1. GOVERNMENT

2. PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs
“A mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”
- John Adams on Thomas Jefferson

3. PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs - Thomas Jefferson on John Adams
“A hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force & firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”
- Thomas Jefferson on John Adams

4. PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Power Grabs Posturing Plots & Ploys
Political Poise & Patience

5. PATIENCE FOR POLITICS Stop Listening to Fear & Hate
Reevaluate Facebook activity
Pray for Politicians
“I urge that entreaties and prayers … be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority.” Timothy 2:1-2

6. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Primary Question
3 Possible Approaches
No Distinction w/ Competition
Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant

7. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
“I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President who happens also to be Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters – and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President – on …

8. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
“… birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject – I will make my decision … without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates.” John F. Kennedy

9. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Primary Question
3 Possible Approaches
No Distinction w/ Competition
Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant

10. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
“Because [many] do not consider beliefs informed by theology as belonging to a knowledge tradition, they feel justified in dismissing theo-logically informed policy proposals as de facto inferior to so-called secular ones [that] answer precisely the same questions.” - Francis Beckwith

11. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Primary Question
3 Possible Approaches
No Distinction w/ Competition
Full Distinction w/ Faith Irrelevant
Some Distinction & Complementary

12. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
What are the things of Caesar?
Rule with Authority
Promote Righteousness
Punish Evil & Wickedness
Collect Taxes
Protect the Poor & Oppressed
Aren’t these the things of God?

13. STATECRAFT IS SOULCRAFT
“[Aristotle] meant by this that the state or government, by its policies, procedures and actions, places moral ideas in the social and legal fabric of a political regime, and that these ideas serve to shape the quality of its citizens’ character.” Francis Beckwith

14. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Implications of this Approach
C & S “Separation” = Too Wide
National Conscience = Important
Removing God is Catastrophic
“The liberties we cherish … depend on a natural moral law … best explained by the existence of God.” - Beckwith

15. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Applications of this Approach:
Be Informed & Vote
Argue for “Common Good”
Pursue Vocation in Politics?
Place Hope in Returning King

16. GOVERNMENT