Lecture given to the Bulawayo Presbyterian Church
The first response most people have when the relationship between the Church and politics is discussed is to cry that the Church should steer clear of politics; “Religion and politics do not mix” and “it is wrong for an Evangelical Church to have any involvement in politics.” Tonight I would like to question this knee-jerk reaction. Thereafter I would like to examine the role of the Church and individual Christians in politics in Zimbabwe at present.
Definition of Politics
There is a need to define the word “politics”. The words politics and political may be given either a broad or a narrow definition. Broadly speaking politics denotes the life of the city and the responsibilities of its citizens. It is concerned therefore with the whole of our life in human society. Politics is the art of living together in a community. According to its narrow definition, however, politics is the science of government. It is concerned with the development and adoption of specific policies with a view to their being enshrined in legislation.
Bearing in mind these broad and narrow definitions at the outset we need to consider whether Jesus was involved in politics. In the latter and narrower sense he clearly was not. Jesus was never a member of a political party, never formed a political party, never adopted a political programme or organised a political protest. Much to the disgust of many Jews he advised them to render unto Caesar what was his. However in the other and broader sense of the word his whole ministry was political. The Kingdom of God he proclaimed and inaugurated was a radically new and different social dispensation whose values and standards challenged what was held dear by the existing regime. He challenged the status quo and provided an alternative to it. Indeed his very ministry was perceived as a challenge to Caesar and to the existing order and he was therefore accused of sedition.
The point I wish to stress is that Jesus, whilst not being a member of any political party nevertheless stood up boldly for God’s standards of justice. In doing so he suffered. Jesus always knew that what he proclaimed would deeply upset the religious and political leaders of the time. Shortly before his betrayal when he prayed on the Mount of Olive he said:
“Father if you are willing take this cup from me”. (Luke 22:42).
From the passage we can assume that (a) Jesus knew the trial that awaited him and (b) hoped that God the Father might provide an easier route to achieve His purposes. Jesus however did not falter and was prepared to speak boldly when he was later arrested and appeared before the Council of Elders, Chief Priests and teachers and Pilate. Likewise in Acts 7 we read how Steven stood up to the High Priest in the Sanhedrin.
“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts … was there ever a Profet your Fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one and now you have betrayed and murdered him – you have received the law that put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it”
Steven was standing up for what he believed and he suffered the ultimate penalty for that belief. The New Testament is full of examples of men and women standing up for their faith against the political and religious hierarchy.
The early Church was also filled with extreme stubborn and inflexible Christians. Listen to what Pliny had to say about Christians in approximately AD98 :
“I have asked them whether they were Christians. Those who confess I have questioned again and a third time, having threatened them with punishment. Those who persisted I have ordered to be led off to execution. I did not at all doubt, whatever it was what they confessed, that their obstinacy and inflexible stubbornness ought certainly to be punished.”
There are of course more recent examples of Christians standing up to the existing political order. Wilberforce fought a long and hard battle to bring about the abolition of slavery in Britain and finally succeeded. Likewise Dietrich Bonhoeffer almost single handily stood up to Hitler and the Nazi regime. He ultimately was executed for his beliefs.
Clearly there are many Biblical and historical precedents which show that Christian individuals and groups may, and indeed must, get involved in political thought and action. But should the Church itself as the Church get involved in politics? Martin Lloyd Jones when preaching on Ephesians 5 had this to say:
“If I want to help the State, this is my way: Try to fill the State with Christian believers, new men and women in Christ Jesus. That is the way to help the State. I say that everything else is the business of the State, it is the sphere of the State, appointed by God to do different work. But the two tasks, as we must see, are very different. At the same time, I agree that Christian men and women should play their part in the State. Then Christian men and women become members of Councils, let them go into Parliament, let them do everything they can to influence the enactments of the State.
Wilberforce and Shaftesbury in the l9th Century set an example to others. It is not Ministers occupying pulpits who should be preaching political sermons. Let them preach the gospel to the Wilberforces and the Shaftesburys, to encourage them, to build them up in the faith, to give them confidence, then those who are called to such a work can go into Parliament, to speak and act and to organise movements. It is the laymen who are to do this, not the Church!”
I agree with Martin Lloyd Jones that it is not the role of the Church as a body to get involved in politics or to support a particular political party as a Church. However when the Church concludes that Biblical faith or righteousness requires it to take a public stand on some issue then it must obey God’s word and trust him with the consequences. By this I mean an individual issue such as immorality, bribery and corruption the Church has a duty to make a stand to proclaim God’s standards of justice and morality.
