This is a follow-up to Bill who submitted a great comment. He asked two main questions and then fleshed out a great argument:

1) Just where does God call us to support the Government in the role of care giver?

2) Just what is your faith in? Faith has an object or it is useless. I contend that your “faith” is in a system and not the person of Jesus Christ. (find the whole conversation here.

Below, is my response:

Bill–

You bring up a great point, and one that I’ve struggled with–as Christians, as people of faith, what role should the Government play in the United States?

We have Christian libertarians and anarchists, who simply believe that Government cannot be reconciled with the Kingdom of God, therefore, there should be no Government Christians recognize or Government’s role should be very limited.

We have Christian socialists and marxists who believe that Government is a “social contract” with the people and thus, people of faith should apply kingdom principles as it comes to helping people that are impoverished, homeless, sick, imprisoned, oppressed, etc, etc.

I would say there are many more “models” of Christians living under different types of government, but would offer one more which I think is particularly relevant to the US. This is what I would call “enlightenment” Christians, where the public sphere and faith are separated (coming out of the “Age of Reason/Enlightenment). So Government plays a role, but it is distinct from and perhaps at times at odds with, the Christian faith, but it is our reason, nonetheless that must navigate a fallen world in hopes of governing as best we can.

I take all these models seriously because I think to follow Jesus Christ isn’t something that remains private or personal, but actually has worldwide implications. Christ’s proclamation of a Kingdom where the “last shall be first and the first last,” where what we do for “the least of these, you did unto me,” is a completely different form of ordering, of government than humanity has ever been able to fashion.

So, the person who thinks we can bring a utopia here on earth by the strength and power of our own making isn’t taking seriously the power dynamics at play when people relate to one another.

But I also cannot read the Exodus story, where spiritual emancipation from Egypt is also a socioeconomic and political one, or the Pentateuch, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, the Gospels, Acts, James (and the list goes on) and not believe that the Christian faith has economic, political, social, and spiritual consequences.

Reading these stories, I see the work of a God who is intimately involved in our story, and is angered by the way we oppress the Triad of the poor (in Scripture this “triad” is composed of the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner as seen in Deut. 26:12).

So where does that leave people of faith?

I don’t think the Government can become the kind of caretaker that God calls Christians to be. I don’t think that Government can ever, by its own designs, become the Kingdom of God. But we do have a responsibility, in the here and now, to care for people. And we must decide, is Government one way, of many, to meet the present needs?

I would love the day when the media reports: “Government’s Medicare program has become obsolete because every church, all people of faith, are caring for the needs of the elderly, the sick, disabled, and those who cannot afford medicine.”

So I encourage you to continue the work, by the power of the Spirit, to help those whom God calls us to help. And I hope we can call on communities of faith to fulfill this need, and as we do that, I would also call on the Government, who claims to represent our interests, to make healthcare more accessible, even for the people in society that we often ignore.

It isn’t a faith in a system at all, as that wouldn’t be faith. It is actually a faithful response to the love of God witnessed in Jesus Christ. In that sense, it is a joyful faith in the impossible. God, Thy Kingdom Come.

*(note: some helpful theologians in this area might be H. Richard Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Ada-Maria Isasi-Diaz, Gregory Boyd, and yes, Gustavo Gutierrez, and Oscar Romero. It is not what they are labeled as much as it is what they are actually saying, and how they back it up with Scripture).