Keep Your Church out of Politics

I'm participating in a comment thread over at WesleyBlog regarding a recent UMC statement against the Bush Administration's budget. It's a struggle to convince many of the liberal participants that the church is harmed whenever it takes stances on such subjective, partisan issues. It seems clear as day to the liberals that of course the evil Bush Administration is harming the poor, and therefore the UMC leadership is acting appropriately. They cannot grasp how other Methodists in good standing can disagree.

It's a freakin' federal budget! I mean, if were talking about something more concrete like abortion or strangling kittens, I'd be more sympathetic to the church stepping up to the microphone. But a federal budget is a vast, unwieldy beast filled with provisions for every program, and subtle changes in law as a consequence. It's too complex an document for anyone to assert that it is worthy of either God's pleasure or wrath.

Some of the commentors are noting that social justice is a core Methodist principle, firmly established in the Book of Discipline. Yes, this is true. But it does not automatically follow that concern for the poor=funding cuts bad. In fact, a good Christian and Methodist could argue that program cuts benefit the poor, and be fully compliant with the Wesleyan principles of social justice.

For the record, I'm glad that the UMC is a big tent. My own church benefits from having one conservative and one liberal pastor each. And we conservative Methodists benefit from reading liberal bloggers like Beth Quick and Pen. But if we're going to remain a big tent, then we have to stay focused on Kingdom work, and not on partisan politics.

UPDATE: Jeff chimes in with a compelling Biblical reference that really says all that needs to be said about churches getting bogged down in politics.