The concern I have however is that in Zimbabwe and indeed in the Evangelical Church throughout the world there seems to be a reluctance for individual Christians to get involved in politics and a reluctance for the Church to make bold stands on God’s standards of justice and morality John Stott, in his book “Issues Facing Christians Today” says that the reason is because the evangelicals are irresponsible escapists. Listen to what he says:
“Fellowship with each other in the Church is more congenial than service in an apathetic and even hostile environment outside”
He sounds as if he is writing precisely for the Church in Zimbabwe! He asks the question why Christians are escapists and in answering that question looks at five great doctrines of the Bible which he says Evangelicals have tended to cut and trim in order to make them fit our “escapology”. I do not have time tonight to go into them in great detail and would urge you to read the book written by John Stott. In summary however John Stott says the following:
l. Full doctrine of God
As Christians we often tend to think of God as the God of our Religion, the God of “our” Covenant and the God of justification. In other words as we get wrapped up in our relationship with God we see him primarily as a God who is only interested in us, not in the broader community. God however is the God of justice as well as of justification. Whilst he is the God of justification, the saviour of sinners, the
“compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”
(Exodus 34:6)
He is also concerned that our community life be characterised by justice. In Psalm l46:7 – 9 we read:
“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the aliens and sustains the fatherless and widows, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
In Isaiah 58 we read that the true fast does not consist of our fancy religious ceremonies but in loosening the chains of injustice setting the oppressed free, sharing our food with the hungry and providing the poor wanderer with shelter.
It is also clear from scripture that God hates injustice and oppression everywhere and that he loves and promotes justice everywhere. We as Christians often forget that the Lord has actually commanded us to seek justice. In Zechariah 7:9 we read:
“This is what the Lord almighty says:
“Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor”
Those are commands and the Bible is full of them.
Until we as Christians recognise the fuller doctrine of God and his commands we will not have a burning desire to seek justice in our land.
2. The fuller doctrine of man
As evangelical Christians we are often guilty of having a faulty view of the worth of human beings. We are often guilty of seeing individuals simply as souls who need to be saved. We are all guilty of seeing people simply as numbers; people who need to be saved, branded and made ready for Heaven. We neglect to remember that human beings are Godlike beings, made in God’s likeness. We need to learn to know more of the way Christ views individuals and how God loves individuals and in so doing we will be stirred to greater action to help those who are truly suffering in our midst.
3. A fuller doctrine of Christ
John Stott believes that evangelical Christians have a narrow vision of Christ’s commission
“as the father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20: 2l).
When we think of this commission we tend to think of Christ saving souls. We tend to ignore the fact that he not only proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God but demonstrated its arrival by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving the sinful and befriending the dropouts. We put to the back of our minds the fact that He allowed Himself to become a victim of gross injustice in the courts and then, in the awful godforsaken darkness, he bore our sins in His own innocent person. Christian missions must surely involve us in entering into other people’s worlds. We have to enter their thoughts and their world of tragedy and lostness in order to share Christ with them where they are. We need to recall that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was moved by the hungry, the bereaved, the harassed and the helpless. Which Jesus do we preach and think of the most? Do we only think of Christ the evangelist?
4. Fuller doctrine of salvation
John Stott says that there is a constant tendency in the Church to trivialise the nature of salvation as if it meant no more than a self-reformation or the forgiveness of our sins or a personal passport to paradise. He believes that it is urgent that we rescue salvation from these caricatures and recover the doctrine in its Biblical fullness. Salvation should be a radical transformation of our lives. Becoming a Christian is just the beginning and yet we often tend to emphasise faith and end there. Whilst I hold strongly to the belief that we are justified by faith alone this faith must result inevitably in good works; if it is not it is not worth anything at all. In James 2 l7 and l8 says:
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead … I will show you my faith by what I do.”
And clearly those words do not just consist of doing good works only within the Church situation. If the body of Christ is not marked by Christians who are at the forefront of doing good in society then the Church as a whole is failing.
5. A fuller doctrine of the Church
One of the great dangers that face any church is that many of us think of the church as a kind of club where the common interests of its members happens to be God. We are religious people who do religious things together. We pay our subscriptions and are entitled to the privileges of club membership.
John Stott believes that we need to recover what he describes as the churches “double identity”. On the one hand the church is a holy people called out of the world to belong to God but on the other it is a worldly people in the sense of being sent back into the world to witness and to serve. It is a fine balance which has be reached: Jesus said we are
“In the world but not of it”.
