October 8, 2007

The Context Of The Kingdom

People have jumped all over Barack Obama for his comment, "We're going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth." Mark Finklestein wonders, "What if a Republican Called, Like Obama, for God's 'Kingdom on Earth'?" My friend Nick Gillespie complains about "another layer of moralizing goo to the seven-layer bean dip that we've already got when it comes to sanctimonious pols telling everyone how they should live." Andrew Stuttaford links to Nick's other observation that "[e]stablishing the kingdom of heaven on earth always means rendering more to Caesar than what was originally due."

Frankly, this is somewhat akin to Obama's flag pin flap -- much ado about nothing. Obama probably worded it a little inartfully, but he used that particular comment in a religious sense, not an explicitly political sense. Earlier, Obama was speaking about the lack of credibility of Democrats among religious voters, and he noted that many Democrats go to church and believe in Christian ideals, and that Democrats have to know how to make their agenda relevant to those voters.

Mark's question is easily answered, as one Republican candidate -- Mike Huckabee -- is a Christian minister. I'm sure Governor Huckabee prays for the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth and speaks regularly on the topic, in that capacity. He probably includes a few thoughts on how we can emulate the justice and mercy of that kingdom in the meantime when he preaches to his congregation, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had a few thoughts about that from time to time on the campaign trail. It certainly wouldn't make headlines, given his religious ordination.

I agree with Nick's final thoughts about the costly nature of those who try to turn the federal government into a kingdom of any kind. The Founders mostly believed that Christ would one day return to this world to establish his kingdom on earth, but in the meantime understood the dangers of turning the federal government into a kingdom of any sort. Otherwise, however, Obama's comments are normal Christian fare and nothing more remarkable than that.

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