Church and clean election
- Part 2 -

Z K Pahru Pou *

Rhah Khul Church, in Ukhrul district in December 2012 :: Pix - Ibomcha Yumnam

b. Unfulfilled election manifestoes: It is quite obvious that there is no developmental project worth mentioning taking place in remote parts of the state. Political parties seldom respect the many promises made during election campaign. No worthwhile government schemes and other benefits reach the villagers. Hence, the villagers felt that election time is the best and only time to get their share from government or the concerned candidate. This demands the Church has to work more beyond election time to check whether the elected government is sincerely working for the people.

c. Poverty: Majority of our people live in poverty. Many parents in the villages are compelled to accept money from the candidate to pay their children's education expenses. It is also a golden opportunity for many villagers to take money to meet their basic needs especially among the old-aged, the widows/widowers, and other vulnerable group of people.

d. Ignorance: Many of the villagers do not know whether accepting money (sale) in exchange of vote is ethically right or wrong. They are not even aware how such acceptance could affect the development in their villages/areas after election. Their motto is simple "everybody does so do we." Political parties exploit the ignorant and simple village folks for their advantage.

e . Greediness: It cannot be an exaggeration to say that many people in our society take money not because they are poor or out of ignorance but purely to accumulate wealth. It appears that votes are auctioned publicly and bought by the highest bidders. Many Churches also demand huge amount of money from the government officials and candidates and fall into the trap of corruption.

f. Consumerist Culture: Many youths are influenced by consumerist culture and develop new lifestyle in terms of food habits, dress styles and consumption patterns in our society. Political parties/candidates take advantage of such consumerist culture distributes money freely and exploit the youths. During election time, money is given for partying, mobile phones and SIM cards, cars and bikes were distributed free of cost, and liquors are supplied to youths freely in exchange for votes. The impact of this kind of habits continues to haunt youths even long after the election is over.

g. Clan-ism /group-ism/village-ism: There are many factors that forced the individuals to elect a particular candidate. The decision of clan or village sometime forced the voter to cast their vote for a particular candidate although the voter may or may not like that particular candidate. This kind of practice overrides the individual's freedom of choice. We also see how the public vote for candidates who belongs to his/her village or area despite candidate lack of credibility. At worse, candidates with criminal record or incapable candidates are elected to legislature due to few influential leaders of a village or clan who decide for whom to vote for the whole group.

5. Biblical Perspectives:

A progressive and a clean society cannot be built by a few dedicated and intellectual persons or by the elected political leaders of the society. It demands sincere participation of every member in society: the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, men and women, literate and illiterate, the rulers and the subjects. The church as believer's community is called to join hand in liberating people from all kinds of sins, social evils, economic exploitation, political oppression, corruptions and other dehumanizing forces which destroy our society. The church cannot remain silent when election campaign creates platform for violence and takes the life of people. When its members are going against God's moral standard should our church still watch and do nothing?

a. Church's responsible participation in a democratic Government

The early Christian believed that on the whole, the civil authority represented the divine will for the provision of justice, equality and order in society. The purpose of such office is to serve for the common good of all without conferring special advantages upon any privileged group of people. In Romans 13: 3-5, Paul expressed his belief in justice of civil authority "for rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong…. he is God's servant to do you good…."

In the democratic countries of the present day, the civil authorities are at least, in some degree responsible to the people and Christian citizens do have political power. Where such, democratic forms of government exists, the concept of acceptance (submission) of the ruling authorities and obedience to them are by themselves inadequate to define the duties of citizens in relation to their rulers.

The state may be viewed as existing by divine appointment and the democratic process of government whereby the people elect particular rulers may be considered providential but the people are responsible in some measure at least for the specific government which is in power at particular time. Paul's teaching of obedience to the governing authorities needs to be converted into new concepts which may be more relevant to the existing relationship between the citizens and the state.

When the state/authority failed to take up its responsibility as a divinely appointed institution then a citizen can raise her/his voice against the rulers. That is the reason why the Church needs to empower the common people by creating awareness of the failures of state and the corrupt practices of leaders. No one is above the law and no one is above God. Totalitarian nature of state and autocratic nature of rulers must be questioned and changed for the betterment of whole society. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that loving our country means being able to fight it in order to defeat the oppressive rule that it exercises over others. The church must speak out in love and correct those who are misusing political powers and bring justice to the people.

b. Responsibility of Leaders

Leaders and rulers are endowed with divine responsibility. They are vested with certain civil authority and power as such, they are crucial for any society's progress and well-being. They are the agents to foster progress, justice, equality and peace. When such an agent is driven away by the forces of greed, self-centredness and shies away from their given responsibility, it is impossible to build clean and progressive society.

In Ezek. 34:1-10, the prophets used Shepherd image to sketch a picture of a leaders who shied away from the leadership responsibility. They were supposed to sacrifice their life for the people but actually behaved in a stark contrast way. They were given the opportunity to serve God and the people yet, they served themselves rather than God and the people. They were to lead, guide and care, yet they exploited the people, showed no love and care and neglected the people. Such bad qualities of a leader and a ruler fell short of the divine endowment and lost mandate to be people's leader.

God warned that the sheep would be taken away from the shepherds (greedy leaders/rulers) for they (leaders) neglected the sheep (the people). A leader must act as a good shepherd who finds good pasture for the flock during the day and a safe haven at night, who cares for the sick and seeks out the strays. Are our leaders sacrificing their life for the people OR are they seeking their own benefits in the name of common people?

A leader should be accountable to God and to people. When leader failed to take up his/her responsibility faithfully, the whole community suffers. So a leader must understand that s/he is chosen by God (Romans 13:3,4) to govern people with justice.

To be continued..