51ÉçÇø

How does President Bill Clinton's admission of "inappropriate behavior" affect Christian action in the public arena? Moreover, what are Christians called to do across the board in public policy?

Those questions and others were addressed at 51ÉçÇø last week, during the school's Center for Christian Leadership's second annual conference, titled "Christian Faith and Public Policy: Where do we go from here?"

For two days, Oct. 19 and 20, an audience of about two hundred attended the conference's 14 sessions. The first day's speakers talked broadly about evangelical Christian involvement in politics. The second day's speakers addressed more specific issues, including welfare reform, refugees, education and the separation of church and state.

Overwhelmingly, the message from all speakers was clear. Christians are called to address the most pressing issues of our day and to do so by staying determinedly active in the public arena.

Call to action

To separate the two compromises the Constitution's promise of freedom of religion, Elshtain contended. "A private religion is no religion at all. When religion is destroyed, it's not freedom but bondage," Elshtain argued.

A historic opportunity

Jean Bethke Elshtain University of Chicago Divinity School

One exception to the separation of church and state movement detailed by Elshtain is a short provision in the welfare reform law of 1996. The provision, now called the Charitable Choice section, requires the government to respect the religious character of Christian ministries and other faith-based organizations that provide counseling and other services to welfare recipients. Carlson-Thies sees the Charitable Choice provision as a historic opportunity for religious institutions to jump into the public arena and address welfare reform. Christians should fight the temptation to stay away from government, Carlson-Thies said.

"God is active in many ways beyond the walls of the church," he explained. "Throughout the nation, public welfare departments are acknowledging that they cannot solve the welfare problem by themselves. They now are seeking partnerships with churches and other faith-based organizations."

According to his Tuesday presentation, local and state governments are beginning to invite churches to adopt welfare families. The adoption includes counseling, guidance and assistance with establishing their finances.

To turn away from these opportunities would go against the very principles the Bible espouses, Carlson-Thies insisted. "At this very moment there is before the church a historic opportunity to use its best insights and its energy to fulfill the divine commandment to love families, which the government acknowledges need a different kind of help than the welfare system can provide on its own," he said.

Education

Today parents have the opportunity to choose where their children go to school. With the rising popularity of charter schools and the possibility of school vouchers, the choices are increasing rapidly.

"Teachers who do not know they have a right to present their values will not be successful teachers. Otherwise, we'll have the bland leading the bland," Glenn said.

Along the same vein, all facts should be presented when teaching a class. A curriculum that does not allow teachers to say who the pilgrims were giving thanks to on Thanksgiving and a curriculum that does not allow teachers to mention the Christian motivation of some Civil Rights is giving students an incomplete history, Glenn said.

Neighbors

While some churches and their congregations avoid working with government to address issues such as welfare reform and education, there's little doubt of their concern about them. That's not so when it comes to the plight of refugees in the United States, according to Christine Pohl of Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Christine Pohl Asbury Seminary

Pohl said the refugee issue in the United States is "distinct in how little Christians pay attention to it. And it's striking how little Christians know about the subject." According to Pohl, it takes "deliberate determination to understand" refugee policies, international law and domestic law. Nevertheless it is an issue that Christians cannot turn away from, Pohl claimed. The Christian community has a duty to come to the rescue of refugees who have fled to the United States seeking a new and safe life. "The people of God are required to care for the vulnerable because of his special care for us, " Pohl pointed out.

How do Christians care for refugees who enter the United States? According to Pohl, they do so by advocating a generous asylum policy in the United States. Instead of turning boats back to Cuba and rather than setting up refugee camps, Pohl said Christians have a responsibility to ask their country to show a "continued willingness to be a country of resettlement."

Many refugees return to their home, a process called repatriation. Often that is the best option, as long as their home is safe, Pohl qualified. If it is not safe and refugees must stay in the United States, they should not be put in camps. To do so is "to break their souls and waste their lives," Pohl said.

Christians also must demand the government provide adequate systems for refugees to adjust to their new home. That means better funding of United Nations refugee efforts and of other independent organizations involved in refugee assistance.

Pohl summed up her call for action by urging Christians to "act as a neighbor to the person in need, not determine if the needy person is our neighbor."