.

A new faith

Unfortunately a lot of people do not have any belief in the existence of God and for them politics has become a sort of pseudo-religion.

It provides them with a clear distinction between right and wrong. Their side is right, the other side is wrong. This goes beyond simple disagreement over the best way to manage an economy or conduct foreign affairs or keep the most vulnerable members of society safe. For many people politics is now literally an existential war between good and evil.

But unlike Christianity, in secular politics there is no room for forgiveness or reconciliation, and absolutely no concept of looking at one’s own failings first.

Politics also gives people a clear set of core commandments and values that cannot be questioned. Concepts such as diversity, nationalism, personal freedom, social justice, multiculturalism or capitalism are variously held to be sacrosanct and unquestionable. There’s no debate to be had on whichever of these ideals a person might hold. To support them unconditionally is to be good. To question them in any way is to be evil.

Above all, politics provides a hope of a future utopia which only one’s own side of the political debate can achieve. Whether it’s the communist notion of absolute equity in all things or the capitalist dream of endless prosperity and growth, or something else entirely, people no longer feel the need for the Kingdom of God. They think we can bring about paradise on earth by ourselves…but only if we carry out the particular set of policies and ideals they believe in…and get rid of anyone who tries to stop it.

That’s why there is so much violence surrounding politics today. People genuinely see the other side as a wilfully evil and malevolent force trying to reduce the world to hell on earth.

The secular mindset has kept many of the basic concepts of Christianity but completely stripped away the foundation of a loving and merciful God. The tragic irony is that in some sense they want the same thing as us: a united human race living in peace and solidarity.

But whereas we hope for the Kingdom of God, they’re stuck trying to bring about the eternal Kingdom of Humanity. And they cannot understand that they’re utterly incapable of doing so. Instead of looking inside themselves to see where the limitations lie, they place all of the blame on “Them”, i.e. the other side of the divide. If “They” can be destroyed or at least silenced, then utopia will come.

This is nothing new. It’s the same sort of mentality that destroyed over a hundred million lives in the 20th century. Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Maoist China, among others…all nations gripped by a totalitarian secular ideology, convinced that they could bring about utopia no matter the cost in other people’s lives.

We’re not at that stage yet, thankfully, but that’s always the endgame for the kind of worldview that’s dominating secular thinking right now.

What can we do?

First, make sure that you’re not caught up in it. Remember that God does not favour one side over the other, regardless of how obvious the respective moral positions might seem to you.

Second, don’t allow politics to divide you from other Christians. Accept that human ideas and solutions are never going to do everything you might hope they will.

Finally, show people there’s a better way. Preach the gospel. Live the gospel. Try to make the world better in small ways by helping friends, family or your local community. Show that your hope is in the return of Jesus rather than anything humans try to do.

That really is our only hope.