Thinking Religiously on Politics

Yesterday I posted my response to the first question posed by my publisher at Energion Publications.  My conversation partner on the "right" Elgin Hushbeck has offered his response to the question.  At least at this point there are few obvious differences.  We both believe that faith plays a role in how we look at the public sphere. We also agree on the value of voting for someone who has no chance of winning -- doesn't make sense, even if we might be attracted to third party candidates.  In our current system there are only two games in town -- for good or for bad!  My sense is that the differences will soon become much more apparent.  

What I want to say at this point is this -- as Jim Wallis famously said, God is neither a Democrat or a Republican.  God is not a member of any political party, no matter how badly I want God to back my party. That said, I do believe that God does have some very specific commitments -- and from the biblical story it's clear that God's a partisan for those who are poor, who live on the margins, and those who are strangers.  God is not, as far as I can see from reading Scripture the guarantor of prosperity.  Thus, as we enter the political realm this commitment should be in the forefront of our thinking.