God And Politics: Is Reference To God Apolitical or

... A Means For Politicians To Divorce Their Actions From Their Faith?

Most Constitutions contain God in their Preamble yet when you mention God in politics they say it is apolitical. The Declaration of U.S. Independence, for example, contains four references to God, including the statement that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." The Preamble of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana reads: ?IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD We the People of Ghana.? Our every day lives and conversation prove that we cannot take God out of our lives yet when one mentions God in political arenas we are quick to say it is apolitical. Religion and politics are the two topics you are not supposed to discuss in polite company. ?Don?t break up the dinner party by bringing up either of these subjects! That?s the conventional wisdom. Why? Perhaps it?s because these topics are too important and too potentially divisive, or because they raise issues of core values and ultimate concerns that make us uncomfortable? (Jim Wallis, God's Politics: A Better Option) Why? An enquiring mind wants to know.

God is the Creator of everything that exists. Without going far let us look at some of the statements expressed by fellow Ghanaians when they heard report of the emergency landing of the Boeing 727 aircraft carrying President Kufuor and his entourage from Sirte, Libya to Khartoum, Sudan for the 6th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU):

?The man does not harm even a mosquito biting him and sucking his blood. God will protect him for those of us who adore him. Even if he has to die in the discharge of his responsibilities he will go to heaven to be in the companies of Pope Jean Paul 2. Mr. President, God is with you? (Kookoosahene). ?Oh my God fellow Ghanaian? (Kofi). ?You are very patriotic God bless u thank u for the wonderful early notice? (Native king U S A). ?We should all be thankful to God ok. Never wish that experience even on your worst enemies ?(HEY YOU). ?Well, for me I am glad that nothing bad happened. I am happy that the president and his entourage are ok. God is the only one who knows best? (The boy). ?Whatever we have to do, we have to do now-life is short? (Kojo Dacosta). ?I thank God the plane made it to safety. Much as I hate Kufour, I won?t be happy to see him dead like that (MAKA MAKA). ?Thank God that our president and his entourage survived the emergency landing. God bless you and long live Ghana. God is good? (Retired BNI officer). That is just a warning repent Mr. President (Kpormorne). I thank God the plane made it to safety. Much as I hate Kufour, I won?t be happy to see him dead like that (Maka Maka).

Not all comments to Kufour?s flight ordeal were positive though but we know that tragedy also affords us to see the real colors of people and their trend of thought. This one stands out: ?They plan to eliminate or kill important person in country J.J so shall God pay them back and is just a warning message from god Kufour you and lack conscience? (Name withheld). The true believer cannot separate politics and faith because faith in God (or Christianity) is a way of life; it is rather religion that pretends to be good in public and conceal evil within. Too often politics and spirituality have been separated, polarized, and even put into competition with one another thanks to religion. Like Karl Max said, ?Religion is the opium of the people.? We are often confused with so called spiritualists who attribute our lack of development to sin rather than laziness and in-action. This only show disdain for spiritual concerns, to say the least. That leaves spirituality without social consequences and a politics with no soul. Political discourse that is disconnected from moral values quickly degenerates. Laziness is neither a virtue nor faith without works. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said, ?Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God?s blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices - saying, in effect, that God is on our side. Rather, we should worry earnestly whether we are on God?s side (As cited by Jim Wallis in God's Politics: A Better Option). Are President Kufour and his government on God?s side? Then they must care about the needs of the people in Ghana.

In our attempt to shelving God in politics we see the depths of human depravity, we see our own tendency to take God for granted, and we see our own tendency to serve material things. This is the basis of corruption in government and elsewhere. It was only proper that when a government receives some loan or grant to serve the people it be set for the purpose and that purpose alone. Where is the $103 million Ghana government received for the improvement of the water situation a year or two ago? How has the government of Ghana utilized the loan or grant earmarked for improving the railroad industry in Ghana? God teaches us to be good stewards of the earth. ?When we turn around and despoil the earth and give in to the polluters that's an issue that must be debated on moral terms? (John Podesta). God?s standards of human conduct spring from His very nature as a good, loving, and life-giving God. Some behaviors are wrong because they violate His inherent goodness?they are evil and we must be willing to discuss them although they may invoke the name of God. Some behaviors are wrong because they deny God?s compassionate nature?they are hateful. Some behaviors are wrong because they threaten life?they are death-dealing. Does politics prefer to leave God out to avoid confrontation with the people's consciences?

