WE are the 13%

We are the 13%

By Joseph Backholm | Executive Director A lot of people are still analyzing what happened in the last election.  Who voted? Who didn't? Why? One of the most interesting facts to emerge over the last several weeks is a study that asked people who attend church whether they got any information about the election from their place of worship. Thirteen percent said they did. Put another way, 87% of those who attend church regularly received no information about the election from their place of worship.  That doesn't mean that some of those churches didn't encourage people to vote, only that they provided no information how to make voting decisions consistent with their faith.  It goes without saying that voting decisions are left to the individual, but it is hard to imagine any other are of a person's life that churches work so hard not to provide direction for. Whether discussing personal disciplines, marriage, parenting, work, recreation, volunteerism, friendship, money, retirement, environmental stewardship, sports, adoption, mission work, or sex, I am unable to think of any subject so generally relevant to people's lives that only 13% of churches have provided any information about how to deal with it.  I bet more than thirteen percent of churches have addressed whether it's wrong to skip church for a football game or whether bikinis are biblical.  But what should the definition of marriage be or who should be president?  Not really worth our time. Perhaps you prefer it this way. Maybe you think "politics" should be avoided. Sure, you recognize that it's important, but you prefer to focus on things that will bring people together. Church is not the place to divide people. My concern with this approach is simple.  Things don't get better when the church ignores them.   Sure, we only have so much time and energy, and we all have different passions. And there's no question that you can deal with sensitive subjects in very unproductive ways.  So let's try to avoid that. But in general, we understand that when truth is applied to something, it gets better.  When truth is not applied to something, it gets worse. So, when we see something is broken, we apply truth to it. That becomes challenging when you pretend it doesn't exist. Not every church focuses on adoption, but no church would claim it's something to avoid when it's relevant. My concern over this neglect is not simply because it results in bad policy that does preventable harm in the lives of real people. It is perhaps equally troubling that, in working so hard to avoid what's going on in the world, we set the standard of avoiding important issues simply because they're challenging. The intense desire not to talk about something is probably the best evidence that you need to talk about it.  Just ask your spouse.  The reason we're all comfortable talking about sports and the weather is because it really doesn't matter. Dealing with challenging issues, in the open, is a great way to learn how to care more about truth than being right.  And watching other people graciously deal with how to apply truth to challenging issues related to civil government might just enable people in church communities do a better job tending that garden when they aren't in the four walls. Or, we could just continue doing what we're doing and watch things fall apart around us while we major on the personal and the non-controversial.  This resource is made possible by contributions from friends like you. Thank you.

The Family Policy Institute of Washington is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting public policy that recognizes the significance and sanctity of the family in Washington State.