Ain’t nothing like an election year to stoke our fears and tempt us to trade our allegiance to Christ for a political ideology. A 2020 YouGov poll asked respondents, “What is the most important election of your lifetime?” 69% of respondents said it was the current election of 2020. Surprisingly, that number increased with age, with 82% of respondents over 55 years old agreeing.[i] And the American political machine smiles. 2020 shattered the record in political spending, with an astounding $14.4 billion spent: a near doubling of what had been record spending in the 2016 campaign.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God urges his exiled people to, “[S]eek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7). We are called to be good citizens and stewards of the land in which we live, and yet we are exiles in this land. The fate of the Kingdom of God and her citizens has never rested on an election because God is sovereign.
The American political system feeds off the coercive power of the binary choice. In the current cycle, one side feeds off the fears of wokeism and the mental acuity of a candidate currently seated in the highest position of honor in the land, while the other side feeds off the fears of totalitarianism and whether the candidate is morally fit for the highest position of honor in the land.
In our book Trading Faces, Angel and I spend two chapters unmasking the dangers of national and political identities while inviting the reader into the true identities of exile, ambassador, and friend of God.
I recently read Joshua Ryan Butler's The Party Crasher, where Butler comes at the same challenge from another angle. While Americans tend to think of elections and political issues as binary choices, Butler proposes there are actually four options. And those four choices are not innocuous because they are in fact four political religions vying for our allegiance. Those four religions relate to an individual's connection with two spheres of influence: ideology that tilts left or right, and a worldview that tilts modern or postmodern. He maps this in a four quadrant graph:
Butler’s four American religions, then, are:
The Religion of Progress: leftward leaning and modern, progressives believe in "the value of science, technology, and institutions to change the world for the better."
The Religion of Identity: leftward leaning and postmodern, this group is propelled by a desire for self-expression and justice. “The locus of faith is no longer ‘out there’ in science, technology, and strong institutions but rather ‘in here,’ discovering and expressing one’s most authentic desires.”
The Religion of Security: rightward leaning and postmodern, this group has a commitment to "loyalty, local identity, and protection from external threats to establish the conditions for a thriving community."
The Religion of Responsibility: rightward leaning and modern, this group has a strong belief in "hard work, family values, and personal ownership to build flourishing communities."
Butler argues that all four of these sets of values have a good and proper place and all, to an extent, reflect biblical truth. Butler goes further into the various religious expressions of each group, who their "high priests" are, what their “sacred texts” are, etc. It's a fun and illuminating evaluation. The political religion of progress’s high priests are Bill Gates, the Clintons, and Steve Jobs with its most renowned worship leader, Bono. The political religion of identity is led by its preachers Lady Gaga and Lil Nas X, who model “the way of salvation through performative self-expression and continual reinvention.” Its prophets are political leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and its evangelists are Ibram X. Kendi and Jazz Jennings. The political religion of security is led by its great high priest Donald Trump and prophets Sean Hannity and James Woods. Its sacred texts are found on Fox News, Newsmax, and Breitbart. The political religion of responsibility’s iconic high priest is Ronald Reagan with Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro serving as its evangelists and Fox News and the Daily wire are its sacred texts.
In short, we are unknowingly wooed and catechized by political ideologies that demand our allegiance and feed off our fears. Butler reminds us that Jesus is the ultimate “party crasher.” By that, he means that Jesus both shows up in every quandrant and also undermines the tenants of every quandrant.
Do we have ears to hear how Jesus confronts our political ideologies? Do we have ears to hear how the other quandrants reflect gospel truths? Do we have eyes to see how Jesus invites us to see the other quandrants with his humanizing eyes?
The most important election was the election of Jesus, the anointed one (Dan. 9:25-26), chosen before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20), who was elected not for power or out of fear, but for our sake, emptied himself, and came to serve (Is. 42:1, Phil 2:5-10).
The second most important election was our election. Listen to Paul’s language about our election as he begins his letter to the church at Ephesus. What are the fruits of this election?
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Eph. 1:3-10)
Whereas our political religions stoke our fears, stir up ingratitude, and sow the seeds of disunity, God’s election of us speaks peace, eternal hope, and unity. We are “blessed,” “holy and blameless,” adopted “as sons,” forgiven, chosen, and united in Christ.
So, let’s be those who connect the heart of heaven to the heart of earth by praying for our leaders. Let’s participate in elections, but rest in our identity in Christ while being rooted and grounded in the only two elections that truly matter and have already been fulfilled.
[i] Jamie Ballard, “Seven in ten Americans say the 2020 election is the most important in their lifetime,” 10/1/2020, https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/32280-2020-election-most-important-poll-data
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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash