Two Masters? I'm a Christian and a Citizen, Part 3

The state and the church are both responsible to ensure that people are treated fairly.  This implies the possibility that a relationship between the state and church can exist to benefit the wider society.  I argued that this relationship should be based solely on ensuring that social justice is realized.   I then listed some significant dangers that the church should be aware of if entering such a relationship.  Now, I want to assume that the church and state can realize a relationship with the proper focus and that the church has taken the necessary precautions to ensure that it does not fall into sin.  With these two (huge) assumptions in mind, I want to explore what the relationship will look like.  Specifically, I want to ask: How can the church serve the wider society by serving the state?  My contention is that the church best fulfills its role as servant by assisting the state when it is acting within God’s will and by warning the state when it is acting outside of God’s will.  Our tools in offering this service are prayer, understanding the role of Church and the role of state, direct acts of service, and – only as a last resort – confrontation.

Two Masters? I'm a Christian and a Citizen, Part 2

In my last essay, I suggested something that I think is, at least somewhat, radical: the church and state should have a relationship, but this relationship should not allow the church to compel citizens to follow Christian moral teaching.  Instead, the church and state should join forces only when their divine mandates overlap.  The overlap of these mandates is in relation to ensuring that people are not made victims of oppression.  Neither the church nor the state has proven itself trustworthy in how it uses power, so I pointed out that having such a relationship in place makes me nervous.  To calm my nerves, I suggested that the church should have strict parameters regarding how it relates to the state.  In this essay, I want to explore these dangers and parameters more.

Two Masters? I'm a Christian and a Citizen, Part 1

The Church in Canada does not have the moral nor political power that it once did.  Knowing this, Canadian Christians should be asking ourselves some questions.  What role do we have now?  Should we interact with intentionally secular states?  How would we even begin doing this?  Is being a Christian simply a personal matter of faith or can our faith positively impact society?

Two Masters? I’m a Christian and a Citizen bibliography

Tomorrow I will begin a new 3-part essay series entitled Two Masters? I’m a Christian and a Citizen. This essay series will build and expand upon some ideas I presented in Part 6 of my essay series “Some Proposals for a Christian Response to Poverty.”It will argue that the church must use every tool available to it to affect positive change. In conjunction with this series, it may be useful to read my essay What I Mean By Justice. I will be posting on March 9, March 16, and March 23.