Revisiting a Forgotten History of Christian Political Activism - By Mark McClure

Read full text: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/03/revisiting_a_forgotten_history_of_christian_political_activism.html

Revisiting a Forgotten History of Christian Political Activism Since the Obama years, pastors and church leaders have felt emboldened to promote Liberal/Leftist/Statist political points-of-view. Conservative Christians, on the other hand, have tended to ... www.americanthinker.com

When considering our response to governmental authorities and the world of politics, evangelical Christians typically turn to one Bible passage — specifically, the book of Romans, chapter 13, which states that believers are to a) submit to governing authorities, and b) not to rebel against them.

The standard evangelical Christian teaching is that we should do both of those, period. This world-view promotes passivity. The implication is, we as believers do our thing and governmental authorities do their thing, and since we seek spiritual purity only, then we must passively obey and passively stand by and watch, whether politicians and bureaucrats run things well, or they are corrupt and oppressive.

A little-known historical figure had a profound impact on the people who would lead the American Revolution, a pastor named Jonathan Mayhew. Mayhew isn’t well-known now because we’ve secularized our history (a shameful blunder), but at the time, he was considered heroic for his teachings.

Mayhew wrote a book titled A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers where he considered Christian submission to the king, and whether that obedience should be absolute, or if there are times when Christians should defy governing authorities.

Mayhew argued that it is absolutely the duty of the believer to obey governing authorities — if those authorities rule for the good of society.

According to Mayhew’s interpretation of Scripture, though, tyrants and oppressors are exempt from the Christian injunction to obey. He specifically said that tyrants and oppressors are not entitled to the obedience of their subjects. In fact, we have a moral duty to resist them. And not just tyrants, but all governing authorities who are corrupt and who bring ruin and misery as well. It is our civic duty to hold them accountable.

That makes significantly more sense than the passive teaching that essentially says that we are to make ourselves nothing, a non-entity, for the sake of Christ. In the passive understanding of obedience, there is no impetus to help ourselves, and there is really no motivation to help our friends and neighbors if their rights are infringed upon either.