Where would President Kufour be if he did not believe in prayer? May be it is not a fair statement to say that God delivered the president and his entourage from a plane crush. But who knows what the situation would have been if he (they or someone) hadn?t prayed. Why would these statesmen only invoke the name of God when in turbulence? Is God the God in trouble alone? Politicians who claim to be fearers of God (or Christians) like President Kufour and many of his ministers and MPs must show by their actions. They must learn to live to reflect their beliefs. God expects politicians too to love their neighbour as themselves and treat countrymen with dignity while spontaneously acknowledging and administering justice. This means making sure the people in the polity have good drinking water, good healthcare, good education and a high standard of living. Anything contrary is hype. It is unnecessary to live on hope and wishes as a nation. And it must be added, faith is action oriented not a wishful thinking. We need to live what we believe AND WORK TOWARDS IT. You may say this is author is joking or even a hypocrite but does it change who God is and His sovereignty? What do you believe in? Then live it.

Some Benefits of God in Politic

a).A belief in God must compel our politicians to tread with care. God?s politics" are neither partisan nor ideological. It is about the truth and the welfare of people in the polity. God?s politics challenge everything about our politicians when they become self-centered and ego driven. God?s politics remind us of the people our politicians always neglect - the poor, the vulnerable, the left behind. God?s politics challenge narrow national, ethnic, economic, or cultural self-interest, reminding us of a much wider world and the creative human diversity of all those made in the image of the creator. God?s politics remind us of creation itself, - a rich environment in which we are to be good stewards, not mere users, consumers, and exploiters.

b).A clear awareness of God in politics would eliminates dictatorship and demagoguery, and enforce that we are all created in God?s own image. Martin Luther King Jr. did it best. With his Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other, King persuaded, not just pronounced. He reminded us all of God?s purposes for justice, for peace, and for the community.

c).Faith or recognition of God in politics should enable us to bring about that which God has ordained. God calls all nations to excellence. By asking if we are on God?s side should energise our leaders to much healthier policies. Accountability which is the key principle of government underscores the belief in and sovereignty of God. Therefore taking God?s name out of politics only gives government the license to mismanage the economy. The other role of God in politics is penitence, repentance, humility, reflection, and prioritization. We need much more of all these elements because they are often the missing values of politics in Ghana.

e). God in politics should give us hope in our daily chores as a nation. God?s politics plead with us to resolve, as much as possible, the inevitable conflicts among us without the terrible destruction of war. Thus a mention of God in politics makes the vindictive, resentful and evil-minded politician very uncomfortable.

f). The true politician who says he/she believes in God should know that the material things we crave more than God (as we use underhand means at the expense of the nation and its people) are just as much idols as the material objects worshiped by the ancients.

Faith and daily intercourse with God would teach the nation that God is involved in the affairs of earth and He has revealed His will to mankind in Holy Writ, and will hold people responsible and act in judgment in due time. ?Hear O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: ?I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me. Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt. They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him? (Isa. 1:2, 4).All of us are inclined to ignore the ?Holy One of Israel? and substitute a god of our own making when we relegate God in our daily intercourse. This is only a front with the hope of being justified from stealing from others. Although God is beyond our comprehension, He is not a distant deity. He is near at hand, revealing Himself and His will. He knows every thought and observes every act of every person. And He will responds in judgment or mercy at his own time.

In Jim Wallis' book, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, a commentator writes: ?God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition - that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single-issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. In the tradition of prophets such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, and Desmond Tutu, Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life?( Publisher Comments, www.powells.com/biblio/17-0060558288-0)

A belief in God would reveal that the laws for life given by this Holy One are not the product of arbitrary decisions on His part. For instance, God didn?t simply decide on a whim to forbid idolatry, theft, deceit, murder, envy, and human revenge. Rather He took into consideration how men (both males and females) can enjoy His wonderful creation. Before everything else there is God. Only God is self-existent. God was, God is and God will always be. Everything, including politics came out of God. You either take it or leave it. Either way we will have our rewards as a nation of peace or chaos if we refuse to be good stewards of our land. In the beginning God (Gen 1:1) implies anytime we try to take God out of our daily/everyday activities we will encounter troubles. Political demagogues and dictators only thrive in the absence of faith in God or respect for God. Human nature hasn?t really changed since the time of old and neither has God. He is still the God we meet in Adam and Eve?s day some million years ago. He is still the One who cares for those who have not yet discovered that real satisfaction and peace of mind is found by learning from God how to live for the needs and for the good of others. One?s faith however, becomes mere religion when he or she acts God in his church or closet and neglect the real needs of the people in public life or even worse to loot from the people. This leads to the need for a clear distinction between religion and faith in God. [This author will try to draw some distinction between the two in Part 2. To be continued].