Missionaries and Politics

It’s the political season in the U.S., and that means uncomfortable times for those who live overseas. It doesn’t really matter who is in the White House, if the international community is against America (and for this blog I am using America and U.S. as a synonymous term, knowing that Canadian’s are also North Americans) and its policies, we must endure the constant barrage of criticism. Being the only superpower in the world, it’s fashionable to beat up on our country. America is seen as the hope for the disadvantaged while at the same time the cause for the worldwide misery. The admiration for who we are as a nation and what we have accomplished is coupled with a jealousy and contempt that we don’t do more.

I was living in Kenya during the Cater and Regan era. Carter presided over the beginning of the terrorist campaign (hostages in Iran); when the dollar was at record lows and inflation was at an all time high. Our foreign policies seemed to be apologetic and I still remember Andrew Young coming to Africa confirming what the international community was saying about us, that we were just not good people. Under Regan, world opinion remained negative toward the U.S., as they perceived American policy as moving the whole world toward confrontation with Communism throughout the world, including the conflict in Angola.

Clinton’s administration was more favorable in the eyes of the international community. Thanks, in part, to Regan’s policies hastening the end of Communism, Clinton didn’t have to make the tough decisions about the Soviet Union, which his predecessors had to contend with. The good times of world economic growth of the ‘90’s affected the international opinion, therefore, Clinton, and America, fared well on the global scene. Little did we understand the real danger of terrorism that was lurking and it took September 11, 2001 for the world to see the depth of disdain that some in the radical Muslim world had toward America. When the Bush administration turned to the international community for support against the regime of Sadaam Hussein, they returned to their default position of blaming America first. The United Nations and the international press lean heavily Democratic, so it isn’t surprising that Americans are on the defensive in the run-up to the November election.

Most North American missionaries are non-political, and that is a position we should maintain. It’s okay for missionaries to have opinions and, depending on their ideological persuasion, either defend or criticize our government’s positions. It is difficult, however, to be apolitical when much of the world equates the values of Christianity and government policies to be the same. The support of Israel over the rights of Palestinian’s, the invasion of Iraqi, seen as an attack on a Muslim country, is not easy for the rest of the world to separate. The harsh reality is that for the American, whose only agenda is to take the Good News to a needy world, will always be tainted by the politics of the day. The demise of U.S. would have Kingdom repercussions. But since God is not bound by the political dynamics of this world system it is something we should be aware of, but not cause us to be distraught.