Aug 20
Opinion

Christian-in-Name-Only Politics and Politicians

author :
David Fowler
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​I think much of what we consider “Christian politics” or those we consider “Christian politicians” would fit within the category of Christian-in-name-only. The best evidence of that is me, the professing Christian who, in 2010, was called “Tennessee’s answer to James Dobson” by the Nashville Scene and named “one of [the] state’s most powerful lobbyist” in a story reported on All Things Considered. Little did I know what God would do to expose my wrong-headed thinking about politics, and change what I’m doing in that sphere.

I recently gave testimony to my lostness, despite how I perceived myself, at a Christian Businessman’s Committee luncheon; however, for the sake of brevity in relation to politics only, fast forward to 2024. That was the month in which Christ finally reduced my understanding of “Christian politics” to rubble.

Reaching the Legislative Turning Point

By way of context, as the head of a state public policy organization in Tennessee, I had been working since 2016 to develop what was known as the Marital Contract at Common Law Recording Act. I developed it in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling the previous year. The Court had held that state marital licensing statutes were unconstitutional if only a man and woman could be issued a license. The Act is premised on the proposition that the marital relationship between a man and woman is not a privilege granted by civil government licenses. Rather, under the Act, a man and woman (only) could exchange marital vows and record the fact of their marital relationship by affidavit.

Despite my many and varied efforts over the years to push for passage of the Act, in March 2024 not a single professing Christian on the Tennessee House Children and Family Service subcommittee would vote for it (House Bill 1386). No one would vote to accord any legal recognition and protection to marital vows exchanged between a man and woman, unless the state had first sanctioned that exchange with a license. And this was in an overwhelmingly Republican and church-going state, home of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of God International.

But, I am not writing this to put at issue the relationship of those members to Christ or fault any denominations, because, as far as I’m concerned, they were just players in the lesson God had for me.

The “Righteousness” of my Politics

I knew the Bible said the “righteous live by faith,” but as I look back, I see how easy it was for me to convince myself I was doing that. I believed in God and that Jesus was God’s Son incarnate and the means of my salvation from damnation. I was pushing laws I thought God would like, that conformed to His moral code. That, to me, was living by faith in the world of politics. And James did write in his Epistle that faith without works is dead.

But God, in great mercy, let me see that my thinking was akin to the Jews of Jesus day thinking they knew God because they “knew” the laws Moses had reduced to writing. It took the aforesaid demonstrable loss of “my power” in 2024 to exposed my folly.

The Holy Spirit graciously allowed me to see that my legislative advocacy work over the years was really based on two things. My lobbying skills developed as a state Senator, and the influence I thought I had among Christian legislators, ministers, and voters in my state. They availed nothing on a most fundamental “Christian issue.”

Moreover, it exposed my belief that positive legislative outcomes were how to measure “success” in putting first the Kingdom of God.

What I Learned

In sum, while I professed belief in God and allowed the Bible to inform my ethical values, I had, in a practical way, rejected the revelation of God in Christ. My faith was not in Christ’s faithful, wise, and knowing administration of His office as King over the kingdoms of this world for the advance of His kingdom and the new Heaven and earth initiated by His resurrection.

The consequence of that rejection and perversion of faith was made evident: Politics had become a power game of mobilizing conservative and Christian forces against opposing forces. My faith was really in my political prowess and “power” to influence others. Moreover, I was susceptible to the influence of the political organizations, even Christian ones, teaching me how to play the power game by making a better use of the same tools the “other side” used to mobilize its forces.

In my politics, I acquiesced to the power-game view of reality, and conformed to the world’s way of doing politics. For a while it worked. But that kind of power never works for long; it’s a fool’s game. And it took me 29 years to realize it.

​Playing power politics is easily substituted for faith in Christ to work as He pleases among those who will give an account to him.

Applying What I’ve Learned

I’ve learned that living by faith in the God who is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and pursuing God’s eternal purpose for that revelation of in space and time is what His people do.

However, that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned the fields of law and politics; those belong under the authority of Christ’s offices, too. But it has changed what I do.

I am now asking my Heavenly Father to use me to inculcate a Christian view of law among those in His kingdom who He might someday use for His glory to reform the Kingdoms of this world. And I’m praying for the end of Christian-in-name-only politics and the exposure and demise of its political practitioners.

Thankfully, it is never too late for God to give political instruction to fools like me that He eventually takes for His own. And it is not too late for me to tell others what I’ve learned.


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