Growing up, I attended a public school system that regularly bent the rules as far as what was permitted under freedom of religion. Football coaches prayed with students before games. Teachers discussed matters of faith with students in the classroom. Faith-based groups visited my health class to discuss abstinence.
I didn’t know yet that Jesus already had a hold on me, but I resented him as the reason I felt so excluded among my peers. One can only wonder if my eventual conversion was delayed because of infractions like these, which seemed to say “You aren’t one of us,” even if that was never the intent.
So when I hear about government-mandated actions like posting the Ten Commandments in public schools, I don’t respond like a Christian; I react like a Jew first. The impressions made from those memories are hard to shake.
Responding as a Christian
This is one issue where I feel like the black sheep among my siblings in Christ: why wouldn’t I want people to hear the Good News by any means necessary? Isn’t exposure to the Ten Commandments a good thing?
As a Christian, of course I believe that the Ten Commandments are good and true. I would have more objection to the five pillars of Islam being mandated to display in classrooms over articles of my own faith.
Then again, as others have argued, there is historical precedent for Christianity as it pertains to understanding the social fabric of our country. Even if America is not officially a Christian nation, we live in what Flannery O’Connor referred to as a “Christ-haunted” culture. There is no historical and cultural precedent for other religions in quite the same way (I think a basic understanding of world religions is just as important as math, science, and language arts, but I digress).
Furthermore, it is the job of educators to teach facts, and as Christians, we believe that the resurrection is more than the crux of our faith, but a legitimate historic event: no less real than the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Responding as a Jew
Not surprisingly, I’ve felt torn between objectivity and the bias of my personal experiences. As a doctor is inclined to inform his patients about the best treatment for an otherwise terminal disease, so Christians are obligated to share the cure for the terminal condition of sin. The Ten Commandments are just one example of how regularly we fail to uphold righteousness, as sinners.
But it’s my Jewish background that reminds me of what can happen when the line between faith and government gets murky.
Historically, theocracies have never gone over well. While it’s not wrong for Christians to have prominent roles in the government, we are called to put to death any desire for power and prestige: two things that the devil tempted Jesus with.
There were people who shared their faith with me over the years; some more aggressively than others. The ones who ultimately led me to Christ, however, were those I was already in relationship with. It was the friends whose conversations were safe spaces to ask questions and gain clarity, without being condemned or preached to, that had the greatest impact. They led by example, and lived their lives in such a way that I wanted what they had.
What would Jesus say about our politics?
I can’t claim to know Jesus’ preferred method of running a government, or what he’d have to say about every policy that leads to infighting among genuine believers. Shoehorning the kingdom of God into modern day political practice has always been a messy endeavor.
But here’s what I can know.
Throughout the Hebrew Bible, we see examples of God’s kindness and long-suffering patience as He gives the people of Israel every opportunity to repent and return to him. That same patience and kindness are true of God today. He forces no one to come to him.
It seems to me that any government-mandated expression of faith is the exact opposite of that. Perhaps there is no direct force involved – not in the way of the Inquisition, where the choice was to convert or burn at the stake – but I do believe it has coercive undertones.
The Ten Commandments themselves are good, certainly. But is sharing them in this way particularly helpful to the larger cause of making disciples? Faithful Christians can agree to disagree; mine is just one perspective.
The kingdom of God is not of this world, anyway.
Photo by Sean Foster on Unsplash
***
Support my writing with a tip via Venmo or become a Patreon supporter
