Christians are called to believe, think, and act THEOLOGICALLY. Our theology is to shape our ideology, not the other way around. THEOLOGY is about living in and out of relationship with God, being shaped by God's grace to do God's will. IDEOLOGY is about living in and out of political and social values shaped by culture, philosophy, and personal bias, for the purpose of doing our will.
I belong to an ecumenical progressive ministry called ISAIAH. Its purpose comes from Isaiah 58: to be a "repairer of the breach, a mender of cities." Towards this end, ISAIAH is committed to addressing major issues such as education, budget, voter ID by impacting legislation through influencing our state legislators. This means lobbying. No, we don't bribe, get big bucks, or kickbacks! We visit, have thoughtful conversation, listen, and share our views.
Recently, I was part of a lobbying team which visited two Republican legislators. One visit was particularly illuminating. We shared our views on an education proposal for equal access and opportunity for all. Finally, the legislator said, "I have noticed that the proposals of the Joint Religious and Legislative Council (another progressive ecumenical ministry) and ISAIAH tend to be similar to the DFL ideology."
At this I jumped in, saying, "It is not about ideology, but theology. I notice that you have a Bible on your lamp stand. ISAIAH understands the Bible as God calling us to insure equal access, equal opportunity, equal justice for all people. ISAIAH welcomes all people towards this effort, Republican and Democrat." I also said, "Jesus takes sides. Jesus wills that all people have enough for life, that there be dignity, access, opportunity, justice, and life for all." I tried to lift up THEOLOGY over IDEOLOGY, and to say that THEOLOGY must shape our IDEOLOGY, that THEOLOGY brings Christian folks together politically for the sake of the common good.
It was a time of witness as well as policy conversation. The tone changed from confrontation to contemplation, from argument to listening, from IDEOLOGY to THEOLOGY. In the end I felt a union of concern and spirit. Will his votes change? Yet, we witnessed, listened, and advocated.
At a recent ISAIAH training session, we focused on how to lobby, how to advocate, how to move the conversation beyond ideology to theology. Part of the answer is to focus on VALUES. Hence, we have developed GROUNDING QUESTIONS, asking: Will our leaders
1) CREATE racial equity in our state?
2) UNITE us rather that divide us?
3) CREATE prosperity for all rather than concentrating on wealth?
4) EXPAND participation and power in public decision making?
5) MOVE us from gridlock into working together creatively?
It is ISAIAH's belief that addressing the various issues of our time through asking these questions can lead to common ground for the common good. Why? Because these questions are VALUE QUESTIONS which lead us to conversation about the state of our common humanity and what we can do together to provide for ALL.
I think these questions put THEOLOGY on the table, and direct the conversation towards actions which unite for justice and the common good, rather than create an IDEOLOGICAL barrier of gridlock and abuse of power.
THEOLOGY shapes IDEOLOGY. The power of the Church is its THEOLOGY and reliance on the Word, in which Christ is proclaimed, who in turn transforms life and politics.
Peace!
Ron Letnes
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I love reading you postings. Thanks for you efforts. I am also a Colorado clergy member. Since the mid 80's I've watched the rise of conservative evangelical churches, especially on the west coast and wondered how an essentially empty, though highly structured theology could be so attractive. I notice two things; 1) The music was a adaption of Hindu praise music and as such really attractive and 2) people do not chose a religion based on spiritual or even religious values, but rather to support their lowest impulses. That might seem too broad because we often think of low impulse as sex and much of the new evangelism rejects sex (while being rife with illicit sex in the dark). I'm talking about our natural bigotry and learned contempt of the "other." I notice that many chose the path not to be transformed as Jesus would have us do so, but to support our corruption.
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