“Separation of Church and State.”

We’ve all heard those words throughout most of our lives. Maybe you heard them in a middle school or high school US History class? But what do they really mean?

Like most things, they have a different meaning to different people.

Stereotypically, we tend to believe that the Right wants to abolish the separation of church and state, and the Left wants to deepen it.

Is that true, though?

OR…do we just have different opinions on what parts of the Church, or Christianity, should be enacted through our state and federal governments?

Sure, people who are antagonistic toward Jesus and religion will want a hard separation of church and state.

However, there are true and deeply devout Christians on both the left and the right of our political spectrum who might want to blur the lines in different ways.

Two Sides of One Coin

I’m someone who believes there are true and authentic Christians on both sides of the political and theological spectrum.

There are people on the American Left and the American Right who love Jesus and are trying to live out their lives, and political involvement, in ways that are honoring to God.

From our rhetoric, you’d think that wasn’t the case, but it is.

Millions of people are reading the same Bible and praying to the same God, but coming up with different opinions on how their faith impacts their politics.

While it’s tempting to claim, “Well, they’re not real Christians,” or “They are not following Scripture,” that would be disingenuous.

Both sides are real Christians, and both sides are following Scripture in the ways they believe to be most faithful.

Discounting Christian Nationalism

One group of “Christians” I’m not including in this are Christian Nationalists. Here’s why…

According to my friend, Dr. Miranda Zapor Cruz, “Christian Nationalism is not a Christian approach to politics. It’s a political ideology that appropriates Christian language and symbols to make it look Christian-like, but it has nothing to do with Christianity as a profession of faith. Christian Nationalism is a desire for America to protect and celebrate a Western European cultural heritage and to preserve and promote certain aspects of Christian morality. It’s not evangelistic and has nothing to do with belief in salvation through Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Cruz is the author of “Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why it Matters.”

Those who ascribe to Christian Nationalism are not the people I’m talking about here. Largely, these people are taking right-wing political ideologies and wrapping them in Christian language and symbols.

They are not taking Biblical ideologies and determining how those impact their political actions.

Same Destination. Different Routes.

It is very possible for those of us who call ourselves Christian to read the Bible and listen to the Holy Spirit and be given the same destinations as everyone else.

• Feed the hungry
• Clothe the naked
• Care for the orphan and the widow
• Love each other as ourselves
• Don’t mistreat or oppress the foreigner

It is also very possible and faithful for us to be given these coordinates from God and choose different paths to arrive at those destinations.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Abortion

Maybe the biggest hot topic of our time, I believe that all Christians want fewer abortions.

However, Christians can (and do) disagree on the most effective path to get there.

Some will say that the best path to fewer abortions is through state or national abortion bans. While many of them get a bad rap as wanting to “Control a woman’s body,” I don’t necessarily believe that of true Christians. Of course, there are politicians and opportunists who use this issue as a means of control. However, I believe most true Christians see life as precious and want to preserve it at all costs.

On the flip side, other Christians will come to the conclusion that state and national abortion bans are not the most effective way to reduce abortions. They may opt for using local and federal funding to assist pregnant women, provide more assistance to young mothers, increase education, make birth control more affordable and available to prevent unwanted pregnancies, etc.

Both sides are moving toward the same destination in drastically different ways. Both are Christians.

Immigration

The Bible tells us not to mistreat or oppress the foreigner (Ex 22:21) and reminds us that as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are foreigners on the earth at this very moment (Phil 3:20)

Does that mean that as Christians and Americans, we are required to throw the doors open to the country and let anyone and everyone into the United States?

Of course not.

America is NOT the Kingdom of God.

It does, though, require that we take an approach to immigration that seeks to care for all people, whether we admit all people to our country or not.

How are we talking about them? How are we treating them when they cross the border, legally or not? What reasonable avenues are we providing people to seek asylum to live, work, and become citizens of the United States?

A Christian approach to immigration is kind, generous, and humane, not antagonistic and hateful, but it doesn’t mean “wide open borders,” as Christian Nationalists might suggest.

Some Christians might choose to provide ways through the government to increase the flow of legal immigration into this country. Other Christians might choose to close off the border and slow legal immigration into this country. Both should have a posture and language about the issue that is representative of Jesus, not hurtful and demeaning.

Merging Church and State on the Left and Right

While the Christian Right gets a bad rap for wanting to merge church and state to make the United States a Theocracy, many on the Christian Left do this as well.

Any time someone is slinging Bible verses around to demand the United States government act in a specific way, they are merging the Church and State.

Sometimes, those people are on the right. Sometimes, they’re on the left. Some have the best intentions, some the worst.

Question Ourselves as Much as Others

It’s tempting to toss Bible verses out there as a “gotcha” against the other side, no matter what side we’re on. It is easy to think that WE are right, and THEY are wrong.

Are we sure?

I think a Christian approach to politics requires that we question our own religious motives as much and as often as we question others.

If we’re honest, both of us believe that our theological understanding and approach to politics is right, but obviously, we’re not often BOTH right.

One of us is sometimes wrong.

If we think that THEY are wrong 100% of the time, there is a good chance we’re not being intellectually or spiritually honest with ourselves.

Question yourself as much as you question those you oppose.

I started doing that (not perfectly by any means) almost a decade ago and it has made a world of difference for how I see people on all sides of any issue. It has also led me to change my mind on many issues that I once held firmly, but didn’t truly know why I did so.

We’re on the same team

Everyone who truly believes in God and desires to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God above our citizenship in the United States is on the same team, even as we disagree vehemently on some things.

Remember that.

Often, we’re trying to get to the same place, we just have different ideas for how to get there.

Stop demeaning each other and start talking to each other.