Introduction
Mostly people won’t like to
involve in politics, because they think it is sewage. The involvement of
Christians in politics was less and there are still arguments about it. Every
Christian leader should know about politics and political issues. So in this
paper we will deal about what is politics, political and related issues.
Politics
What
is politics?
Politics is the process or
dynamics of people acquiring the power needed for participation in
decision-making on behalf of the total community. It is process of acquiring
and exercising power for the governance of a state.
How
do we understand politics?
For the understanding of politics
we need to clarify the notions of country, nation, society, state and
Government. A country is determined by the geographical boundaries. Nations
refers to the people who know themselves as belonging together. Within a nation
there may be different societies such as urban, rural, tribal etc., held
together by some common concern or interest.
State
The state is the structure, which
provides a well-ordered life for the people, excising coercive authority.
Different states have different structures for decision-making and for
enforcing discipline.
Functions
of the State
Traditionally, there was the view
that the state’s coercive power is to fight evil or check the consequences of
sin. The state certainly needs effective instruments to maintain peace and
order against all forms of crime and violence within and from without. The
police and the military represent the instruments the states have organized for
this purpose. But this negative role is only based on a partial understanding
of the function of the state. With advancement of society all over the world
the state’s main role is the positive instrument of the common commitment to
work together for improving the quality of life of all members of society in
all spheres, physical, intellect, cultural and spiritual.
Scholars
view on the term ‘State’
Martin Luther regarded the state
and the church as two parallel institutions ordained by God or gifts of God for
human well-being. These two institutions are also governed by two orders, the
order of law and the order of Grace. The state is to provide justice and an
ordered life in this world and the church is to meditate the grace of god and
to prepare the people for salvation not only in this world but also in the
world to come. In Luther’s teaching the two institutions are independent.
Calvin taught that they overlap the church and the church has the task of
transforming the functioning of the state.
Biblical
view on the function of State
In Rom. 13 while asking people to
submit to authorities in power, Paul regards the role of the government as
mainly to punish the wrongdoers. It is like a dyke to prevent crime or the
consequences of sin.
Government
The Government is the instrument
for implementing the mandates and programmes of the state. It is through the
different arms of the Government that the state maintains law and order.
Role
of the Government
It is the role of the government
not only to prevent law breaking, but also to develop programmes for increased
production of resources for better quality and for just distribution of goods
and services.
Christians and politics
Should
Christians be involved in politics?
The Bible tells us that God
created from one stock every nation of men to inhabit the whole of earth’s
surface and determined their eras in history and the limits of their territory
(Acts.17: 26).
The Bible testifies to the
involvement of the people in political activity. The story of the Exodus is
about the politics of Liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt
and their development as a nation. The history of the monarchy in Judah and
Israel deals not only with spiritual matters, but also about politics. It was
the desire of the people of Israel to be like other nations that led them to
adopt monarchy. In I Sam.8 we have an interesting description of what monarchy
would mean for the people. Inspite of the warning given by Samuel the people wanted
monarchy. The prophets were involved in politics and had much to say about the
practice of justice in political life.
What
we can learn from Jesus attitude?
For a proper understanding of a
Christian approach to politics, it is good to begin by asking the above
question. He did his ministry in the midst of the Jewish people who were living
under Roman suzerainty. It was an authoritarian regime and the people were
subjected to a coercive authority. At the same time the Roman rule also
maintained peace and gave a sense of security to the people through the
enforcement of law and order within the Roman Empire. Rome possessed a large
and powerful army, which could stop any invasion by hostile forces and save the
unity of the empire. There is no evidence of Jesus saying anything against the
Roman rule. There were movements among the Jews against the foreign rule, such
as the Zealots, who wanted to overthrow the roman rule by use of force. Jesus
did not condemn this movement, but only said those who take the sword shall
fall by the sword.
When Jesus was asked, “Are we
or are we not permitted to pay taxes to the Roman emperor?”(Mt.22: 15-22;Lk.20:
2-26;Mk. 12:13-17) Jesus’ answer was “Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to
God what belongs to God”. Before giving his answer Jesus also asked for a coin
they had already compromised and accepted the authority of Caesar. But by his
answer Jesus made it clear that the authority of the Kingdom of God required.
