In a world full of division and partisan politics, it can be difficult to know what to think and how to speak up. We believe the Bible speaks to the most challenging issues we face as a nation.
For two decades, evangelical Christians across the political spectrum have used the “For the Health of the Nation” publication to apply biblical principles to complex issues. As a resource for Christian discipleship, it is designed to encourage thoughtful evangelical engagement as we work together for the health of the nation.
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“The concerns we face in the United States are great, but they are not greater than God. In creation, God called humans to just and compassionate governance. In reverence to God and with love for others, evangelical Christians engage in the public square — not for our own sake but for the health of the nation and world.”
(Read the full document below.)
For the Health of the Nation
An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility
Introduction
The concerns we face in the United States are great, but they are not greater than God. Read more.
The Basis for Christian Civic Engagement
We engage in public life because God created our first parents in his image and gave them dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:27–28). Read more.
The Method for Christian Civic Engagement
Every political judgment requires both a normative vision and factual analysis. Read more.
The Structures of Public Life
In the beginning, God invited human beings to partner with him in the governing and care of creation (Genesis 1:28–30). Read more.
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
1. Protecting Religious Freedom and Liberty of Conscience
God has ordained the two coexisting institutions of church and state as distinct from the other with each occupying its own center of authority under a sovereign God. Read more.
2. Safeguarding the Nature and Sanctity of Human Life
Because God created human beings in his image, every human life from conception to death bears the image of God and has inestimable worth. Read more.
3. Strengthening Marriages, Families and Children
Throughout the Bible the family is central to God’s vision for human beings and human society. Read more.
4. Seeking Justice and Compassion for the Poor and Vulnerable
Jesus summed up God’s law by commanding us to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:35–40). Read more.
5. Preserving Human Rights
Because God created males and females in his image, we are endowed with rights and responsibilities. Read more.
6. Pursuing Racial Justice and Reconciliation
The Bible uniformly teaches the essential dignity of all humans and the shared desire to belong in community. Read more.
7. Promoting Just Peace and Restraining Violence
Jesus and the prophets looked forward to the time when God’s reign would bring about just and peaceful societies in which people would enjoy the fruits of their labor without interference from foreign oppressors or unjust rulers. Read more.
8. Caring for God’s Creation
We are called as followers of Jesus to embrace and act responsibly to care for God’s earth while we reaffirm the important truth that we worship only the Creator and not the creation. Read more.