In Matthew 5 : l3 and l6 Jesus is recorded as saying:
“You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world”.
By this he meant that if we are to do any good in society our salt must soak into the meat acting as a preservative and giving it flavour. Likewise our light must shine into the darkness. We are not the meat, we are not the darkness. But we have a duty as an individual Christians to constantly act as salt and light.
We need to take heed of the warning given by Christ:
“But if the salt looses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men … neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl”.
The danger is that when we as a church keep our salt and light within the bounds of the church and are found wanting as the salt and light of the world.
If we take these five doctrines and see them in their Biblical fullness, that is that God is not just our creator but is also a God of justice, that human beings have unique worth because they are made in God’s image, that it is Christ who identified with us and calls us to identify with others, that salvation must be a radical transformation of our lives and that the church is distinct from the world but the salt and light penetrating from God, we will see that the Church comprised of individual Christians has a duty to get involved in the life of the world. Individual Christians and the church in Zimbabwe have a duty to get involved in what is happening in our nation. If we have been guilty of living in a religious cocoon with narrow views of these great doctrines the time for change is now.
The record of the evangelical church in this country
Pre-independence
It is sad that the evangelical church has been blighted by the fact that neither individual Christians nor the church have boldly stood up for God’s standards of justice for many years in this country. If we consider the situation in pre-independent Zimbabwe it is sad that the white evangelical church did not stand up boldly against racism. It largely turned a blind eye to the humiliating experiences suffered daily by black people. It is a disgrace that it was only the Catholic Church, through its Catholic Justice and Peace Commission that condemned the excesses in the conduct of the war on the Rhodesian side. The white Protestant Church was largely silent and blindly followed the Government of the day.
In the post-independence era the situation has been much the same save for the fact that it is no longer just the white church which has been found wanting. ln l983 in Matabeleland hundreds of people were murdered by the Fifth Brigade and the Protestant Church was largely silent. The only church to stand up boldly was the Catholic Church. Twelve years after Independence the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission is still the only church based Human Rights organisation. None of the Protestant Churches have either individually or collectively established their own commission to monitor and report on the abuse of power. With a few exceptions the Protestant Church has been timid in the face of grave violations of human rights.
The present situation in Zimbabwe
As we look at Zimbabwean society in l992 we see much darkness and a society which is very similar to decaying meat. Let us consider five aspects of our society:
l. Megalomania
l Peter 2 : l3 – l6 says:
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the King, the supreme authority, or to Governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”
We are commanded to submit to the authorities but ultimately we are also commanded not to use this freedom as a cover-up for evil; we have to live as servants of God. In Zimbabwe we have seen the spectre of the President being likened in Parliament to Jesus Christ; something which he himself has never publicly condemned. We have seen the deification of our leaders as people who are somehow above the rest of society and can do no wrong. The church has been silent on this issue; there was hardly a whimper from the church when the President was likened to Jesus Christ in Parliament. There is not a whimper from the church in the face of the excesses of our politicians when they build luxury homes for themselves at a time when people are suffering tremendously.
2. Abuse of power
Amos Chapter 2 : 7
“They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust on the ground and deny justice to the oppressed”.
Proverbs l4 : 3l we read:
“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God”.
Through its abuse of power this Government has systematically trampled on people and denied justice to the common people. Largely the church has been silent.
3. Lies
Proverbs 29 : 27
“The righteous to detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.”
In the last few months in this country the people of Zimbabwe have been subjected to systematic lying by certain Ministers. In particular some of the promises made regarding supplies of grain have been patently false. In Isaiah 28 : 50 we read:
“You boast … for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
In response the Lord said that
“(He) will make justice the measuring line and righteousness will sweep away the lie the water will overflow your hiding place.”
Proverbs 29 : l2
“If a ruler listens to lies all his officials become wicked”
The Church has a duty to speak out against the lies which have been made by various Government officials. The reason I mention the verse from Proverbs is that I believe that we have to proclaim the truths of scripture to Government and that particular scripture says that if our President, being the ruler of this nation listens to these lies and lets them pass all his officials will become wicked and the nation will undoubtedly slide into further decay.
4. Bribery and corruption
Isaiah l is particularly condemning of bribery and corruption: Isaiah l : 2l – 7
“See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She was once full of justice, righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers … your rulers are rebels companions of thieves – they all love bribes and chase after gifts.”
Scripture is quite clear regarding bribery. Exodus Chapter 23 : 8 says
“Do not accept a bribe”
Deuteronomy 27 : 25 says
“Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe”
Deuteronomy l7 : l9 says
“Do not accept a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone.”