If the people who came to him learnt to give to God what belong to God, then
they would know how to resist the authority of the emperor. Jesus did not yield
to the desire of the people who wanted to make him king (Jn 19:15). He made it
clear that he did not come to establish an earthly kingdom, but to proclaim the
kingdom of God. He also reminded Pilate that the ultimate source of all
authority was God and that he would have no authority over Jesus unless God had
given it (Jn 19:11). Jesus also exposed the wavering and hypocritical attitude
of the Jews and gave no support for their hopes of agitation against the Roman
government. We cannot conclude from this that Jesus was concerned only about an
otherworldly spiritual a kingdom. His teaching was that only through commitment
to the ethics of the Kingdom of God, transformation of the earthly kingdoms
would happen.
What
we learn from Apostles teaching?
In
the first struggle of the Christians with the government they declared that
they should obey God and not man (Acts 4:19). In the apostle teaching there is
no call to oppose the authority of the government. We also need to bear in mind
the numerical weakness of Christians at that time. Any opposition would have
been immediately crushed and made ineffective. Both Peter and Paul in their
letters urged the Christians to be subject to the authority of the state and to
intercede for those in authority (Rom 13:1-7;Pet 2:13-17). It is also possible
that the efficiency of the Roman rule providing peace, security and stability
was considered by the apostles as a help to their missionary activities. They
also regarded the government as the instrument of God against evil.
How
a Christian should respond?
The Bible does not ask for an
unconditional submission to the state. The basic loyalty of the Christian is to
God and his rule. Loyalty to the state or opposition to it is inspired by
loyalty to God. Thomas More who went to his death ordered by Henry VIII
describing himself as the King’s good servant, but God’s first. Thomas
Jefferson wrote, “Rebellion to tyrants was obedience to God”. Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, because of his Christian commitment, thought it proper to join the
resistance movement in Germany whose objective was to kill Hitler. Resistance
to any totalitarianism that exalts Caesar to the position of God was considered
as obedience to God.
The state is an instrument of
the people for life as a community with law and order. In the Bible we have the
vision of a state reflecting the sovereignty of God, the kingdom of god. The
letter to the Hebrews speaks of our “looking forward to a city with firm
foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10). It is also
affirmed that “here we have no lasting city, but we are seekers after the city
which is to come (Heb 13:14).
The Church and
Indian Constitution
In India we have a
Constitution, which guarantees equality of freedom and justice to all citizens
irrespective of religion, language, race, caste, sex or whatever. India is a
secular, socialist, democratic republic. The Indian state is established with a
commitment to strive for the good of all. This objective can be realized only
with the cooperation to join with others in preserving the secular democratic
character of the nation.
The Indian constitution
safeguards the independence of the church.
It
guarantees to all freedom of religion, freedom to profess, practice and to
propagate one’s faith subject to public health and order. It
guarantees to all citizens freedom from any kind of discrimination on grounds
of sex, race, religion, language or place of birth. It
guarantees freedom of speech top all citizens and also freedom of assembly with
out weapons of war, and freedom of association and freedom of movements with
out restrictions. It
guarantees to minorities freedom to establish and maintain, administer
institutions of their choice.
Responsibility of
the Church
It is important to remember
that this guarantee is meant not just for the welfare of the minority
communities. It was intended to enable the minority communities to participate
along with others in the nation building tasks. The institutions established by
the minorities are not simply for the benefit of the minorities concerned but
for all members of society. The church needs to be vigilant against any attempt
to limit its freedom to express fully its religious life including the practice
of mission and evangelistic out reach for the proclamation of the gospel and
unhindered participation in the secular socio-political life of the nation.
The constitution describes the
state as secular, democratic and socialist.
Secularism:
It has been adopted bearing in mind the
pluralistic character of the nation with a diversity of religious, cultural,
linguistic and ethnic backgrounds.
Strict adherence to secularism would require the state to be completely
neutral in relation to people of all faiths or of no faith. It also implies
that the state shall not practice any religion or favor or promote any
particular religion nor discriminate against any religion.
Democracy:
It is a system with a government of the people, by the people and for the
people. It provides freedom for all, for the well being of all. There are
certain limitations to freedom. We also need to distinguish between freedom and
license. One’s freedom is limited by the ambiguities of human nature; democracy
is the best system for a just society. Reinhold Niebuhr says, “Sin makes
democracy necessary, Grace makes democracy possible”.
