Thursday, September 25, 2008

Evangelical Political Dialogue

What: Dialogue between an Obama supporter and a McCain supporter, both evangelical Christians
When: Thursday, October 23; 11:00 AM
Where: The chapel on the Denver Seminary campus (6399 S. Santa Fe Dr.; Littleton, CO)
Why: To glorify God in our engagement of politics

What's this all about? Why hold a political dialogue on a religious campus? Well, for starters, God cares about people, and people are affected by politics. A church that cares about people should care (at least a little) about politics. To approach it from the opposite direction, it is impossible for me, as a Christian, to separate Christianity from my engagement of my citizenship. It is my responsibility to think Christianly in my political engagement.

It is also my responsibility to behave Christianly in my political engagement. During an election year, political conversations in our country often go in one of two directions. On one side is the cat-fighting dominated by image, slander, rumors, and sound bites; on the other side are those who choose not to talk about anything in order to keep the peace. The hope is that this coming event will rise above these two unfortunate options. To that end, the conversation between the participants will be one of convicted civility - not a debate where the two sides try to defeat one another, but a dialogue where two people honestly and amicably discuss their differences so audience members can come to their own conclusions. This is possible for a number of reasons:
--The contributors have far more in common in Christ than they have differences in political philosophy.
--The contributors have the Spirit of peace, kindness, and self-control living inside them and between them.
--The contributors find their ultimate hope in a kingdom that is not of this world.

(UPDATED OCT. 3) The event is sponsored by the Vernon Grounds Institute of Public Ethics. Participating as a supporter of John McCain will be Dan Breed; supporting Barack Obama will be Craig Blomberg. Dan is an associate pastor in Westminster, a seminary alumnus (M.Div. '06), a man with academic and practical experience in politics, and one of my mentors. Craig is a professor of New Testament and my recent boss. I am personally honored to call them both friends.

Consider yourself invited!

(UPDATED OCT. 28) The event was a success; we had a nice crowd, and I've heard lots of feedback in the days since then. Audio from the event is available here.

1 comment:

Daniel said...

I won't be able to make it of course but I'll be interested to hear from you guys how it went.