Napoleon Bonaparte once declared that religion is "what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." For the French imperialist, God served as a sanctuary for the weak and the imperiled, a means of giving power to the powerless.

In America, this has been evident throughout our history. The black church helped blacks withstand 246 years of slavery and the decades of segregation, lynching and second-class citizenship that followed. Faith has empowered poor parents as they nickel and dime their way through our bootstrap capitalist system to provide for their families. Even in the military, God is crucial — helping soldiers fighting overseas cope with the ugly realities of battle, and bringing solace to the families praying for their safe return back home. Religion's potency lies in its ability to give meaning to tragedy and suffering, to sustain people's purpose in life as they endure its hardships.

We may live under a secular government separating church and state, but religion has a broad and deeply rooted presence in U.S. politics — from the global "War on Terror" to the local "War on Christmas" — emanating from our religiously devoted founding fathers and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that the "Creator" endowed men with certain unalienable rights. The use of God in political strategies peaked during the Cold War, when Congress adopted "In God We Trust" as the national motto in a calculated attempt to ward off atheistic communism. Meanwhile, the presidential frontrunners for 2008 seize every opportunity to remind us that their personal ideologies rest on fervent Christian convictions.

But the results of the U.S. being a Christian nation differs significantly today from years past, when Woodrow Wilson's idealistic faith conceptualized a forum of "global interests" that would become the United Nations, when FDR used the Christian precept of charity as the basis for the New Deal; when religious figures led the charge for equality and civil rights in the 1960s. Religion was once a source of unity in America.

But today, it's a divisive force. Now when we discuss faith in politics, we refer to the "religious right" and topics of gay marriage and abortion — issues that are neither central to Christian teachings nor central to the problems facing this country. Jesus has been hijacked, exploited by people who cherry-pick lines of Biblical text to promote division and intolerance, instead of standing on the general, unifying principles taught by Christ: compassion for the poor, affection for our neighbors, empathy for the needy.

While "Christian" has become synonymous with "Republican," the supposed party of faith has approached social issues in very un-Christian ways. Built on the mindset that the poor are responsible for being poor, these "good Christians" continue to seek tax breaks for the wealthy to "spur economic growth," but reject raising the minimum wage to a living standard, shun any attempt at meaningful health care reform and balk at the "willful poverty" of those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. They fail to see that trickle-down economics will only benefit the greater good if these policies are backed by a consistent moral justification.

President George W. Bush came to office claiming to possess these morals, classifying himself as a "compassionate conservative." Since then, his administration has turned the label into an oxymoron, something the city of New Orleans knows all too well.

But compassion was central to the teachings of Jesus. According to him, the clearest path to heaven was a working life tending to others. It was the test by which he decided who would come into his reign: "Whenever you did these things to the lowliest of my brothers, you were doing it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

Within the church, both Christians and non-Christians have pursued causes that emulate Jesus as being a champion of the less fortunate. Missions to New Orleans have done more for Hurricane Katrina relief than FEMA and "Brownie" ever did. Church-run soup kitchens, pantries and shelters feed thousands of people each day. Some churches are beginning to provide medical care by trained professionals or offer financial assistance to help people pay for their health care bills. But for all their humanitarian successes, these missions lack the power and resources to instigate blanket change and challenge the interests of colossal industries.

It is mind-boggling that certain views of the Christian church permeate this country's politics, but their compassionate causes do not. A Christian nation should demand that we reform health care to cover the less fortunate. A Christian nation should demand that we revamp Social Security to provide for aging citizens. A Christian nation should demand that we maintain a strong social safety net for all Americans.

For these policies — not bans on gay marriage — are the true embodiment of Christian values.

Adam Lichtenheld ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and African studies.