Dr Joe Boot argues that the common tendency among Christians to avoid political topics is not an act of prudence, but a failure to take seriously the work that God has given us to do in this world. ‘In much of evangelicalism today, it has become a grievous fault, even a sin, to be concerned and vocal with regard to the modern state’s redefinition of marriage, the mass murder of infants in the womb, the social engineering of the family, state-sanctioned theft and the usurpation of charity, the diminution of independent Christian education and the assault on religious freedoms and the Church. Concern is seen as ‘political’ and deemed outside the scope or priority of the gospel – as though true Christianity were a progression from the material to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the body to the soul. This is Neo-Platonism, not Christianity, and it has revived in recent decades, making deep inroads into the mindset of many Christians. See also the Mill Gathering. http://www.prayer-alert.net/index.php?view=download&alias=572-statement-from-the-mill-gathering-1&category_slug=insight-articles-1&option=com_docman&Itemid=216