The world has changed much since Ronald Reagan was president. The common cultural trend of keeping religion and politics in separate boxes has ended. Separation of church and state, while historic, has been argued, ignored, and changed in emphasis multiple times to suit our own agendas. The idea that you can maintain separation of church and state simply by forbidding the public support of any given candidate is not keeping the church out of politics, it is simply forcing the church to be non-partisan. The church has pushed a political agenda through specific issues since the beginning, and especially in more recent times around issues of civil rights, global relations, economic issues, and marriage.

We now live in a post-modern, pluralistic culture that has much in common with the Apostolic Age when the gospels were written, and the Church was multiplying during many birth pains. Throughout much of history, faith and politics went hand in hand, though the relationship between the two varied from culture to culture, much as they do today.

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Tony Franklin is a pastor in Kentucky, a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and Asbury Theological Seminary, a former philosophy professor for Black Hawk College in Kewanee, IL, and New Testament professor for Campbellsville University. He has been writing sermons and devotions online for years and is involved with both church revitalization and new church development in Kentucky. He is an advocate for and student of multicultural ministry. He loves Jesus, loves his wife Bekah, and has a passion for music both inside and outside the church.