Clear Thinking about Christians in the Public Square

Apr 15, 2016 by

by Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch:

There is plenty of confused thinking about how Christians should or should not act in the public arena. We of course expect non-Christians to get this issue wrong big time. But when believers also manage to mangle this, it becomes quite disappointing indeed.

For example, some believers quite mistakenly insist that Christians should not even be involved in the culture wars at all. We are just supposed to roll over and play dead, and allow ungodliness and evil to come in like a flood. Sorry, that is not how I read Scripture, and that is simply acting irresponsibly and unbiblically.

[,,,] Unless I have missed something, when I last checked, the majority of Australians identified as Christians. I know the secular left wants them fully silenced and prevented from speaking on the contentious issues of the day, but it sure is surprising when believers seem to make the same silly case.

If Christians decide that a company or business or group is pushing agendas which they cannot or will not be comfortable in supporting, they have every right to take their business elsewhere. Why shouldn’t they? It is called choosing to act in accordance with one’s values. It is called enjoying the benefits of living in a free society.

If I do not like the fact that a coffee seller like Starbucks is supporting the homosexual agenda, then I have every right as a believer – or even a non-believer – to take my custom elsewhere. I can seek out a coffee chain that has values more in line with my own.

If some fast food chain repeatedly features sleazy television ads (as Nando’s Chicken often has done), then I can choose to boycott it. I can encourage my friends to do the same. I can suggest my church does likewise. I can urge my entire denomination to consider similar action. And there is nothing wrong or un-Christian about this in the least.

Why it is that anyone should have “disquiet” about these sorts of things is beyond me. One simply has to reflect on a similar situation here to see why there is no reason to be upset with this. When Wilberforce and other Christians were fighting the slave trade, they used any and all means possible to seek to stop this evil business.

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