Bill writes about the assumption that Christian belief lead to conservative politics here.

I have often been shocked at what I see as the disconnect between some conservative values and the teachings of Jesus.

Conservative Christians are generally hostile to welfare, seemingly adopting the Russell H. Conwell doctrine, developed as a justification for the wealth gap created by the industrialization of America post 1865:

“I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich… because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel!”
– Acres of Diamonds

I’m no biblical scholar, but I think Jesus is on record as being critical of wealth accumulation. I could be wrong. Perhaps one of our alert readers will send me scriptural quotations in which Jesus damns the poor for the lazy, shiftless ways and praises the rectitude of money changers and rich men.

Apostate that I am, I always thought Jesus wanted us to use whatever goods we have to help the less fortunate - “whatever you do unto these you also do unto me” and all that. If helping the downtrodden is a mandate, you would think that Christians would want to, you know, help the downtrodden.

Reasonable people can disagree about how best to help the downtrodden. I am no fan of the current welfare system and would like to see major changes. But if government is able to help the poor improve their lives, I am willing to pay taxes to achieve that goal. Many conservative Christians challenge welfare and demand that private charity alone should be used to ameliorate the conditions of poverty. But if private charity is clearly unequal to the task (and one can argue that it is - see Hoover, Herbert), than one should be arguing about how BEST to use government to address social ills.

Perhaps the same thing could be said for other issues like education and health care; the issue shouldn’t be minimizing government involvement. It perhaps should be about how BEST to accomplish the goals a Christian society ought to have.

Stepping aside from policy, I wonder if Christians who want to use the government to push Christianity have tought the matter through.

America is the most Christian nation in the world, when measured by church attendance (Oh shut up, Mike, of course I left out Vatican city!). We are also the Western nation with a very strong separation of church and state. Perhaps the removal of our politicians from our pulpits has actually allowed Christianity to flourish. In nations with official religions, people have become cynical about the political underpinnings of their church.