Faith vs Government

I’ve sometimes wondered what life would be like if everyone in the world were Catholic.  That’s right.  No Protestantism.  No Judaism.  No Islam.  No paganism.  No atheism.  No Buddhism.  No Hinduism, no whateverism.  Everybody is Catholic.  Do you think this is what Jesus had in mind when he founded the Catholic Church that everyone be Catholic?  No, I don’t think so. 

For one thing, he was an advocate of the separation of church and state.  When asked about it, he said this:  “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  (Matt 22:21).  So he envisioned our being governed in matters of state separate from matters of faith.  For another, he was fully aware of the presence of evil in the world, with references to the “Evil One” and “Satan” and “Beelzebub” in his preaching.  I believe he also knew we would be tested by non-believers, as he himself witnessed in John, Chapter 6, when many of his disciples “walked away and went back to their former way of life” when he began saying that to be his followers, we must eat is body and drink his blood (John 6:66).  So while he challenged us with an order like this:  “Go and make disciples of all nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19-20), he knew we would not be 100% successful.  And, of course, we have not been.  And we never will be.  There will always be these “isms” that will forever challenge us when we try to make disciples of all nations.  We will always co-exist with non-believers.  But that does not mean that we should not take the mandate seriously, that we should not try.

I am certainly not an expert with the current state of this mandate in other nations of the world.  However, as a voter in the United States of America, the present state of affairs with our government is my business and that is where the present-day argument lies for me.  There are many examples of how our church comes into conflict with our state.  For example, we had a Supreme Court in 1973 come down with a decision that a pre-born child is not a person as defined by the constitution and therefore has no firmly established right to live like all post-birth people have.  This decision opposes Catholic teaching and we believe offenders commit sin.  So we cannot, in good conscience, support this decision.  In addition, we have religious liberties, things that have been allowed for us believers through the years, to now be disputed.  The example here is our belief that the use of artificial birth control methods is seriously sinful and that Catholics who own businesses must not be forced to have their employees’ health insurance cover these methods.  I could go on.

So what is the solution?  Jesus said to make disciples of all nations.  We must endeavor to change the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens.  We must suggest to them that the Catholic position on these matters is important; that the elimination of sin in our world is our primary concern; that our heavenly reward should be everyone’s goal.  There are strong anti-Catholic biases out there.  There are even Catholics in our government who apparently oppose their Church’s teachings.  But we must not be deterred.  

My prayer for today:  Lord, please, in your compassion, help us with your challenge to make disciples of all nations.  Help us to come up with strategies to combat evil in our world.  Guide your people in methods to change hearts and minds.  We ask these things in Jesus’ name.  Amen.