Politics and civic responsibility can also be idols. This is one of the hardest parts of our religious philosophy to apply. Politics is a complex system that changes rapidly, concentrating our efforts on politics would be foolish.

Politics is not at all important.

Nonetheless, to think that politics should be separated from spirituality is an obvious oversight. All facets of ourselves should be reflections of Christ.

Without generalizing too much, for a variety of reasons, less government should be our goal. Less government gives us the freedom to conduct our spiritual practices, our charity and our businesses with the least amount of interference from outside forces.

Certainly, the government can play a huge role in maintaining our freedoms to worship (look at North Korea) but our government seems to be toeing the line at which they are beginning to prohibit more than they protect. At this point we must seek freedom not protection. For if we seek protection we may get it today, but tomorrow the government could decide to “protect” our adversaries, and destroy our rights as we destroyed the rights of others in the name of our “protection”.

Overzealous government programs can steal the function of our Christian community. When the government takes the reigns on social welfare we lose the opportunity to help others judiciously in order to share the love of Jesus. In the end, the poor around us are thanking the government for the help, not thanking God. The same is true of any government charity.

Political arguments aside, surely as small communities within our own neighborhoods we could put charity to better, more efficient use than the long-chain bureaucracies of our state and federal governments.

Our level of participation in the political process is debatable.

It’s a broken system, so do we refuse to take part in it on principle, or do we take advantage of what the government is offering? For instance, do we form a non-profit organization to take advantage of tax breaks, or should we forsake the system all together on the grounds that the government has no right to invade our community and determine what is and is not appropriate charitable work?