Socialist:
The socialist goal is concerned with justice in the economic sphere. From the
time of independence our country launched on a programme of National planning
with the objective of accomplishing a socialist patter of society. But in our
mixed economy has been implemented a bias in favor of the rich rather than the
poor. This has become most aggravate in the implementation of the new economic
policy of liberalization and globalization.
Commitment
to socialism calls for seeking ways of expressing solidarity with those who
struggle to remove poverty, unemployment, and the widening unjust gap between
the rich and poor.
The right to work should be
recognized as a fundamental right, making it obligatory for the government to
adopt policies and programmes to eradicate unemployment. Equally important is
the adoption of a wage policy that would remove the unjust gap between skilled
and unskilled labor. A socialist pattern of justice would also require a
revolutionary approach in land reform and equitable distribution of wealth,
removal of imbalance between the urban and enforcement of equal rights for men
and women.
Responsibilities
of the citizen
Exercising the Franchise
It is important that all
citizens participate responsibly in political life and not simply stand aloof
as spectators. The most basic form of participation is through the exercise of the
franchise or right to vote in election, electing the people who make the
decisions. For this every citizen should see that he/she is registered in the
voter’s list of his/her constituency.
It is also important that
Christians join with others determining the guidelines for their choice of
candidates or political parties so that the goals of justice in society may be
realized.
In a parliamentary democracy,
which we have adopted, our choice in elections has to be a political party and
not just individuals. Therefore, our guidelines have to be applied to the
different parties and voters have responsibility to evaluate the platforms,
policies and programmes for the basis of which party comes closest to the goals
we have in mind. In this task, it is not proper to accept blindly the choice
made party. We need to be realistic and bear in mind that no party may
perfectly meet all our expectations in the choice of candidates. Also we should
concern about the record of the candidates we asked to vote for. The candidate’s
record of integrity, his or her commitment to secular democracy, concern for
justice for all, solidarity with the people, need to be considered. In a
democracy independents also can play a positive role because of their
character, ability, leadership and influence in parliament or legislative
councils.
Human Rights
The concern for human rights is
universal. Basically the key to human rights is the right of a person to be
authentically human. There are reports of violation of human rights from
different parts of the world. In India we are aware of human rights violations
by terrorist groups as well as by security personal. Illegal detentions,
torture during custody and custodial deaths are examples of human rights
violations.
Human rights consist
essentially of the rights required to be protected or guaranteed in order to be
fully human. In every major religion there are teachings relating to the manner
in which they are to live their earthly life as an integral part of their quest
for salvation. These teachings form basics for concern for human rights.
Biblical teachings on human rights
In the Old testaments
the teaching of the great 8th centaury prophets interpreted the
righteous of God as demanding the universal protection of human rights for all.
This is brought out emphatically in the moral code of the book of Deuteronomy.
According to this code every person has the right to life, food, shelter, work,
leisure and all that contributes to wholeness of life.
In the New Testament the
ministry and mission of Jesus sharpened the concern for human rights. Jesus
ministry was for the restoring of fullness of human dignity, wholeness, to
every one. Human rights consist of physical, intellectual, social, and
economic. Political, cultural, religious and spiritual components.
The universal declaration of
Human rights adopted by the UN on 10th December 1948, begins
with the declaration that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity
and rights.
The Indian constitution
also, based on commitment to a secular, socialist, democracy, has the intention
of guaranteeing to all its citizens equality of justice and human rights with
out distinctions of religion, caste, sex, language, race, or whatever.
The reality, however, is that
the people of India do not enjoy equality of human rights. The urban and rural
poor do not enjoy the same rights as the affluent sections. They are often
subjected to different kinds of harassment and deprivation.
Ecumenical concern for Human rights
The modern ecumenical movement
has highlighted the concern for human rights as integral to the mission of the
Church. Vatican II made specific reference to concern for human rights in the
documents the church today and the Church in the Modern World. The WCC have
expressed concern about widespread violations of human rights and affirmed the
calling of the churches to be actively involved in the struggle for human
rights.
In India the Dalits have been
identified and belonging to the category of indigenous peoples and the
restoration of their rights is regarded as integral to the concern for human
rights.
Bibliography
Chandran, Russell.J; Christian Ethics,
ISPCK, Delhi, 1998.
Stephen.P; Introduction to Christian
Ethics,
Titus, Harlod H.; Ethics for today;
Van Nostrand Company; 1973
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