Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church

by William T. Cavanaugh

I am wary of some American bishops' recent forays into electoral politics, often implying support for Republican Party candidates based on mostly empty promises to support the bishops' legislative agenda. Not only are such gambits often counterproductive - the church's own recent scandals have left the bishops with little credibility among the population at large - but they tend to assume that the only solution to any given cultural problem is state enforcement. The church must be wary of nostalgia for Constantinianism. A Christian should feel politically homeless in the current context, and should not regard the dreary choice between Democrats and Republicans, left and right, as the sum total of our political witness.