JESUS AND JUDAS: CHURCH AND STATE

Judas Iscariot loved Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ loved Judas Iscariot. Even after Judas’ grand betrayal, Jesus still loved him. It is this simple truth that should be the foundation of the Christian faith: compassion, charity, friendship, family and above all else… love and understanding. Two thousand years later, Christianity seems to be in decline, congregations seem to be shrinking, and there is a lack of individuals choosing to become ministers and priest. The true message of Christ has been marred with layers of biased interpretation to suite the extreme right wing political agenda in this country.
From a political standpoint, any individual who becomes polarizing is endangered of becoming unelectable. It is the individual who can meet in the moderate middle that is always the victor of any election, they are the ones able to persuade the independents and the moderates. This same political rule can be applied to Christianity.
In the past few decades, Christianity has continued to push itself into the political field taking extreme positions on a number of political social issues ranging from abortion to homosexuality. If Christians continue to take such polarizing stances in the political arena, then they are endanger of isolating themselves and further damaging the true message of Christ. This continued push into politics has ranged from subtle comments from respected evangelists to unchecked hate speech from so-called Christians that borderline cult activities. For example, let’s use the gay civil right’s movement as a political issue that Christianity has refused to budge or change it’s political views upon.
Gay marriage has been on the forefront of political field in the past few years. Just to name a few, states like Vermont, Massachusetts, Iowa, and New Jersey have already passed civil unions or approved gay marriage with more states likely to follow. Proposition 8 in California which defines a marriage between a man and a woman became the latest political battle during the 2008 General Election. Prop. 8 passed by just a few percentage points but it displayed the changing social view on homosexuality. More people are tolerating and/or embracing gays and lesbians has equal partners in our society and this changing view has left Christianity holding onto a dying agenda.
Pat Robertson, a Christian evangelist once said that the September 11th attacks happened because of the gays and lesbians. He has continued to predict a number of horrific national disasters due to America’s embrace of so-called immoral individuals. He has later retracted some of his statements but the damage has already been committed. Fred Phelps, the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church has continued his “God Hates Fags” campaign by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. These stories have continued to grab the media’s attention and church leaders have neglected to confront them in the public forefront. If Christian evangels do not come together and clarify it’s positions and amend them with the help of human equality and freedom then they will continue to be painted by the thoughts of Pat Robertson and the dangerous hate speech of Fred Phelps.
The salvation of the Christian political movement might be in the hands of Joel Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. He has continued to focus on God’s love for all individuals and has left behind the portrait of a vengeful and spiteful God that many evangelist have portrayed in the past. On a recent interview with CNN’s Larry King it seemed that Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria continued to state that marriage should be between a man and a woman and that this was “God’s best” but recognized that there were other families that were developing and that they might not fit that criteria of a marriage between a man and a woman. The more important part of Osteen’s interview was the lack of judgment against the gay political movement. This type of speech might set the tone for open dialogue between the two political factions. Joel Osteen has shifted the tone of Pat Robertson… focusing more on the compassion and love of Christ’s life and leaving behind the fear and judgment of the past Christian political agenda.
Can the Christian faith begin to shift their political agenda to the middle? Will they begin to recapture the hearts and minds of those who believe in equality and rightful freedom for all? I think if Jesus Christ was walking among us today he would be standing here holding Judas Iscariot‘s hand. He would glance over to him and smile and then say, “With Love and Compassion, anything is possible.”