In my life as a pastor, I tried to be non-partisan. I believe we need two strong political parties. My heart aches for young clergy. It’s hard to imagine being an itinerant pastor in today’s toxic political environment. When I began in 1970, the issue du jour was racial desegregation. We lost members who didn’t want to be part of a church opposed to segregation, but the angriest had left before I arrived.
Some who stayed didn’t like the church’s position on race, but our conversations were civil. I shared my struggle to apply the Bible (or the teachings of Jesus) to the tough issues of our time. Various people said, “I respect what you’re saying but I don’t see it that way.” I remember a friend who said, “I hear you but I’m not ready to follow Jesus that far.” Over time, many of them came around.
It’s very different now. Goldwater Republicans and Reagan Republicans were for limited government. Today’s GOP has made a 180-degree shift. As Heather Cox Richardson writes: It has thrown overboard the idea of smaller government to drive economic growth and embraced the idea that a strong government must enforce the religious and social beliefs of their base on the rest of the country.
Karl Barth (1886-1968), who protested the Nazi takeover of the German church, is freshly relevant.
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