The problem of politics and religion

Do politics and religion really make strange bedfellows?

They concluded that many Christians left the church because of the church’s active affiliation with conservative politics.

You'd better believe it!  On both sides. 

But the issue I have is why "the church" aligns itself with either side of politics.  
And since they do, why isn't everyone upset about something related to this?

The simple fact is - in my opinion - neither part gets what Jesus taught.
And therefore, unfortunately, "the church" isn't really supporting what Jesus taught either.

BTW - did you notice how "my opinion" became fact?
Just checking to see if you're paying attention.

I'm reading this interesting book right now - 
"Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...and Other Lies You've Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media"
by Bradley R.E. Wright Ph.D., Ed Stetzer

Jumping to the conclusion of one section of the book, we read -

What Hout and Fischer’s conclusion warns us is that there may be a substantial cost for the church to play politics—we lose people. Quite possibly, the church would be bigger now without its prior foray into politics.

Sounds reasonable - again, in my opinion.

But earlier in the same section, they also wrote -

Analyzing data from the General Social Survey, they found that the increases in religious disaffiliation happened among political liberals and moderates who had relatively weak ties to the church. Disaffiliation did not increase for political conservatives. They concluded that many Christians left the church because of the church’s active affiliation with conservative politics.

If this statement is really true - it raises some interesting questions for me.  And hopefully for you.

Let's get one thing out right away.  I consider myself a conservative Christian - and have been a registered republican all my life.
Before you immediately condemn me - please read on.  I'm actually going to question all sides of this issue and ask how they (we) can do what they (we) are doing.

• For the liberal Christians who leave their church

The assumption of the authors is that these Christians left their church because of conservative political agendas within their church.  Certainly, the biggest of these is likely to be what has come to be known as "a woman's right to choose", or the even more misleading name of "women's health".  We all know, it's really about abortion.  

Given this, which these liberal Christians should believe -

The Little Children and Jesus

Mt 19:13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Mt 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Obviously, little children were important to Jesus.

Or, what about this -

Mt 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

So it's not just "murder" - which takes away the question of when does life begin.  It's even the thought of calling someone a fool.  One has to question - what does this mean when it comes to saying that the "unborn" child in the womb isn't worthy of ever having a life?  How much of a fool could that person have been if they were allowed to live?

The questions of exceptions and whether or not this should be put into law will come up in the conservative section of this post.

Given that this is almost certainly the single most inflammatory issue with liberal Christians and the church - 
and that Jesus love of children (and life) is what it is -
why should any of these things make people leave the church?

Unless their politics is more important than their salvation?

Question - is there another way?

• For the liberal Christians who stay with their church

If you fall into this group - the question is a bit different.
How do you feel about issues such as the one below -

The Rich Ruler