There was a time when Presbyterianism served the common good by producing church leaders who were involved in local, state, and national politics to fight for the civil liberties that allow the church to faithfully fulfill her calling.

Presbyterian clergymen could be counted on to bring the truth to bear in the arenas of civil liberty and politics–G. W. Fisher

This is perhaps what is so puzzling about the Anabaptist way of thinking about Christian involvement in politics that has leaked its way into Presbyterianism.

I don’t have the space here to explain it detail, but Daniel J. Elazar clearly explains that the relationship between federal theology and federalism, as a political philosophy, are so closely connected that it would stand to reason that Presbyterians pastors, who were seeking to serve parishioners so that they may make virtuous contributions to the common good, would encourage many men and women to become involved in politics to work for religious liberties.

Although I would make a few clarifications, G.W. Fisher [Western Reformed Seminary Journal 13:2 9 (August 2006) 2-8] gives a good introduction to Presbyterianism and religious liberty here. What many Presbyterians seem unaware of is that if a nation’s political structures do not protect religious and civil liberties the church will not be free to do it’s work.

New York City’s passage of Bill 371 is a good example of what happens when Christians are not on a city council. If this bill becomes law it will all but shut down many crisis pregnancy centers. When Presbyterians fail to workout their ecclesiology properly, as we saw with the Southern Presbyterian Church in the past and many different Presbyterians today, we cannot make it clear to society that politics is (also) a domain that Christ proclaims, “This is mine.”

The black church in America, especially black Presbyterians, are fully aware the Civil-Rights Movement would not have happened had not Christians and others been involved in the political structures that called America to apply the rule of law to every citizen impartially for the first time in the nation’s history.

Without religious and civil liberties, Martin Luther King would not have been free to do what he did.

Stanley Carlson-Thies, formerly of the Center for Public Justice, is a courageous example of a Christian who understands what is at stake if the pursuit of social justice does not involve Christian involvement in politics. Carlson-Thies is the founder and president of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance–a organization who mission is to safeguard the religious identity and faith-shaped standards and services of faith-based organizations, enabling them to make their distinctive and best contributions to the common good. If government constrains Christian institutions from social justice work, those Christians who are passionate about social justice may not have a context to actually practice justice.

The question for 21st-century America is this: can the country count on Presbyterians to work for religious liberty for the sake of church’s work to contribute to the common good and shalom as many did, albeit imperfectly, in the past?

Anthony Bradley is an Associate Professor of Theology and Ethics at The King’s College, NYC. This commentary is taken from Bradley’s blog, The Institute and is used with permission of the author. http://bradley.chattablogs.com/archives/2011/03/presbyterians-p.html [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]