Hunter raises the question – So what that the left, right, neo-Anabaptist “operate with an understanding of the good society through the prism of politics” (169).
He basically argues that this way of understanding society is an illusion, an irony and a tragedy.
I want to focus on one particular comment that Hunter made under the category of “irony.”
Basically Hunter asserts that there are no political solutions to problems that most people face. Furthermore, when politics is suppose to solve value problems it is not able to provide satisfactory solutions.
Hunter sees an irony in that Christians are urged to vote and to participate in their public responsibility. He notes, “This is a credible argument and good advice up to a point. Yet in our day, given the size of the state and the expectations that people place on it to solve so many problems, politics can also be a way of saying, in effect, that the problems should be solved by others besides myself and by institutions other than the church. It is, after all, much easier to vote for a politician who champions child welfare than to adopt a baby born in poverty, to vote for a referendum that would expand health care benefits for seniors than to care for an elderly and infirmed parent, and to rally for racial harmony than to get to know someone of a different race than yours. True responsibility invariably costs. Political participation, then, can and often does amount to an avoidance of responsibility” (172-173).
I hope that pastors who live in communities where Christian responsibility is primarily understood in political terms would start leading their congregations in addressing problems in their community that politics cannot address. What if the church decided to “adopt” elderly people in their community and provides extensive care for them and their families. What are other ways the church can become active in their communities instead of spending a majority of their time on politics?
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