Burning Quest - Part 37

"When religion is used to pander to political whims, it has to forego its high moral ideals and become debased by worldly political demands.  It is in these circumstances that religion was used to justify wars and conquests, persecutions, atrocities, rebellions, destruction of works of art and culture."

So writes Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda in his book What Buddhists Believe (Page 295).

There is truth to those statements.  When dogma of a religion is legalistically enforced, bad things happen and  have happened.  History repeated this scenario many times over.  There were certainly horrendous wars such as the Crusades where people supposedly fought in the name of God.  These eventually became free-for-all's to murder and loot at will what was actually perpetrated in the name of greed.  Definitely NOT of God!

Followers of Jesus Christ have to remember that life in God's family is not about religiously following a set of rules; it is a relationship.  It's a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  When we live for Him out of love and gratitude, there will be peace in our hearts and minds spawning peaceful actions.

Any fighting done should not be...

"...against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).

Before any misunderstanding raises it's head, by "rulers and authorities" mentioned here, I'm referring to the spiritual forces; there is hierarchy.

This fight requires the armor of God.  Ephesians 6:14-20 marks out those pieces of armor for us: 

"the belt of truth...the breastplate of righteousness...the shoes of the readiness ...of the gospel of peace...the shield of faith,...the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit...praying at all times in the Spirit..."

Satan, together with his minions, is ever the adversary of God, Jesus, and all His followers.  Satan is ever ready to stir up trouble.  Thus, Christians need to be ever ready to counter and resist the "fiery darts" of that evil one.

Let's step back to the literal political arena.  Of course it is good to have high moral standards.  God delineated the Ten Commandments and many rules and regulations for the children of Israel in the early ancient civilizations.  At the dawn of the escape from Egypt, the children of Israel headed for the promised land; God's ideal for them.

They duly governed themselves by these, at least they were supposed to.  When they did, it went well for them.  When they didn't, it didn't.  God gave them these holistic ways of conduct to bring the whole nation good success and health but mostly God wanted them to trust and rely on Him, to be God-conscious and to have a utopic relationship with Him.  They blew it time and time again.

This is kind of the idea of church and state combined.  If they had adhered to it, all would have been peace and harmony in the nation.

It can be seen in the New Testament how the Pharisees and teachers of the law demanded so much of the people.  It had become legalistic and political and they bound "heavy and grievous burdens to be borne" upon the people (Matthew 23:4-5).  If the people didn't mind their P's & Q's they got into trouble.

Jesus had so much to say to these religious leaders about these things (read the book of John).  They didn't take it so well and it culminated in Jesus being hung on the cross.

Sri Dhammananda says on Page 296 of his book that...

"The Buddha Dharma is not directed at the creation of new political institutions and establishing political arrangements..."

It is directed at... 

"...people who will have to look within their own minds and work towards freeing themselves from the chains of ignorance and craving.  Freedom in the truest sense is only possible when a person uses the Dharma to develop character through good speech and action and to train the mind so as to expand the mental potential and achieve the ultimate aim of enlightenment" (Pages 296-297).

Yes, Jesus didn't come to overthrow the government of His time.  However, He did mean to overthrow the hearts and minds of humanity.  He did stir many up and His death and resurrection gave birth to these new hearts and renewal of minds.

When one and all would live for Jesus in all godliness and honesty, their very lives will be transformed through the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit.  They are not being coerced into this way of life at all by any political and/or religious agenda.

If all people lived this way, society would also be transformed for the better of itself.  Nevertheless there will never be perfect perfection of governance nor society til Jesus takes His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords.  I look forward to that day.

Sri Dhammananda did say that Buddha did encourage...

"...equality of all human beings...classes and castes are artificial barriers erected by society...the spirit of social co-operation and active participation in society; since no successor to Buddha, the members of the order were guided by the Dharma...or the Righteous Rule of Law...and the spirit of consultation and the democratic process...when a serious matter of concern demanded attention the issues were put to the monks and discussed in a similar manner to the democratic parliamentary system used today" (Page 297).

These were used to govern themselves and if most individuals were so doing, then society would be moral and responsible collectively.  

Generally speaking, Buddhists are not encouraged to be involved in politics.

"The doctrine preached by the Buddha is not one based on 'Political Philosophy'.  Nor is it a doctrine that encourages people to incline towards worldly interests.  It sets out a way to attain Nirvana" (Page 303).

On the other hand, Sri Dhammananda does go on to say on Page 303...

"...if Buddhists wish to be involved in politics, they should not misuse religion to gain political powers, nor is it advisable for those who have renounced the worldly life in order to lead a pure, religious life to be actively involved in politics" (Page 304).

Basically, then, for the Buddhist, it's best not to be involved in politics.  Instead they should stick to the business of improving themselves and learning to deny their cravings with the goal of Nirvana and Buddha-hood as their focus.  However,  should they get politically active, they need to keep in mind:  peace, harmony, good thoughts activating good actions for the good of one and all, and not using their beliefs and political power to force others into their Buddhist way of life.

For Christians, this is often bitterly disputed; the pros and cons of being active, or not, in politics.  Many people believe politicians to be a bunch of crooks and therefore, not a place for a believer in Jesus Christ to interact and stay "clean".  

It certainly would be a tough call but if a follower of Jesus Christ of Nazareth feels God calling him or her to a political position, I don't believe the rest of God's children should criticize the individual.  He or she may well have God-given mission complete with wisdom, gifts, talents and skills for the task.  The rest of us should uphold them with much prayer support that they would stay true to God and His will and ways through the political maze.

As Queen Esther of the Bible was brought to her position for "such a time as this" (Esther 4:14), anyone of God's people could also exercise leadership within a God-honoring modus-operandi when living in submission to God and His Word in a dog-eat-dog political world.

Of course, the Christian's perspective will be Biblical and therefore the governance will be intrinsically, what some would label, "church." Resistant outcry may well be against not separating state and church.  Regardless of how one looks at that, the real trouble comes, as the opening quotation expostulates,  when the religious views of those in "state" authority positions, are used to justify religious-based wars, conquests, and persecutions, etc.  

May we each pledge to pray for those believers working in politics that they will be granted much wisdom to govern justly and for those in authority who do not belong to Christ to also govern well. Ask God to  keep the ones with political power from using religion to exploit or persecute or negatively effect anyone.  This we know,

"...there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God..." (Romans 13:2 ESV).

May all uphold high moral standards so all may live, 

"...a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty" (2 Timothy 2:2 KJV).  

Pray for those in authority in whichever country you are living.  They need it.

                                                        ~ERC  September 2018~