Christians and the marketplace
Political candidates in any level of race, but especially for that of the President of the United States, have their political and personal views splashed across any and every news outlet as they grab for the headlines. Of course with the Rev. Dennis Terry entering the news forum with his remarks:
I don’t care what the liberals say, I don’t care what the naysayers say, this nation was founded as a Christian nation. There’s only one God, and his name is Jesus. I’m tired of people telling me that I can’t say those words. I’m tired of people telling us as Christians that we can’t voice our beliefs or we can no longer pray in public. Listen to me. If you don’t love America, if you don’t like the way we do things I have one thing to say — get out! Rev. Dennis Terry
Was this nation founded for the Glory of the One True God? Yes. This is why settlers came to this country, because they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs and they wanted the freedom to worship God as they saw fit and not as some fickle king or queen might force them to choose.
When it comes to Christians in the general public, many Christians have felt that they have been shouted down by the secular humanists. An excellent example of this is an article written by Andrea Stone at the Huffington Post, where she writes about the issue of Christians entering the political marketplace:
Politicians should keep their religion to themselves and quit publicly praying and talking so much about their faith, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. In the third consecutive poll conducted over the past four years, more than half of those surveyed, 54 percent, said religious institutions should keep out of politics while 40 percent said such institutions should express their views on social and political matters. From 1996 to 2006, the balance tilted the other way.
When this writer was studying at seminary, the idea of Christians entering the marketplace began to gain credence and subsequently books were being written urging Christians to enter. So what is this marketplace? It is anywhere that a Christian is plugged into; i.e. their jobs, businesses, churches, families, friends, sports, entertainments, etc. As such, Christian business directories began to be published as well, so that Christians at large could choose to either shop exclusively at Christian owned businesses or still shop at large.
Politicians who claim to belong to the Christian faith also took this marketplace idea and began to enter it into their own personal arena, the arena of politics. Candidates have always made some acknowledgement of their religious beliefs, whether in a passing comment or an extensive proclamation of their particular beliefs. But the resurgence of this phenomenon most likely came to the fore when President George W. Bush came into the office, openly acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. The phenomenon has continued on to this day, now with Rick Santorum openly proclaiming his conservative beliefs that clearly have been generated from a belief in the Christian Scriptures, hence:
Marriage is a society’s life blood. Not everybody can or will marry, but all of us (married or not) depend on marriage in a unique way. Marriage is foundational: it creates and sustains not only children but civilization itself. This is an institution which protects our liberty.
We can do this without cravenly surrendering timeless truths about marriage and human life. We don’t want liberal media-approved lawyers and politicians massaging the meaning of words, or judges implementing vast social changes without the consent of the governed, or, frankly, politicians like President Obama who cannot even tell you what marriage will be next week Rick Santorum.
“I’m standing firm on conservative principles. I’m no Etch a Sketch waiting to be shaken up & re-shifted (tweet from Rick Santorum’s at 1:42 p.m. 3/21/2012).”
The Constitution of the United States, in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, guarantees our freedom as it pertains to what is commonly known as the “right to free speech.”
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (First Amendment).
This is what Christians in the marketplace is all about. Regaining the ability to openly proclaim what we as Christians believe and to no longer tolerate being shouted down by those who choose to not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even as the song that Helen Reddy made so popular, that fanned the fires of the Women’s Rights movement, the opening lines to I am Woman with a slight revision by this writer:
I am Christian, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an’ pretend ‘Cause I’ve heard it all before And I’ve been down there on the floor No one’s ever gonna keep me down again
This song by Helen Reddy has long stood as a symbol of being the best that you can. So as it is now in the forefront of the political news, Christians are entering the arena of politics and the marketplace as a whole, determined to express our views of Christianity, even as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. And they all said, “AMEN!”
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