How Important to You is an Elected Official's Faith?

[Mark From Hawaii]

I think Matthew chapter six, in its entirety, covers this subject really well.

My interpretation of Mt. 6 is Jesus' rebuke of legalistic worship - going through the motions to impress. Having observed our Lt. Gov. and meeting him on three occaisions, including this year's Boy Scouts Makahiki, I believe him to be a godly man with good intentions. Having said that, I would agree that in a public context it would be unwise for him to exclude non-Christians in his plans.

[scrivener]

But what about the appropriateness of "claiming these islands for Christ?" My problem is that (a) it's a meaningless sentiment and (b) even if it were meaningful, people say that kind of thing all the time without truly trying to do something about it. When Balboa first set eyes on the Pacific Ocean, he claimed it and "everything it touches" for Spain. Sure, it's an easy thing to SAY, but did he have the wherewithal to actually make it reality? No.

It brings up the question of why a man says a thing like this in front of a group of believers. Sure, I believe that in some way he was sincere, at least in the spirit of what he said, but I also think this is one of those things people say because it sounds good. A Christian audience likes to hear this kind of thing, even when the statement itself has no real meaning. In this case, the Lt. Gov. is not so guilty of spiritualizing politics as he is politicizing the faith.

[Mark From Hawaii]

OK, I think I found the context of this statement in a Honolulu Advertiser article at
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/18/op/op05p.html

In December, Aiona led 6,000 believers around the state in a "canopy of prayer," declaring that "Hawai'i belongs to Jesus."

He said then, "Our schools will become God's schools; our community will become God's community; our city will become God's city; our Islands will become God's Islands; our state will become God's state; and our Hawaii will become God's Hawai'i” (Honolulu Advertiser Aiona: God's love can Transform Hawaii By David Shapiro)

That's a tough one. On the one hand I would agree that it was inappropriate for him to make these statements in public. On the other hand, the Transformation Hawaii rally's agenda is all about transforming "Hawai'i to God's great plan." Kind of hard to decouple the two - faith and public leadership - when the agenda is about public leaders professing faith. I know, it's late and I'm starting to write gibberish...