How does God fit into Politics?

Christians have grown used to the idea of a state that doesn’t favor any one religion over another. We think it’s fine to keep God out of politics, as if we can close the doors to politics right in front of Him and keep Him out. What’s going on right now is nothing new. The Romans were the first to try this. This is because this pillar of power has always been watched over by an enemy.

A Greek general and historian named Polybius lived in Rome as a political prisoner from 167 to 150 B.C. During this time, he was able to show us what happens when God is left out of politics (Duigon, 2006). It was during a time when the Roman Republic was at its most powerful and prosperous. Polybius learned about Rome’s past and how it was run. He even said good things about the checks and balances in the republic.

 Fallen and fallible humans cannot create infallible, permanent governments. 

Polybius was a non-Christian who gave an unbiased account of what politics looked like without God and what happened to a country that went that route. The Roman religion, which Polybius said was based on superstition, was put on top of the system. Polybius knew what would happen to her.

Polybius thought that each constitution had its own built-in and unavoidable vice (Duigon, 2006). No system was perfect, whether it was monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or mob rule. From the point of view of a pagan historian, this is how government works:

Starting from a state of disorder, the strongest man emerges as the leader of the people, who look to him to bring order. If he succeeds, his position becomes a monarchic institution. Time sees the aristocracy become an arbitrary, greedy oligarchy. So the people overthrow the oligarchy and establish a democracy. Over time the democracy degenerates into mob rule, and then disorder; and a strong man is found to put things right, starting the whole cycle all over again. (Duigon, 2006).