Good politics can greatly promote the welfare of a people. Unfortunately, such politics are not very common. This is because political leaders in parliaments and government positions are also just people with character flaws. Since most of them enter politics to further their careers, they easily succumb to opportunism and corruption. When egoists form large majorities in politics, the state and society easily go astray. Inequality increases. Entitlement explodes. Community spirit suffers. The joy and pride of being part of a nation and serving the people evaporate. Increasingly, everyone just wants to get what they want.
One of the important tasks of Christian churches would be to oppose the state, publicly criticize undesirable developments, and submit suggestions for improvement. The churches could do this because they live a clear counter-model to society. Their ranks also include normal people with character weaknesses. However, the primary product of the church, the gospel, claims to reduce the evil sides of believers and increasingly turn them into good, loving fellow human beings. Ideally, churches therefore have great charisma through flourishing marriages and families, self-sacrificing social welfare and pastoral care, excellent cultural creativity, and outstanding achievements in business, science, and politics. The voice of such churches would carry public weight.
Unfortunately, we are far from this ideal! Many churches are hardly any different from secular society. The lifestyles of church staff and churchgoers are largely identical to those of other people outside the churches. “Selfishness” is also the highest value in many Christian communities. Of course, no one would admit this, and the bitter root of destructive lifestyles is quickly labeled “self-realization.” That sounds acceptable, even desirable. This allows pastors to adopt every hype of the zeitgeist and stand up for the rights of the loudest minorities. Nowadays, the pulpit often sounds ecological, socialist, multisexual, and gender-neutral. Secular sermons are then enriched with a little psychology and information about some social projects in order to present a legitimate church product.
Such institutions are, of course, no longer “Christian churches” in the true sense of the word. They only call themselves that. No wonder their members are leaving in droves and hardly any new ones are joining. What often remains are poorly attended buildings and costly staff. To conceal the agony of such institutions, the sinking ship must be kept afloat with large sums of money and the auctioning off or alternative use of the family silver (real estate).
To make matters worse for our society, the mainstream media are only too happy to invite secularized church representatives to participate in public debates. This is logical, as journalists who reflect the spirit of the times are also contributing to the development of a self-centered society. The media only provide a platform for “fundamentalist, backward-looking, conservative” pastors when it serves their agenda. In most cases, genuine pastors find themselves in the dock in such situations.
And what about the many churches and free churches in Switzerland that have a thriving church life? These are churches that clearly stand out from secular society! Instead of the arbitrariness of pseudo-churches, the commandments of the Bible and their serious implementation apply here. Such churches are often overflowing with believers of all ages. However, their leaders rarely, if ever, intervene in public discussions about social values, and certainly not in an aggressive manner. The shepherds care for the well-being of their own congregations and largely leave society and politics to their own devices. As a result, Swiss politics lacks criticism and corrective suggestions from the Christian church. For this reason, the “Swiss Civil Forum” is launching a PR campaign called “Pastors Check". The aim is to promote the public's ability to understand the quality of Christian churches, congregations, and organizations.
The objectives of political PR with the “Pastors Check” project are:
- In public debate, it should once again be possible to clearly distinguish between genuine Protestant churches/organizations and watered-down/fake offerings.
- Church members and interested parties should have a better choice of which church personnel to trust and which churches to engage with, based on their optimized level of knowledge.
- The social and political influence of arbitrary churches should be reduced.
- The public presence of effective Christian church personnel should be established and/or intensified. In this way, the state should once again receive the necessary corrective and helpful support that comes from living churches.
The Pastors Check by “Swiss Civil Forum” is a church-political project. We are neither a political party nor a church. Through our political PR work, we seek to promote the well-being of our fellow human beings. In our work, we highlight social and political areas in which we identify harmful developments that are detrimental to the people. We identify these shortcomings in order to call on those responsible and those affected to step out of destructive spheres of influence and get back on the path of life.