Good on Christopher Luxon for speaking about his Christian faith in his maiden parliamentary speech. Clips can be heard here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018788962/luxon-highlights-faith-in-maiden-speech.
In his speech, Luxon challenges
the stereotyping of people with a Christian faith as extreme. He states that his
faith anchors him, gives his life purpose, and shapes his values. It puts him
in the context of something bigger than himself. He goes on to say that his faith
has a strong influence on who he is and how he relates to people.
He speaks of seeing
Jesus showing compassion, tolerance, and care for others. For him, Jesus does
not judge, discriminate, or reject people, he loves unconditionally.
He notes Christians in
history who have made a huge difference by entering public life. He singles our
Christian abolitionists who fought against slavery, those who educated the poor
and challenged the rich to share their wealth to help others less fortunate. He
states that in their contributions to public life, William Wilberforce, Martin
Luther King, and Kate Sheppard (https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s20/sheppard-katherine-wilson)
made the world a better place.
He notes that his
faith is personal to him and is not itself a political agenda. He says, “I
believe that no religion should dictate to the state and no politician should use
the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others.”
He suggests that MPs
serve the common cause of all New Zealanders, not one religion, not one group,
not one interest. He believes a person should not be elected because of their
faith, nor rejected because of it. For him, democracy thrives on diverse
thinking and different worldviews.
As a fellow Christian,
I applaud Luxon’s preparedness to bring his faith into the public arena and push
back against the false idea that it is extreme to hold the Christian faith. There
are actually more extreme belief systems that are imposing their will on our
lives in the current political scene (see alsohttp://drmarkk.blogspot.com/2020/12/everyone-has-religion.html). These are not religions per se in the
technical sense of the term but are “religious” ideologies commanding this or
that view on culture, gender, family, marriage, sexuality, the environment,
politics, economics, globalization, drugs, morality, social ethics, and so on.
Indeed, our political environment, mainstream media, social media, and public
discourse are in the midst of a culture(s) war that sees a range of ideologies
crashing into each other causing great angst, pain, and suffering. The
traditional religions are part of this but the faith of Luxon is merely one.
While people are distracted critiquing religions, they miss the enormous
influence being wielded by even more extreme “religious” ideologies pushing their
agenda. They are in danger of being taken over and do not even know it.
Luxon is bang-on to claim
that Christians have been central to the life and story of the western world
and many other nations for 2000 years and that it is hardly extreme. Indeed, as
he says so well, in western nations like NZ are concerned, the Christian faith
has shaped our story to an enormous degree. It still does, it is just that many
today want to rewrite history and build a future supposedly free of the
Christian faith. Yet, to a large degree, it is because of Jesus and the Christian
faith that the values Luxon mentions (compassion, tolerance, care,
non-discrimination, and unconditional love) and others, that New Zealand is
what it is. He highlights two enormous figures from western history (Wilberforce,
King) and one of NZ’s true champions of woman’s rights, Kate Sheppard, and
their influence. He could have gone on and listed thousands of less-known kiwis
who have shaped our nation at a macro-level, and in smaller ways, in local
communities. Today, many councils, public community boards, institutions, and vocations
are influenced by Christians who live out of their faith in the public context.
The social value of Christianity remains enormous; if only our governments
would see and acknowledge it.
I like where Luxon is
going but want him and others to push harder. We need to expose the “religious”
agendas of many that bring with them the dangers of extreme leftist
perspectives (e.g., communism, Marxism that spawned the disasters of the 20th
century across the Communist world that saw the deaths of millions) and
extremist right perspectives (e.g., right-wing fascism, which gave birth to Nazism
and led to the holocaust and world wars). Both agendas in various forms (and
others) are forcing their way into our lives and homes. These need to be
exposed reasonably and appropriately, without Christianity being forced upon
anyone. There are neo-expressions of these extremes that are threatening the stability
of our nations.
I also suggest that
Luxon is not quite right to say there is no political agenda in his faith. The
central notion Jesus taught on was the Kingdom of God. He declared boldly that
he had come to inaugurate God’s reign on earth. He declared himself King over
the world. That is the most outrageous political statement one can make. He drew
to himself disciples, men and women, and continues to do so, including Christopher
Luxon and myself. We carry his agenda with us. Christ’s kingdom agenda is not
to conquer the kingdoms of the world through any coercive and violent agenda.
Rather, it is for the Kingdom to grow within the various political arrangements
of the nations of the world through the “weapons” or love, compassion, care, mercy,
sacrifice, suffering, to the point of death, and all the while sharing the message of Jesus: “come,” says Jesus, “turn from self-aggrandizement and join
me in my kingdom and change the world from the inside out through love in
action and word.” Join with others in forming redemptive communities of faith, hope,
and love and through them, he will change the world, not by taking over nations
politically, but through a different kind of politic—an inside-out “take over”
of the world—always allowing others the freedom to live differently (tolerance,
for want of a better term).
Luxon carries this
with him into the political arena. I see no reason he should be shy of
admitting that he comes with the values of God’s politics and that these things
influence how he functions in the public arena. After all, an extreme left-wing
politician is often heavily influenced by Marx and other socialist
perspectives. Similarly, a right-wing politician is often influenced by Adam
Smith and others. Why not be heavily influenced by Jesus and admit you believe
he is King of the world who all kings, queens, presidents, PMs, and MPs serve
(even if they do not realise it)?
Then again, maybe he
has it right to avoid going into such arguments. We do not often hear non-Christian
politicians admit their political and philosophical influences and their allegiance
to this or that ideology. They push on, hoping not to be exposed because then
they will be labelled.
Whatever, I am
impressed with Christopher Luxon’s maiden speech. Good on him. Still, none of
that tells me I should vote for him. He is right, we should not vote for people
on whether they are Christians or not. We vote for them because they have what
is required to lead us well and have a team with a vision that we are drawn to
in prayer and values and have the capacities to lead the nation well. We vote
prayerfully asking God’s guidance in what is best for our nation for the next
three years. Anyway, it is great to hear a Christian openly stand strong in the
public arena with reason and thoughtfulness. I also do hope he and all
Christians in parliament stand in the tradition of those he mentioned who have
shaped history and do great things for NZ and the world. May he and the other
leaders of our nation lead us well as God shapes history. Amen.
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