Whenever the subject of politics and religion comes up, some individuals wish to believe that the two are not connected. Yet, many people are concerned with the speed of America’s moral collapse.   Throughout both the bible and world history, the two have collided (wars were fought over religion). When the Kings and Judges in the bible were godly, the people and the land flourished. On the other hand, the evil kings and judges brought famine and destruction upon the people and the land (does any of this sound familiar?)  Our founding fathers were men of deep religious convictions based in the Bible and their Christian faith in Jesus Christ. America’s conflict appears to center around the Christian church and the current ruling politics.

The dilemma facing the Christian church today is whether to incorporate politics in its Sunday sermons or risk losing tax-exempt status. The congregants are voting citizens that should hear where the different political parties stand on issue that may conflict with the Christian faith. However, for the past five years, there has been an elephant in the room in most bible teaching church services across the United States. The elephant is the current administration and the Democratic Party’s unyielding push for abortion and gay marriage and the infringement on the church’s First Amendment rights (i.e. attempting to force the Catholic Church to provide birth control to its employees against its religious belief). Many pastors will not publically broach the subject of the different parties’ platforms from their pulpits due to fear and political correctness that has crept into the church. The church is no place for political correctness. The entire bible is not politically correct.

The Presbyterian Church appears to have completely adopted the entire Democratic Party’s platform from gay marriage, abortion to disinvestment in companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.  The United Methodist Church has aligned with the Democrats’ platform on the homosexual lifestyle and the Affordable Care Act but has since done an about face on the latter; however, there is a split within the denomination on the issue of gay marriage. In order for a Christian church to adopt the Democrats Party’s positions, it has to outright divorce itself from biblical teachings.

The black church has become the arm of the Democratic Party. As a teenager, I remember around election time, Democrat politicians would visit the black churches. The pastors would give these politicians free rein to stand in the pulpit and address the congregation as he or she felt necessary. The speeches were usually how the opposing politician (usually a Republican) did not have our best interest in mind. (We were never told what those interests were).The pastors would continue preaching on that same theme after the politicians left. There never seem to be any resignation or fear of losing the churches tax-exempt status. In many of today’s black churches, social justice, racism and grievance replaced the message of sin and forgiveness. The social justice message removes the individual from responsibility and blames all ones problems on society. Strangely, the topics missing from the sermons are fornication, homosexuality, coveting, envy, jealousy, ungratefulness, laziness, lying, murder, and theft (except when referring to the tithe).  All such sins are plaguing the black community as well as all large segments of the rest of America.

Observing the actions of the Presbyterian Church, the United Methodist Church and the black Church, I have concluded that as long as a so-called church aligns itself with the Democratic Party’s platform, there is no threat of losing its tax-exempt status. As long as the Democrat politicians can come into your church’s pulpit and disparage the Republican Party, your pastor can sleep well knowing that there is no threat of losing the church’s tax-exempt status. However, if you are a bible teaching church that refuses to give in to political correctness, it is time to give up the tax-exempt and “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar' (Mark 12:17) and get back to preaching the whole council of God. For the first time in the nation’s history, America is witnessing a government forcing its policies on the church.

Christian Commentary (http://patriciascornerblog.com), or contact the author at dicksonpat@sky.com.