Americans fine with Christians in politics BPNewsnet

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Over half of all Americans surveyed percent disagreed with the statement I am concerned that at times Christians are too involved in politics accordin! g to a survey conducted through a joint project of LifeWay Research and the Southern Baptist Convention s Ethics Religious Liberty Commission. Ed Stetzer director of LifeWay Research in Nashville said that when it comes to sharing the Gospel and also being engaged with public policy Christians can do both. I t is . both and not either or he said. You cannot stand for justice and be told you cannot speak of Jesus nor can you love God and His word and not care for unborn children the abused and social justice. The findings released May challenge the assertion of secularists who say that Americans religious beliefs should be purely a private matter and should be somehow segregated from weighty discussions of social issues and public policy. Forty four percent of Americans agreed percent strongly and percent somewhat with the assertion that Christians were often too embroiled in politics. When researchers asked those who attend religious services of any type at least weekly rej! ection of the premise was even greater percent of those polled indicated a high degree of comfort with the notion of Christians being involved in politics. Only one in five percent either said they strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the contention that Christians are too engaged politically. Americans who described themselves as born again evangelical or fundamentalist including Southern Baptist respondents expressed the highest degree of disapproval percent with the statement that at times Christians are too involved in politics with just over a quarter percent of these individuals telling researchers they agreed strongly or somewhat with the statement. Most Southern Baptist pastors percent surveyed indicated their disagreement with a claim that believers are too involved in politics with percent somewhat disagreeing and percent strongly disagreeing. Only eight percent of Southern Baptists pastors surveyed agreed strongly with the statement that Christians are too involved in politics with percent saying they somewhat agreed. These resul! ts do not surprise me at all said Richard Land president of the Ethics Religious Liberty Commission. They underscore and reinforce the feedback I get on a consistent basis from grassroots Christians of all perspectives. The survey results are very much in line with the involvement of people of faith throughout our nation s history with political issues that have a moral component Land added. Perhaps the most dramatic examples of religiously motivated movements generated in reaction to grave social injustice are the abolitionist movement against human bondage and the civil rights movement in opposition to segregation and racial injustice. The abolitionist and the civil rights movements are not explicable or comprehensible apart from the religiously motivated outrage that created them the religious leaders who led them and the religious supporters who made possible their eventual triumph. Warning there may be a temptation for some Christians to craft an informal alliance with! a single political party Stetzer said Christians need to speak prophetically to all parties not be beholden to one. If evangelicals are seen as a voting bloc of the Republican Party I am concerned. If Christians are told to leave their faith outside the public square I am more concerned. Land added that people of faith have an obligation to be involved in the process and to do so in a principled issue oriented fashion. We should be voting our values beliefs and convictions based upon our understanding of the imperatives of our faith he said. Yet there is a balance to be considered when one s faith is brought into the political arena Stetzer said adding As evangelicals we need to not try to moralize the unconverted. Our primary mission is to convert the immoral other sinners like us. In the survey conducted by a national polling firm for LifeWay Research and the ERLC more than random Americans were polled by telephone April . Researchers also completed an online survey of nearly Southern Baptist pastors between April and May . Latest Stories I! nd. N.C. Democratic churchgoers like Clinton Americans fine with Christians in politics Evang. 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