I have often wondered why it is that people get so heated when discussing certain issues—you know, the ones you can’t talk about at the dinner table. The ones we can’t really control but yet we all like to pretend that we can. The ones that make daughters hate their Dad’s and cause brothers to hardly speak to each other. I’m speaking of course about Politics and Religion. If there are two subjects that get people overly heated and which prove to be venomously divisive, it’s these two.

A while back I read an outstanding essay that I am still thinking about (so you know it must be good). It was a blog post by someone who gets a lot of mention here, the venerable Richard Beck. In this particular post Beck is convinced that the reason why political discourse in America is so poisonous is because it is a form of Demon Possession.

“First, think about the negative emotions that get stirred up during political debate. These are, I’d venture, the most extreme social emotions that we see around us. I know in my own church we can talk about just about anything…except politics. I think that is diagnostic. Politics and the spiritual Power that it creates conflict the Kingdom of God.”

Beck goes on to say that a couple of things happen when we talk about politics, which are the same things that happen when we talk about religion. First, our emotions get red hot, which most likely means that we are talking about vitally important issues here. These issues are high stakes and the heated emotions are an indicator that there is something very important up for grabs here. Beck puts it this way:

“Politics, given the emotions involved, has to be talking about vital and ultimate things (in the language of the bible, the “heavenly” or “spiritual” things).”

For me this is undeniably true. I know that I have experienced this very phenomenon when engaging in discussions about politics or religion. If someone is getting something wrong, I feel it’s my duty to set them straight, because after all this is important stuff here right?

Next, Beck makes the point that when we talk about politics or religion, we are getting mad at people, people who are screwing up these very important issues.

“And this is why, when we see people going wrong (in our eyes), we can’t help but think in apocalyptic, doomsday scenarios. Ultimate things are at stake and it’s up to us to get this right. Which makes politics, essentially, a religious debate. Politics is a from of religion, complete with believers and heretics, saints and sinners.”

I hate to take all the steam out of Beck’s great post (please go read it here) but his conclusion has really been resonating with me. Beck concludes that politics is, at root,

“the human quest to be God, the quest to save ourselves. We become (or, more precisely, our political ideology becomes) the Messiah. And we worship this Messiah and defend it more vigorously than we’d ever think of defending God Himself.”

This naturally leads me to think about what Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

I really do think what Paul is saying here is that our battle in this world is not against the King or the President as individual people, but against the very idea of a Kingship or a President. Until it’s understood that we (each other) are not the enemy and recognize that our political ideologies are actually false Messiah’s that promise to “save us” but instead turn us against each other, we’ll continue to be possessed, demonized and polarized.

Collage by Ei.Ka

Tags:demon pocessiondinner talkpaul the apostlepoliticsprincipalities and powersreiligionRichard Beck