Religious wars in America

In the midst of a horrible economy that is not getting better, the need for a serious discussion on unfunded entitlements like Social Security, a raging drug war on our undefended southern border, an enormous national debt and judges creating new rights with impunity, we approach the November election cycle talking about....religion.

The Ground Zero mosque. Gay marriage in California. The president's religion.

These topics have little, if anything, to do with the economy, the issue that has dominated the political landscape all year and sent incumbents into a panic about their own job security. But with just over two months to go until the November midterms, curveball social issues have jolted a campaign season that until now has been about job creation and fiscal discipline -- with a little illegal immigration and health care thrown in the mix.

I read this yesterday and I think this is probably true and horribly dangerous. We can expect a great deal of religious talk from politicians and their cronies in the next few months, talk accompanied by nods of understanding and "amen!" from many believers. Haven't we learned anything from Europe's wars of religion that ended fairly recently with the truce in Northern Ireland and that have left Europe a secular wasteland of people who equate Christianity with war and violence? The cages still hang in Münster, Germany where the bodies of the heretical leaders of the Münster rebellion hung in public after they were tortured and killed. There is nothing easier for power hungry people to abuse than religion and that has been true for thousands of years. The lesson we should learn from the cages at Münster is not "Anabaptism bad" but that there is an inherent danger in trying to use the state and the sword to advance the Kingdom, whether seeking to preserve the state or overthrow it.

I am concerned about politicians cynically hijacking the church to recruit foot soldiers in some sort of "culture war". I am very concerned that fear of Islam is becoming a way for demagogues to pit people against one another for their own gain in the same way that Adolf Hitler used Jews for his own purposes. One might object that there are many Muslims willing to kill and die for their agenda. I would agree and I would say that there are many men throughout history who invoked the name of Christ when slaying others. Further I would ask what any believer in Jesus Christ has to fear from terrorism? What can a suicide bomber do to us? Leave me alive and I am a witness for Christ. Kill my body and I am at home with Him. Paul describes it as the great "win-win" of the Gospel, that alive or dead we are victorious in He who won the victory and that is something that al-Qaeda cannot touch if we truly believe what we say we believe (Phil 1:21-24). We are told not to fear the one who can kill the body but rather fear the One who can cast the soul into hell (Matt 10:28).

Brothers and sisters, we are not called to be footsoldiers in the clash of civilizations and we have been the patsies of power hungry men too many times in the past. The Gospel is not advanced when America wins and it is not thwarted when America loses. We are not called to win the war over radical Islam, we are called to the way of the cross and that way often demands that we lay down our life for the Gospel, something any follower of Christ should be happy to do. The way of the cross is not the way of the world and it will always be at odds with the world's agenda.