Religion in politics is a water in a pot of oil. Oil and water, possessing different densities, do not mix. The elements refuse to mix. However, St. Augustine, one of the post Nicene church fathers, held and taught that believers of God should not withdraw themselves from society. He believed Christians can throw themselves in the frying pan with cooking and using the vehicle of politics, be the ambassadors of the City of God in the temporal City of Man.
St. Augustine believed two communities simultaneously existed in the world. One, the City of God which was composed of those who love God above self. Two, the City of Men - those who loved self above God. In Augustine’s day, the former were understood to be Christians who believed in the teachings of the Christ. The latter were pagans: not yet to be inducted, oriented and baptized into the faith.
Most evangelical and charismatic Christians like Manny Pacquiao, incumbent senators Joel Villanueva and Allan Peter Cayetano, all professing protestants are echoing shades of the teaching of the authoritative Roman Catholic church father. From their lips, the word of God from the Holy Bible is quoted. They aren’t perfect but who is? But they humbly acknowledge their elections into public office as divinely ordained and for a divine purpose. If our republic borrows from Abraham’s Lincoln’s famous “a government of the people, by the people and for the people,” then, government is their God given vehicle to promote a just and dynamic social order.
Of Roman Catholics? Aren’t there in the 20th Congress of the Republic senators baptized under the sacrament of baptism of the Roman Church? And also participating in the Eucharist during the celebration of the holy mass? I am sure there are. Where there are, they are solemn, quiet and discrete. But if a man’s faith is evaluated by his acts, what tenets of the one holy catholic faith have they extolled? Are these consistent with the constitution and order of the Augustine’s City of God?
“The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable” is the anchor of politics’ defense. Clearly, the state, particularly the element of government, restrains the conduct of religion in state affairs. What is ordained good in the state may not the same good of religion.
The state can legalize sodomy. The church, if referring to that built by the Christ. does not. The state can legalize debasement of morality. The words of the Messiah do not. Said differently, the state demands that its law is supreme to the laws of the City of God. Whoever presides in the earthly city, spiritual or carnal, expects those of the heavenly quarters who are entering government service to be converted and reformed into hybrids holding divine and earthly natures; the heavenly and worldly or like Christ and anti Christ.
That is a big, big problem. Esteemed justices have however quieted the disorder with elegantly penned jurisprudence. Band aid strips have never cured a cancer tumor. Water and oil do not mix.
I commend Peter Cayetano’s boldness, using the platform as Senate president, to share biblical wisdom in the struggle to uphold the constitution and his interpretation against bobble heads voicing different constructions. Not all will agree with his theology and this practice but the truism holds. Water and oil may be poured in one receptacle but still, do not mix. God’s written codal do not have the same density as any legislation crafted by thousands of worldly wise men.
Thus, the words of Yeshua are true. “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Mark12).” The choice God gives us is spiritually and morally ours to make. State your case and proclaim it.
