My Top Ten Books Ever!

As Christians in an election season, we want to vote our faith – but how can Christians effectively influence our world for good? After all, Christians have botched it up. Take the Great Prohibition, for example. There is great fear that if Christians were to “take over” politics, our country would be like Cold War East Germany.  A new book explores how Christians can engage our culture through politics, by two who have given their careers to that pursuit.

They also suggest another reason for the failure of the Prohibition. The book is City of Man – Religion and Politics in a New Era, by is by Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner. Both worked in the Bush (W) White House, Gerson as a speech writer.

They offer two types of Christian political engagement:

1.       We seek preference for Christian ideals and moral views. If we see ourselves as a Christian nation we should have laws that reflect theological beliefs. The Prohibition is cited as an example of the failure of this type of social engagement.

2.       We take a view of human rights and dignity coming out of the Christian faith and apply it to everyone. The civil rights movement, especially as articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of this type of social engagement.

WATCH Michael Gerson & Peter Wehner, in an interview at http://vimeo.com/15680068

READ Part 1 – Self-Control or Controlling Others?

READ Part 2 – What Went Wrong with the Prohibition?

One of the leaders of the temperance movement in Petaluma was Rev. Lorenzo Waugh, 1808-1900. I wrote about “Father” Waugh HERE>