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A review by dbswanson
Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement by Barbara Williams-Skinner, Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, Chris Butler
5.0
In the Preface the authors best explain the purpose of their book:
"The AND Campaign’s leadership team created this resource to help believers engage the civic space as faithful Christians and informed citizens. Our organizational mission is to educate and organize Christians for civic and cultural engagement that results in better representation, more just and compassionate policies, and a healthier political culture."
Throughout their book it is emphasized that Christians need to be faithful, thoughtful, and critical of how we choose to utilize our influence and political power. We need to remind ourselves we live in a broken world which, inludes the political sphere. As individuals it is emphasized that as fallen creatures great care needs to be taken in our beliefs regarding political systems, parties, or individuals.
They also note that the that "professing the gospel should never be subordinated to political activity. However, they also present very good and reasonable arguments why Christians should be involved politically. Remembering that our authority arises from the Bible.
We as the Body of Christ fall under "the great requirement and doing justice".
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8
The book covers such things as a framework, partisanship, critical thinking, messaging, rhetoric, race, advocacy, protest, and civility. Each is presented thoughtfully and critically. Regarding values they write, "Value judgments are an inescapable aspect of political engagement and decision making. If we’re not applying our values to our advocacy and voting , then we’re applying someone else’s." In all of this Christians need to engage with others kindly and respectfully.
Finally, one part of the book particularly stood out for me and I will quote it in full:
"No one makes political decisions from a neutral position. To make a policy decision is to choose certain values and goods over others. Our political decisions are inevitably informed by a certain worldview or outlook. When a person isn’t applying Christian principles to their political opinions, their point of view is guided by other belief systems."
"Our preferences, interests, and sociopolitical ideologies aren’t the ultimate authority and can’t take precedence over biblical principles. Outside ideologies and philosophies can inform us, but they should never be the masters of our political action."
"The Bible does not provide a political platform , and we should be careful to not confuse our personal policy preferences with religious doctrine. Two Christians can disagree on an important policy without one or the other necessarily being unfaithful. For instance, the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly how much in taxes government should collect or what the minimum wage should be. Even when the Bible does directly speak to an issue, Christians might disagree on how to apply the principle in the public square. It’s a mistake to suggest that Christians should always come to the same political conclusions. However, all Christians should make those decisions from a biblical framework."
This is a book that I think all who follow Christ should read and if you are politically involved or public servant it needs to be read. I highly recommend this book and thank the authors for their contribution to this subject.
"The AND Campaign’s leadership team created this resource to help believers engage the civic space as faithful Christians and informed citizens. Our organizational mission is to educate and organize Christians for civic and cultural engagement that results in better representation, more just and compassionate policies, and a healthier political culture."
Throughout their book it is emphasized that Christians need to be faithful, thoughtful, and critical of how we choose to utilize our influence and political power. We need to remind ourselves we live in a broken world which, inludes the political sphere. As individuals it is emphasized that as fallen creatures great care needs to be taken in our beliefs regarding political systems, parties, or individuals.
They also note that the that "professing the gospel should never be subordinated to political activity. However, they also present very good and reasonable arguments why Christians should be involved politically. Remembering that our authority arises from the Bible.
We as the Body of Christ fall under "the great requirement and doing justice".
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8
The book covers such things as a framework, partisanship, critical thinking, messaging, rhetoric, race, advocacy, protest, and civility. Each is presented thoughtfully and critically. Regarding values they write, "Value judgments are an inescapable aspect of political engagement and decision making. If we’re not applying our values to our advocacy and voting , then we’re applying someone else’s." In all of this Christians need to engage with others kindly and respectfully.
Finally, one part of the book particularly stood out for me and I will quote it in full:
"No one makes political decisions from a neutral position. To make a policy decision is to choose certain values and goods over others. Our political decisions are inevitably informed by a certain worldview or outlook. When a person isn’t applying Christian principles to their political opinions, their point of view is guided by other belief systems."
"Our preferences, interests, and sociopolitical ideologies aren’t the ultimate authority and can’t take precedence over biblical principles. Outside ideologies and philosophies can inform us, but they should never be the masters of our political action."
"The Bible does not provide a political platform , and we should be careful to not confuse our personal policy preferences with religious doctrine. Two Christians can disagree on an important policy without one or the other necessarily being unfaithful. For instance, the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly how much in taxes government should collect or what the minimum wage should be. Even when the Bible does directly speak to an issue, Christians might disagree on how to apply the principle in the public square. It’s a mistake to suggest that Christians should always come to the same political conclusions. However, all Christians should make those decisions from a biblical framework."
This is a book that I think all who follow Christ should read and if you are politically involved or public servant it needs to be read. I highly recommend this book and thank the authors for their contribution to this subject.