I’ve lately been following the case of a group of mainline Protestant pastors in Ohio who have asked the IRS to check out the tax-exempt status of their evangelical brethren after some incidents promoting a Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate. I heard a similar story of a church in California being investigated for an anti-Iraq War sermon preached shortly before the 2004 election. With the rise in political power of the religious right, it seems that the battlegrounds of religion and politics have become even more fractious.

Now, I can understand the frustration on all sides. I must confess that even I have had angry moments of my own—the Sunday before the 2004 presidential election, my mom attended a church that literally announced from the pulpit that it would be holding a prayer vigil on Monday for a particular candidate’s victory. Now, if that doesn’t warrant revoking a church’s tax-exempt status… grrr.

As I was reading the latest article in this Ohio case, though, 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 popped into my head. It is the passage headed, “Lawsuits Among Believers” in the NRSV, and in it Paul says:

“If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another, but a believer goes to court against a believer—and before unbelievers at that?” --1 Corinthians 6:4-6

The Corinthian church that Paul was talking to the in first century had its own similar problems on contentiousness and dispute. A commentary I read remarked that it was traditional in Jewish communities and other Greek-speaking groups to settle disputes within the community, without taking legal recourse. Paul was horrified about the Corinthians’ lawsuits not only because such proceedings aired the dirty laundry to the world, but also because they ran contrary to the way that Christians are called to treat one another. Paul goes on:

“In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” --1 Corinthians 6:7

This Ohio case is about more than just whether particular churches broke the law—this case is part of the ongoing culture wars that seem to be ripping our church and our nation apart. And rather than modeling a new way, a transformative way, of settling disputes, the Christian community in this country—all of us—is showing the world that we are as bitter and contentious as everyone else.

Part of embodying the peace we seek in the world, bringing the light of God into darkness, is being able to speak to one another in a spirit of love. Because love is at the heart of the Gospel and Scriptures—not wishy-washy Valentine’s Day love, either, but the love that cares enough to stick it out with one another through the tough times. If we Christians can’t deal with our disputes in love, then how can any of us claim that we know God?

Do we have that kind of deep love in the Church universal? The jury is still out. But our increasingly vocal, increasingly public Christian infighting on all levels doesn’t bode well for the verdict.

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” --1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Kelsey