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I wanted to share in part a discussion in a Christian Forum of
which I am a member where the following (in point form) are arguments against the view that Christians should play an active role in politics (as would relate to the current US Presidential Elections)

• Regardless of what the world does and think, we are not to be a part of their society, but rather bring them closer to seeing and enjoying the society of heaven while here on earth.

• Christians are not to spend their time talking politics or acting as politicians; for by so doing, they give the enemy opportunity to come in and cause variance and discord.

• I am very serious. Women definitely should not be running for the presidency for many reasons. It just show the level the world has degraded into in these last days.

From a fellow traveler: “I think that having our eyes fixed on the Divine should not preclude us from understanding what is going on in the world and from precluding the world from degenerating even more. We are in the here and now and it is in the present that we labor to help people in need, those in sorrow, those in material and spiritual bondage. That is politics.”

My response:
Thank you for making clear the distinction in the regard of what our Civic and Spiritual duties are as Christians.

A comment by Jane (name changed) suggested that partisan politics has a tendency to breed discord amongst the brethren. I believe that it is possible to disagree passionately, yet still show respect while shunning bigotry as if it were a plague. True Christians will have no problem in that regard.

Should Christians sit idly by while our basic freedoms are taken away? No! Should Christians sit idly by while the politics of today continue to suffer from Moral Amnesia? Absolutely not!

Can we maintain the fundamental Freedoms and Liberties we enjoy while standing apart from the political process? No! Author Ellen White on one occasion said that “it is our duty to do all in our power to avert any threatened danger” (Last Day Events p.126)

Mark 12, Acts 5 and 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (among other scriptures) are great reference points that help determine our role as Christians when it comes to government (and by extension, politics).

As Christians, we should be the most politically informed and astute constituents. We should become aware of and vote on social, economic and other issues and not political figures.

At the risk of steering this discussion down the road of what role women should play in modern day institutions; it is unreasonable to suggest that women should not hold leadership positions.

That goes against what can be found in Galatians 3:38 which says: “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus”.

In light of the aforementioned, women have every right to without limitations hold political (or even church) office. I find in many cases, women outperform us men.

Finally, my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States is not so much in that I idolize the guy (at the risk of breaking the first commandment), but because I am in agreeance with his position on many of the issues that affect the United States and believe that he has the solutions and leadership qualities to be the catalyst for change for the better.

Akhenaton