At Living Faith last night, in the opening session of "How Would Jesus Vote?" we inaugurated a new political party. We called it the Reformed Christian Party (RCP lends itself less to opposition abuse than CRP) and agreed it would be the Purple Party (color of kings, but no coincidence that we're a mix of red and blue!) We took two mascots - a lion and a lamb. That was the fun part.
We've not really started a new party of course. This is just a useful device for our series on Faith and Politics, in which we will be striving to think and talk biblically about political issues. So a key question will be "what is the Purple Party's position / policy / platform" on various issues, including moral issues, the economy, America's position in the world (foreign policy), and healthcare.
But wouldn't it be good to have a new party that has a specifically Reformed foundation? That was an interesting debate. Even though it wouldn't be likely to win elections, it could (like the Green Party for example) have an influence on public opinion and the the major party platforms. On the other hand it is clear that while we may agree on principles of justice, stewardship, etc, we will still have a hard time reaching consensus on practical policies to lead the country in the direction we believe the Bible would have us go. The fun has only just begun ...
2 comments:
When discussing the 3Bs (Bush, Bailouts and the Bible) my friend Mike Todor in Pennsylvania sent me this reply, enjoy:
"The Nixon Doctrine says we should commit to political (and military) force when its our strategic interest and the Powell Corollary (born out of the crucible of Viet Nam) to that doctrine is to have a short specific tactical goals that are readily achievable. Well, hard to understand what strategic interest we were protecting, or pursuing, and we certainly haven't executed on the Powell Corollary.
"Here is the rub, the cost and chaos of this debacle is eviscerating our democracy at home and our standing abroad. Its draining our economy and chickens are just beginning to come home to roost in terms of inflation and uncertainty in economic markets.
"The sub prime mess (and its derivative underbelly) in a radical/integral way is tied to the turpitude of the past 7 years, and we're still looking at Washington like its a 3 ring circus with 2 proprietors.
"In the meanwhile, we allow our immature views of morality, which are guided by non sequitur, corporate based newspeak, hacked by political operatives, to prop up our self-centered views that we're doing right in the world. All the while we should be digging deeper into the radical meaning of The Word and its message that God loves the world, not just America.
"We also might consider doing something a bit Old Testamental: repent in sackcloth and ashes, and then move on praying for God's grace and insight on how to proceed. After all, life really is religion!"
Hi Graham - interesting topic and couldn't resist ... If you dig into Obama's background a bit - he claims that Ronald Neibuhr is one of his "favorites" - he claims to be "shaped greatly" by his writings. In my books Neibuhr falls into the Reformed camp ... just a little fodder
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