I heartily agree with Russel Mains and I did submit an essay to the contest. As church we must be on guard against being co-opted by any ideology and I am inclined to think that is what is happening in our LCMS. Our task is not to fight culture wars. Our warfare and our weapons are not political. The Evil One wants t enlist us in a culture war, make us take sides and thus sideline us from the where the battle is (Ephesians 6). "A soldier on duty does not entangle himself in the affairs of this life." It is very difficult to find anything in the words of Jesus or the Apostles to encourage us to entangle ourselves in the political affairs of this country. Yes, those who are able should be in the political vocations but then they are authorized to do that task by virtue of their vocation. The church's vocation is to make disciples, not moralists, democrats, republicans, tea partiers, independents, etc.

In Christ,

Art Casci