Christian Faith and Politics

Athanasius, the great defender of Nicene orthodoxy, made a critical distinction between God as transcendent creator and maker, and God as Father. As Father, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father by adoption and not by creation. As transcendent maker and creator, the world, everyday life, was created by God, but does not reveal God except for the bare fact that God makes and is uncreated. This differs from paganism which sees the divine in creation, and also in the state as personified in the divine king or emperor. For Athanasius, however, God's true character is only revealed in the Incarnation, in Jesus Christ who is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.

Although Athanasius did not believe the essence of God was revealed in creation, he did affirm that creation was originally made by God, ruled by God, and further, the purpose, goal, and meaning of creation was found in Jesus Christ. This is affirmed by the Nicene statement, "Through him all things were made." Therefore, the meaning of life in not found in life, but in Christ, and from there, life is made in his image by evangelization and work in the world. Consequently, after paganism and classical thought had failed to create a viable society, the church set out to build a Christian civilization beginning in the fourth century. The results were manifold, but two are particularly important. First, since God is scarcely revealed in creation, the numinous quality of creation and the state greatly diminished and God was primarily known through reflections of the Incarnation -- the sacraments, saints, relics, churches, the Bible, and so forth. Secondly, although the state was no longer thought divine, Christianity became the religion of the state and was often imposed and maintained by state power. These developments reached their apogee in the late Middle Ages.

Subsequently, resulting from such factors as the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment, Protestantism's narrow sense of God's presence, and the willingness to establish religion by means of war and persecution, the "sacred canopy" of the Middle Ages collapsed and secularism emerged, the belief that God is not experienced anywhere, neither in creation nor Incarnation, and further, the belief that public life needs no connection with religion.

Given this history, what is the relation between politics and religion? There are several options. We could accept the secular state, but a secular state is really equivalent to a pagan state since both affirm politics as an ultimate. We could follow the trend and say the world is sacred, and therefore the state is, and thereby revive the pagan state by affirming the values "revealed" in the political process. These alternatives have been thoroughly tested and rejected, not only in antiquity, but in our century with the defeat of pagan Nazism and secular communism. Or, we could use the political process to impose a "Christian" or "biblical" solution, similar to the program of the "Christian" Right. That was the program of the medieval state and it led to the wars and persecutions of the sixteen and seventeenth centuries and to the collapse of Christendom. Or, we could try another way.

Stephen Carter, in his excellent book, The Culture of Disbelief, affirms the role of religion in public life and rejects the amorality of a secular state and the cruelty of an imposed religion. He affirms our country's original vision that government cannot establish religion, but religion can and must nourish the state. He is an Episcopalian in the Anglican tradition, a tradition that values freedom, history, common sense, and respect for others and the complexities of life. Anglicanism knows that true faith will transform society, but it also knows that the attempt to legislate morality often leads to no good end. Anglicanism is a world-affirming religion, and it is of the utmost importance that we preserve our heritage and apply our faith to public matters, because Anglicanism is a way of life that has, and still can, establish a humane civilization.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
1995