It goes without saying that we should not offer bribes as well as take bribes. Bribery and corruption in this country is rampant. As a lawyer I am aware of corrupt acts
by senior politicians and people in business. Bribes are becoming a matter of course in our nation and I am horrified to see that even Christians are prepared to offer bribes to get their way.
Why do I mention these aspects of life in Zimbabwe? It is simply to point out that the church in Zimbabwe is faced with a corrupt and decaying society. The church does not have to get involved in the science of Government; the church does not have to join a political party. But the Church is duty bound to speak out boldly and fearlessly against these acts of megalomania, dishonesty, abuse of power, bribery and corruption.
Responsibilities and duties of Christians in the Church in Zimbabwe
What can individual Christian churches do in Zimbabwe in a practical way? I would make the following suggestions:
l. I believe that there is a place for righteous anger. In Matthew 2l we read of the way Jesus entered the Temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and benches of those selling doves. Jesus was also scathing regarding the Pharisees. I have already referred to the way Steven spoke to the Sanhedrin.
“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!”
I believe that it is time for us to show that we are angered by the blatant corruption and dishonesty in our society. We have a duty as Christians to boldly speak out on these issues and we should not pull our punches in any way. It is time for Christians to call a spade a spade.
2. We need to recognise our own sinfulness and complicity in the situation in which this country finds itself in. We as individual Christians have compromised our faith and lost our saltiness because we have been guilty of offering bribes and not rendering unto Caesar what is due to Caesar. By doing this we actually display our lack of faith in God. We do not believe that God is powerful enough to get the passport that we need at the time when we need it. We do not believe that God is good enough to provide for all our needs if we pay every last cent of tax we are obliged to in terms of the law. Until the church and individual Christians regain their saltiness they are not going to have any effect whatsoever in preserving and providing flavour to society in Zimbabwe.
3. Psalm l9 : 9
“We finish our years with a moan.”
In this regard we as a church are no different to the world in that we concentrate our activities on moaning about the situation prevailing in Zimbabwe at present. I have got to the position whereby I am not prepared to tolerate moaning any longer. If people simply moan and do nothing they deserve the government and society they have. Now is the time for action as Christians. Action to speak out against what is happening around us; to condemn it in terms of God’s standards of justice. Individual Christians and the church have a duty to be salt and light in our society and to speak out against the corruption around us.
In conclusion however I believe that individual Christians, supported by the church, in the manner spoken about by Martin Lloyd Jones, have an opportunity to influence this country. We have a window of opportunity which must be taken. There is a tremendous void in terms of political opposition and ideas in this country at present. Government is paralysed and does not know which way to turn. The opposition parties are reduced to protesting rather than offering viable alternatives. It is a unique opportunity for Christians to influence the future course of this nation. In particular I think Christians could influence a new Constitution for this country. If a Christian believes anything at all about the nature of man it is that man is inherently sinful. Lord Acton once said “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Why is that? It is simply because if man is given unrestrained, unfettered power without any safeguards and checks and balances as sure as day follows night he will abuse that power and become corrupted by it. Why? Because man is sinful. The founders of the American Constitution some two hundred years ago were largely Christian men who had a firm grip on the fall of man. They were men who understood that man cannot be trusted. They were men who understood the need for a variety of checks and balances in government. Sadly our present Constitution does not have those checks and balances and I have no doubt that even if ZANU (PF) is voted out of office, the new ruling party and its hierarchy will be just as susceptible to abusing their positions of power unless the Constitution is changed. Now then is the time for Christians to play a major role in framing a new Constitution with all the necessary checks and balances.
Martin Luther King once said:
“Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”
That is the challenge for Christian men and women in Zimbabwe today. The time has come for Christians to start fearing God more than their fellow men; the time has come for them to get off the fence and to stand up for and to promote God’s standards of justice in Zimbabwe.
How can you do it? Ian has given me permission tonight to promote the Forum for Democratic Reform Trust and I am grateful to him for that. The Forum is not a political party; it is not designed to become a political party. It is designed to be an organisation that will identify alternative policies desperately needed by Zimbabwe at present and to identify leaders of integrity and competence. Once the two have been married then it is hoped that the Forum will act as a catalyst for a viable opposition; but the Forum itself will not become a new political party. There is a window of opportunity offered to Christians to contribute to the debate and to help mould the very nature of those new alternative policies. I would urge you to recognise that window of opportunity and to take it. Now is not the time for wavering or timidity.
DAVID COLTART